Taxi Driver Online

very naïve any rail link would be just that a link between St Andrews and a station on the line up towards Dundee you wouldn't get through trains other than maybe specials during major events

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

I would imagine the chances of a rail link are virtually zero.

SW you are safe from retirement for a few years yet.

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IDFIMH

Well spotted. Didn't notice that, but didn't really read the article too closely, because I wrote quite a lot about it a few years ago now, and the local paper published several of my letters on the subject, and they would carry quite long letters of 1,000 words or so

But have kind of given up thinking about it over the years, because it's looked increasingly unlikely to happen, and in any case as I've gotten older it's looked less likely to happen while I'm still in the trade. Never mind lockdown, collapsing public finances, etc.

But, in a nutshell, Cllr Liston was making all kinds of over-the-top claims, in my opinion, for example that it would have a significant impact on traffic driving from Edinburgh to St Andrews

I suspect the impact on traffic would be negligible, because, as you say, it would just be slightly more convenient than the current bus service.

And although she wanted to divert the main East Coast rail line through St Andrews in reality it would just be a light rail-style branch line, even if it ever was implemented.

And most of the time it would be near-empty, just like the current 'Potemkin' bus service.

And there's the like of this nonsense:


Several times a year? News to me. Granted, the golfers and celebs do descend on the town for the Dunhill, but, from a taxi perspective, blink and you'll miss it. I recall one Thursday during the Dunhill a few years ago waiting at the station for maybe three or four hours. The golfers and celebs will generally be driving to St Andrews, and the top flight will arrive by private jet at the former RAF base near the rail station.

A rail link would make minimal difference to that.

Could witter on for hours about this, but one thing I recall in particular was Cllr Liston saying that taxi drivers would prefer a rail station in town (a few hundred yards from most of the hotels etc) rather than five miles away

Again, news to me and every other driver I asked about it

Of course, we're ever so slightly biased in that regard, but if she'd just said something along the lines of 'tough luck, but that's progress', then at least that would have been a bit more upfront and honest rather than her attempt at what I now view as a form of gaslighting

Anyone who's got a spare five minutes of their life they don't want back should have a wee listen to the Courier's podcast on the rail link.

Even the kick off introduces a false premise - they mention the 'train chaos' caused by the Open Golf, but forget to mention that the reason it differed from the usual was because of industrial action, which meant the normal extra trains didn't run...

Then we're told stuff like that passengers numbers at our wee, semi-rural station increased by 100,000 over the last three years. Seriously? During the lockdown years?

And that lots of students are having to commute from the likes of Dundee because of the accommodation shortage in St Andrews, so a rail link would help. Seriously? You'd get a train from Dundee to Leuchars, then get off the train and onto another train, and be dropped at the new station. Or get one bus from Dundee to St Andrews? And any rail link would presumably only have one stop in town, while if you get the right bus from Dundee it's goes all round town.

Then apparently students arriving at the UK's top university are confused at having to get off the train and onto a bus at Leuchars. So instead they'd get off the train and onto another train at Leuchars. I'm sure that would ease the confused minds of these gargantuan-brained people who've just flown in from San Francisco, Shangai or Sao Paulo

https://podcasts.thecourier.co.uk/en/co ... ay-station

you could of course check that against the official ORR statistics

https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/statistics/usage/passenger-rail-usage/

so Leuchers is the 823rd busiest station in the UK impressive !

our local station is 1070th on the list and Pete over at Melton only 1231st in the list which is surprising as I would have thought Melton would generate a lot of traffic to and from Leicester

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

Thanks, but looks like too much of a rabbit hole

But I think the claim was based on a previous article in the Courier:


Rising Leuchars passenger numbers hailed by campaign for St Andrews rail line

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/news/fi ... rail-line/

[...]Since privatisation in 1997 the number of passengers at Leuchars has almost trebled, she said, with an increase of 100,000 over the past three years alone.[...]


Problem is, the article was published in 2018, while the journalist made it sound like it was 2022

This is the third article recently about the rail link, so obviously people at the Courier think it's a good time for a propaganda war

Wouldn't bother posting this one here, but one bit stands out - maybe I was wrong about all the drivers being opposed

But, again, what's the appeal of getting off a train and onto another train as opposed to the current system of getting off the train and onto a bus?

Main answer, I'd guess, is that it would attract the bus-snobs, who won't slum it on a bus, but think there's more status to travelling by train

In fact Cllr Liston has said as much in the past - more chance of people travelling to St Andrews by train all the way if they can get on another train at Leuchars as opposed to a bus

But to me it's more about rearranging the deckchairs, as opposed to saving the environment or bringing more people into town, or more people visiting the town but leaving the car at home.


