Extreme Railways – A Talk by Professor Christopher Harvie – 4pm 27th November Royal Scot’s Club Edinburgh
Following the STSG AGM which will be held at 3pm on 27th November Professor Christopher Harvie will present a radical case for extreme railways to boost economic prospects and life-chances. Christopher Harvie was born in Motherwell 1944 and his books such as “A Short History of Scotland” and “Deep Fried Hillman Imp” chart a period of profound change in Scottish society and culture.
Between 2007 and 2011 he served as an SNP MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife and prior to that was Professor of British and Irish Studies at the University of Tuebingen in Germany. Chris’s writing has been described as being like mercury from a broken thermometer since it sparkles and you do not know where it will roll to next. Chris was President of the Scottish Association for Public Transport from 2002-12 and currently divides his time between Melrose in the Scottish Borders and Tuebingen, where the Baden Wurttemberg government is determined to outdo its Swiss rivals in pro-rail policy.
Drawing from this German experience he will discuss what an extreme railway vision for Scotland might comprise, including the social organsation to stimulate local responses. He will discuss how Scotland can aspire to become a world leader in low-energy consumption and high educational standards, setting new global standards for social culture and tourism in the 21st century.
Tea and Coffee will be served from 3:45pm
3 Comments
I’m keen to come to this talk. Do I need to book a ticket?
Regards ~ Ewan
Thank Big G I have you around, John, or I would have been in Glasgow while the fans would have been in Auld Reekie …
Time the Scottish Government (SG) woke up to the possibility of the railway. I suspect there is a great deal of relief that most of the Scottish network which survived the initial onslaught by Beeching was reprieved from closure in the 1970s but it’s now time to move on.
SG is intent on dualling both the A96 and the A9, where there is a parallel railway in both cases. Proper investment in the Aberdeen-Inverness and the Highland Main Line north of Perth with double track throughout and electrification would reduce journey times to a sensible level. This would act to boost the local economies and help to take cars of the road.
Conversely, proceeding with the dualling programme on those key roads will only exacerbate the requirement for more local roads within the main towns to cope with the increased traffic.