Stevenson Calls for Next Rail Project to be in the North East

Stewart Stevenson, SNP MSP for Banffshire & Buchan Coast, has called for the next Scottish rail project to be in the North East, in the same week that HM the Queen opened a new railway line from Edinburgh to the Borders.

In a Scottish Parliament debate on the progress of the Scottish economy, Mr Stevenson said that he had visited Tweedbank on the new Borders railway earlier this week, adding:

“I would now like to build a case for Buchan rail. Fraserburgh, with a population of 15,000, is 37 miles from the nearest railway station, and Peterhead, with a population of 19,000, is 32 miles from the nearest railway station. That is the next big rail project and I hope that the Government looks at it in early course.”

In the debate which highlighted the longest period of uninterrupted economic growth in Scotland since 2001, Mr Stevenson also highlighted the need to look at educational inequality and the importance of investing in unrealised potential to further boost the economy and employment long term.