I am pleased to see that work has started at our station in Broughty Ferry to convert the station house and platform buildings into a restaurant. It's good to see that there is now confidence by Scotrail to go ahead and undertake the conversion work which was granted planning permission some while ago. I hope this will help Scotrail find a restaurateur willing to take on the lease.
From Monday 5 December the pedestrian underpass will be closed until Christmas while work is undertaken near the level crossing to create a new access point to the down platform (trains to Dundee).
This is very poor timing for traders in The Ferry. It's also a pity that while all this improvement work is going on that the smelly and grubby underpass is not being updated. I have written to the Council's Head of Transportation to see whether a deep clean can be done before the underpass is reopened. I would also hope we improve the 'walk the plank' experience along the suspended walkway just above the bottom of the tunnel which is prone to flooding. It's a bit of a Heath Robinson and would hardly pass current standards of health and safety. I think it would be much better if the suspended walkway covered the full width of the tunnel bottom.
While the the pedestrian underpass is closed, I hope pedestrians will be patient while they wait at the level crossing gates and no one ignores the warming lights flashing and the barriers beginning to fall. Most non stopping rains race through the Ferry at 80 mph.
Earlier in the Autumn, I wrote to the Scotrail Managing Director, Scott Montgomery, to request improvements to the information available about trains and the timetable to be on both the platforms. I can report some good and bad news. Firstly, the good news is that he has confirmed that:
"we will arrange for a timetable to be displayed on both platforms at Broughty Ferry (this has been taken up with the local Manager at Dundee)"
At the moment there is no train timetable displayed on the Up platform for trains towards Aberdeen. The bad news is that he also says that:
"regrettably we have no plans at the present to install Customer Information Screens at this station. .... Although it is recognised that the station would benefit from these Screens, funding for station improvements is limited and we have to prioritise the stations."
I have also written to Steve Mongomery to find out where Broughty Ferry is on the Scotrail waiting list and to TACTRAN to urge they support this improvement.
