LOCAL COUNCILLOR TELLS MSP: 'DON'T LIMIT OUR AMBITION FOR KINTORE STATION'

The SNP has expressed their disappointment at Lib-Dem MSP Mike Rumbles for his politically-motivated attacks over the proposed new railway station at Kintore.

Mr Rumbles, who voted to spend £500 million of taxpayers' money replacing two bus routes in Edinburgh with trams, was demanding money be spent on providing only a single platform station at Kintore with no regard for the need for a passing loop at this location, which future service improvements may require.

They said:

"We very much support the cross-party, Multi-Agency approach being used to progress the Kintore Rail Halt. It's just a pity that Mr Rumbles has once again waded into something for his own narrow political ends when it's not even in his constituency.

"The fact is, the Scottish Government has made the funds available to those agencies who need to do the design modelling work not just at Kintore but along the whole Inverness-Aberdeen line. There is no point in blundering ahead with a single platform at Kintore with no doubling of the track as Mr Rumbles suggests when doing so may actually hamper the increase in services on this line in the future.

"We suspect Mike Rumbles certainly isn't a railway engineer so we're content to let the professionals get on with the job of advising us on what the best options are not just for Kintore but the whole Inverness-Aberdeen line."