We were pleased to welcome Eugene Clark as speaker on the subject of the Levenmouth rail campaign, of which he is chairman. This group has been campaigning for a more prosperous Levenmouth and, in particular, the recreation of a rail link to Thornton, to join the main rail line to Edinburgh.

This line was closed in 1969, but the rails and track bed were not dismantled. Whilst much work will be needed to reinstate the track, we heard that the engineering needed is fairly straightforward. 

A decision has just been made by the Scottish Government to proceed with the project, at a cost estimated to be around £70M. The travel time to Edinburgh is expected to be 60 - 75 minutes, with the aim that the link will help lead to the regeneration of the Levenmouth area.

Eugene told us that much had been learned from the Borders rail line and that there had been great community support as well as cross-party support from MSPs. Nevertheless, it had been a long campaign with impressive statistics - 10,000 emails, 3,000 tweets, 43 parliamentary questions, a 14.500 signature petition and 69 monthly meetings!

It was interesting to see plans for the line and to hear of plans to create an integrated transport network with ‘park and ride’ facilities and cycle path integration.

Despite the good news of government support being announced, Eugene commented that he still saw much work to do, in order the make sure the plans do come to fruition. 

This was a talk that prompted many questions, following which a warm vote of thanks was proposed.More about the campaign can be found at (https://levenmouth.co.uk)