St Andrews businesses back ‘amazing’ rail station plan

St Andrews salon owners, taxi drivers and café staff have backed the town’s latest push for a train station.

Businesses have revealed their support for the ongoing bid to reinstate the station.

Salon owner Aileen Wallace-Edgar believes a rail link is “needed” in the town.

“I think a rail service to St Andrews would be amazing,” she said.

“It’s something we would love to have here because it would bring so many more people into the town centre.

“It would be a great thing.”

Aileen is the owner of the the Vintage Beauty Box on South Street.

She was raised in Fife and has worked in St Andrews for seven years.

“It’s something that’s needed in the town.

“Especially with the cost of living going up. It gives more options for people to get to St Andrews.”

“Parking is not great here, so a lot of people just avoid St Andrews.

“A lot of my clients only come in for their treatments, not for shopping. They would rather go to Dundee where there’s more ample parking.

“If we had a rail link, it would make it so much easier for them. They wouldn’t have to worry about finding a parking space.

“And”, she joked, “my clients wouldn’t run late as often.”

Aileen, 40, believes the potential disruption during the construction of the railway line would be worth it for “the bigger picture”.

“That might be a bit of a nightmare but we’ll just have to deal with that for the positives in the long run,” she said.

Easy access for tourists

Staff at the popular Gorgeous Café just off Market Street see a railway line as a way to encourage more customers to the town.

Cailan Duane has been working at the café for a year. He said: “I think it would be quite a good thing for businesses in St Andrews.

“It will draw people in who might otherwise have gone right through Leuchars and left.

“Tourists love St Andrews and I think it would be good to give them a better line to it.”

Chandresh, who works for a taxi company in St Andrews, also sees the benefit of a rail link.

“It’s a good idea to have a railway link,” he told me. “That way you bring in more people.

“But it’s also a cost. It will take time, and there could be a lot of disruption.”

Many turn to taxis to get to St Andrews after they get off the train at Leuchars.

But Chandresh, 45, does not think a railway link between the two would be a bad thing for his trade.

He said: “My personal belief is that a link like that would lead to more business.

“If there are more people coming in, there will be more business.”

Emma Bell works at Short Stay St Andrews who offer rentals for visitors to the town.

“It would be very, very busy with a train station,” said the 23-year-old.

“But I think it would be good for the town. You can never be too busy.”

Does the St Andrews rail link have support from the university?

The university, one of the main employers in the town and a popular tourist destination, backs the potential rail link too – albeit tentatively.

A spokesperson said: “Our consistent position has been that we support a rail link to St Andrews in principle.”

StARLink’s railway bid has been delayed by Transport Scotland taking too long to pay their bills, say campaigners.

But for these businesses, it’s clear that the railway link cannot come soon enough.

Er, one taxi driver. And what's the betting the Courier *didn't* ask drivers working the station rank?

Or maybe they just selectively quoted him

After all, that's three articles now that are simply one-sided propaganda for those who want the link.


If it's going to make a difference, it would mean more people using the new train, most of whom currently use the bus, but a minority take a taxi instead.

So fewer five-mile taxi runs to and from the station. And more half-mile runs from the new station for people going to hotels and student halls a few hundred yards away, with half-a-ton of luggage and coffin-style golf bags

But in the grand scheme of things, can't see how it would really affect the environmental stuff, and wouldn't make a huge difference with regards to people leaving their car at home.

Would certainly mean fewer taxi trips to and from Leuchars, but in the grand scheme of the environment that's chickenfeed. And would pale into significance with regards to the traffic disruption entailed in installing the link, I suspect. I mean, the Edinburgh trams??

It's years and years since I've spoken to any driver about the rail link, so I'll have to ask around

But 20 years ago I'd have probably written a letter to the Courier about this, or tried to get them to publish an article (they did do one a good 15 years ago now - have to have a wee look for it).

Is this rail link ever going to happen? No way.

Even if there was a way it's not happening in any of our lifetimes.

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IDFIMH

It can't happen because there's not a lot left of the original track bed as far as I can tell so a brand new railway would have to be built which if you compare costs with the borders line or HS2 would fail any cost benefit analysis

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

If I'd known you were calling up to inspect the tracks I'd have gotten you to buy me lunch

Seriously, though, yes, you're bang on - there's effectively nothing of the original line left, and it would effectively mean starting from scratch. It would need a bridge to cross the River Eden at Guardbridge, and the old station area in St Andrews is now a car park and/or part of the taxi rank at the bus station

The pillars here are all that's left of the old rail bridge (that's the old road bridge in the photo, but it's just single track, and now a footpath/cycleway, and the new road bridge is on the other side of that).



