8. Mike Rumbles (West Aberdeenshire and Kincardine) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the announcement that 64,000 passenger journeys have been made from the reopened Laurencekirk station, a 78 per cent increase on the original estimate of 36,000, when it will bring forward the necessary funding to reopen Kintore station. (S3O-10699)
The Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change (Stewart Stevenson):
Consideration of the business case for a station at Kintore will take place when the technical feasibility of a station has been established. That is currently being considered through the study of proposed improvements to the Aberdeen to Inverness line.
Mike Rumbles: The minister will recognise that there was widespread delight in Laurencekirk when a previous transport minister announced funding to reopen the station there in 2006. As he begins his final year in government, will Stewart Stevenson create a similar lasting legacy for Kintore from his time as transport minister?
Stewart Stevenson: I look forward to being around to see many of the projects that the Scottish National Party Government will initiate delivered in its second term. Railway stations are a complex subject. It is important that we understand the technical feasibility of proposals. At Kintore, we have a choice between having a station that serves the current single-track line and one that can serve a dualled line. It is important that we do the technical work before coming to the conclusions that, hopefully, will lead to a station at Kintore, as the member anticipates.
Maureen Watt (North East Scotland) (SNP): When does the minister expect the Department for Transport's new passenger numbers model for anticipating usage levels at proposed new stations to be completed? Does he believe that it will make the business case for a station at Kintore more robust?
Stewart Stevenson: The model that we use in Scotland, which we share with the Department for Transport, has consistently underestimated the patronage that has resulted from the opening of new stations. Work between us and the Department for Transport is continuing. I expect that later this year we will be in a position to explore whether that delivers the expected results.
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About Stewart Stevenson
Born in 1946 and brought up in Cupar, Fife, I was educated at the local school - Bell Baxter - and studied Mathematics at the University of Aberdeen, graduating with a modest degree in 1969. That's also the year Sandra & I married. Her family comes from the North East.Thirty years later I retired from Bank of Scotland as Director of Technology Innovation and was elected to the Scottish Parliament in 2001 as member for Banff & Buchan having first joined the SNP in 1961.
I then represented the new constituency of Banffshire & Buchan Coast Constituency in our Parliament. I retired as an MSP on 5th May 2021
I was also previously (2007-2010), Minister for Transport, Infrastructure and Climate Change and (2011-2012), Minister for Environment and Climate Change.
I hold the honorary posts of President of the Scottish Association for Public Transport
and Vice-President of Railfuture UK.I am a Fellow of The Royal Society for Arts, Manufactures and Commerce, a Member at The Institution of Engineering and Technology, a Professional Member of the Association for Computing Machinery, a Member of the Institute of Advanced Motorists and an Associate Member of the Highland Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Association.
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