'A train line could make the bypass almost redundant' - Your Views Online

Edinburgh’s South Suburban rail line should be reopened to passenger services as a rail alternative to the City Bypass, Holyrood Lib Dem candidate Fred Mackintosh has claimed. Do readers agree?

Commuters disembarking at Morningside Station on the South Sub line in 1961

Douglas Boxall: The current tram system should have been built on the South Suburban rail network. Would have served a much larger number of public and areas of the city, like Abbeyhill, Meadowbank and Portobello.

Pab Roberts: There's already a proposal. Greens are in favour. More bipartisan support for efficient transport networks is great.

Thelma Kelly: Given that our roads are so busy, we should always explore other transport solutions and have every mode made available to travellers.

Diane Black: A great idea but they’d need to keep the fares affordable

Vince Nayar: It makes sense. Some stations still there would need upgrading. However, it will never happen as they’ve been talking about this for years.

Gavin Jarvie: Alternatively, run the tram out on that line to Portobello and Musselburgh instead of the train. Just think of having a hop-on and hop-off stop at the beach and also Musselburgh races. You could even run it out to sunny Dunbar and give more daytrippers a chance to visit some of the nearby castles and gardens as well as the races, which can make for a fantastic day out.

Ken Johnson: Unfortunately the railway uses a different voltage to the Edinburgh trams. The systems aren't compatible and the present tram fleet would need to be extensively modified to use the line.

Ralf Farrer: This needs to be done, but they are struggling for platform time and space at Waverley.

John Monaghan: The bypass needs widened and upgraded to motorway status and the Sheriffhall and Gogarburn roundabouts all bypassed. This must be the priority. The bypass is now queued almost all day every day – this will be hugely detrimental to Scotland’s economy.

Atholl Cunningham: If they used a train line from say Gogar to Musselburgh with stops on the way and the trains were regular it would make the bypass almost redundant. We could do the same in the east of the city as well. Would save all the upheaval of laying new tram lines as I m sure they could upgrade or lay new tracks with mimlnimal disruption.

Henry Campbell Gillan: When I first started working I commuted between Morningside and Haymarket. The journey took 12 minutes. It was so good that I could come home for lunch. That all changed when the line closed in 1962. By that time the car ownership and the resultant traffic through Morningside and Tollcross had risen to such an extent that the buses were slowed up too much. The bus journey at peak periods could take 30 minutes or more.

Hugh Cairney: This was Edinburgh’s biggest mistake. These railways should have been a metro system serving all of the city, not just one tram line.

Ser Glynn: We had a great rail network not just in the city but in the UK and we badly need to rebuild the railways instead of wasting money on HS2.