Nanette Milne, Scottish Conservative MSP for the North East has accused the SNP of dithering and delaying improvements to transport infrastructure in the North East after SNP Transport Minister Keith Brown said that implementation of the improvements to the route would be determined as part of the High Level Output Specifications for 2014 to 2019.
She said, “The SNP clearly do not have any desire to bring forward the Aberdeen to Central Belt Rail Enhancements Project which could reduce by 20 minutes rail journey times between Aberdeen and the central belt.
“North East residents are tired of waiting for the SNP to deliver on its transport promises to voters across the North East – a situation which is holding the economy and North East businesses back. To date we have seen no progress of delivering the AWPR, dualing of the A90, addressing the Inveramsay Bridge bottleneck, or meeting the SNP Governments own target of reducing journey times between Aberdeen and the central belt by twenty minutes.
“SNP Ministers have made the mistake of placing all North East infrastructure improvements in the same package which is being delayed by the AWPR being held up in the Supreme Court.
“Increasingly it is becoming clear that the SNP are now a central belt bias party with the electrification of the line between Glasgow and Edinburgh being given priority.
“The delay in improving rail journal times from the North East is yet another sign of the SNP not delivering for the North East.”