| Fife Circle Line | |
|---|---|
| Overview | |
| System | National Rail |
| Locale | Edinburgh Fife Scotland |
| Operation | |
| Owner | Network Rail |
The Fife Circle is the local rail service north from Edinburgh. It links all the towns of south Fife and the coastal towns along the Firth of Forth before heading to Edinburgh.
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The service includes the Edinburgh-Kirkcaldy stretch of the East Coast Main Line, which includes the world-famous Forth Bridge. On the Fife side, while this line hugs the coast, the circle is formed by a line from Inverkeithing that loops back round to Kirkcaldy by an inland route through the old Fife coalfield. Narrowly speaking, just this line could be called the Fife Circle.
There is a goods line connection from Dunfermline to Stirling via Longannet Power Station that rail campaigners would like to reopen to passengers, as it has already been between Stirling and Alloa. Coal trains that formerly crossed the Forth Bridge en route to Longannet Power Station are now rerouted by that line so that the bridge's maximum signalling capacity for trains can be used to increase the local passenger service. The line between Alloa and Dunfermline currently is not signalled for regular passenger services. The Fife Circle is a priority for present investment in new rolling stock. Its morning peak services can be notoriously overcrowded.
The operator is now First ScotRail. This is part of First Group, the same company as runs the South Queensferry-Edinburgh bus service 43 that the Fife Circle train parallels from Dalmeny station.
In 2000, a new station was opened in the expanding eastern suburbs of Dunfermline and given the name of Dunfermline Queen Margaret, after the nearby Queen Margaret hospital.
Fife Circle and Edinburgh Crossrail stations are served by a half-hourly service, with the stations from Inverkeithing to Edinburgh served by four trains per hour.
Here the main line and loop line divide.
The two lines join forming a circle.
The east peninsula of Fife beyond Kirkcaldy is not served by railways post-Beeching, and the devolved Scottish government is considering backing a branch reopening to Leven, where a new halt will be built next to the swimming pool and at the disused power station. This is to satisfy the long term upward trend of cross-Forth communications in Fife's economy. Along this branch line is Cameron Bridge. Network Rail have scheduled an inspection and assessment of the freight loading gauge for goods on this line in 2010.
It has also been proposed to start a Burntisland-Leith ferry crossing in order to spread some of the Fife-Edinburgh traffic. A previous attempt at promoting this ferry service as a commuter route failed in 1991. Leith itself, now Edinburgh's government district, is not served by rail but is planned to be linked to the Edinburgh tram network. Leith is also served by some bus routes from south Fife, but these bus services are subject to Forth Road Bridge congestion.
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