And this is the old rail bridge here at the entrance to the town, but that's obviously of zero relavance whichever option is considered for a new link:

https://www.google.com/maps/@56.3421228 ... 384!8i8192

not been north of the border since 1977 maybe next year assuming there hasn't been an uprising and the borders are closed to all Englishmen

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector

More propaganda in the local press - if this was a commercial organisation you'd assume this was paid for advertorial, but who knows?

But it's not the rail link per se that's the issue, but why someone with such an obvious conflict of interest should have been a taxi licensing councillor for (I'd guess) most of the 34 years she's been campaigning for a rail link.

I'm out at the train station at the moment, and have been here 90 minutes already, and will have been here almost a couple of hours before even the chance of getting a run. And there's probably about twice the number of taxis than official rank space. Nothing particularly new about any of that, but all Cllr Liston seems to do is campaign for a rail link, which would make things a whole lot worse for people like me


How I… started fight for St Andrews train station in the 80s

https://www.thecourier.co.uk/fp/busines ... nn-liston/


Mhairi Edwards/DC Thomson

It’s been 34 years since Jane Ann Liston began her fight for a St Andrews train station – and her resolve hasn’t faded.

Jane Ann has been campaigning to create a rail link to the university town since 1989.

While studying in St Andrews – for a second time – it became obvious to the then 33-year-old Jane Ann that a train station was a no-brainer.

And though much has changed since the 80s, Jane Ann believes the need for a railway link has outlasted leg warmers.

But how has she kept going through a series of doors closing in her face, unpaid bills and sexism?

If you want a job done right…

In the 1970s, Jane Ann was studying for her first degree at St Andrews.

“I had just been here for a couple of months and had some schoolfriends visiting from Edinburgh,” she explained.

“One of them asked for a railway ticket to St Andrews in 1975.

“I had to say, ‘sorry, you don’t get a railway ticket to St Andrews’. She couldn’t believe it.”

One of the reasons Jane Ann learned to drive and got a car was because of the difficulty involved in getting to St Andrews, and the “faffing around” required at Leuchars. Nowadays she travels mostly by bike.

“When I was back as a student in ’85 I thought, it’s really silly that St Andrews doesn’t have a railway line. Someone should be campaigning for this.”


Image: Jane Ann Liston/Glasgow Herald/DC Thomson

“I kept thinking this, and I kept thinking this… and then I thought ‘to hang with it’.

“It’s like the Bible says: ‘Here am I, send me!’

“I realised I was going to have to do this myself.

“It was just shortly after graduating with my second degree in 1989 that, with one or two other people, I started putting things together.

“The campaign was launched at the community council meeting on September 4 1989.

“That was it. And immediately, people started telling me how difficult it would be.”

‘It would be daft to give up’

Jane Ann has heard “no” many times since that day in 1989.

From a funding refusal in 2019 and plenty local naysayers over the years, she has remained determined throughout.

The latest delay for campaign group StARLink was an unpaid bill which stalled their progress last October.

But she remains as motivated as ever.


Image: Jane Ann Liston/DC Thomson

“It would be daft to give up,” Jane Ann said, “because there’s still a problem.

“Climate change is not going to go away, and the tourism industry in St Andrews is not going to go away – we hope.

“The university isn’t going anywhere either.

“There are always going to be people wanting to come to St Andrews, so we have got to find a sustainable way of getting them here.

“Playing the Old Course over Zoom loses something, doesn’t it?

“The justification for having a St Andrews railway hasn’t lessened since 1989, if anything it has increased.

“[I’ve got] a flat head from banging it against the wall.”

Not the pipe dream of a ‘mad woman’

A feature from the 1980s which Jane Ann still has to endure today is sexism.

Jane Ann refuses to be relegated to a corner after the thirty some years she has spent working on the campaign.

She suspects there is a “streak of misogyny” present, perhaps unconsciously, when it comes to her involvement in the campaign.

Many, she says, do not take the campaign seriously.

“I think it has been written off as a mad woman’s idea,” Jane Ann admitted.

But not everyone has that view.


Image: Steve Brown/DC Thomson.

Jane Ann’s decades of tireless campaigning means she was recently recognised with a Railfuture Campaigner of the Year award during a presentation in Holyrood.

“It’s very nice to be recognised,” she said, “it means someone has been paying attention.

“It gives the attempts to expand the rail network more credibility.”

Well I've got brain damage, then

for Stuart

Found this on you tube a reminder of what the rail link once looked like St andrews station is towards the end

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9LrZxjdgrIg&t=332s

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lack of modern legislation is the iceberg sinking the titanic of the transport sector