Perth Railway Station is set to undergo a “radical” redevelopment and could be merged with the city’s bus station to form a major new travel hub.
At a committee meeting last week councillors were told a preferred option for the combined ‘Perth Station’ has now been reached.
At the meeting councillors were told there has been “significant progress” on the new travel plans over the last couple of months.
Plans for a brand new bus and railway interchange have been much vaunted for years with £50million of Tay Cities Deal funding allocated to improve both Perth stations which sit close to one another on Leonard Street.
While towns and cities the length and breadth of the country have seen their bus and train stations upgraded in recent years, Perth’s city centre bus and railway stations have remained largely unchanged.
A report put before Perth and Kinross Council’s (PKC) Environmental, Infrastructure and Economic Development Committee on Wednesday, March 29 said: “It should be noted that Network Rail is planning to redevelop Perth Railway Station with an emerging station masterplan, potentially integrating the railway station with the neighbouring bus station.”
Conservative councillor Angus Forbes asked for an update on progress with the station masterplan saying he was unaware of there being much in his time as a councillor.
The Carse of Gowrie councillor said: “I’ve been here for almost six years and it seems we’ve been talking about that for all of those six years. I just wondered if there had been any progress on that.”
PKC’s head of Planning and Development David Littlejohn - who sits on the project board for Perth Station - revealed there had been “significant progress in the last couple of months”.
He explained: “A number of options have been considered by the project board and Network Rail, Transport Scotland, ScotRail, Historic Environment Scotland, and a range of other stakeholders.
“We’ve now reached a preferred option for the station. That preferred option will shortly be consulted on.
“It’s essentially a radical reconfiguration of the station - both to address the requirements of electrification and hybrid trains travelling north but also to reduce the footprint in the sense of reducing the amount of steps people have to take to access the various platforms.
“I think it’s positive news but I can’t say too much more until that public consultation is launched in the next few weeks by Network Rail and Transport Scotland.”
Cllr Forbes said: “That really is good news. I’m delighted to hear that.”
Mr Littlejohn told councillors it was a 20-year investment programme.
He added: “Following the consultation and agreement that this is the option that is being progressed, a business case needs to be made to Transport Scotland to fund it. So the intent is clear now, the direction of travel - subject to consultation - will be much clearer. I think the full cost of implementing this is a matter for government to consider.
“I think some elements of the programme will happen much more quickly within the next three years and I think other elements of it are pushed down into 10, 15, 20 years.”
Depute Provost Andrew Parrott - SNP elected member for Perth City Centre - said he was “very keen” on the project and added: “I will be doing all I can to push forward on it.”
