Impact of dualling A9 on rail freight movements: EIR release
Information request and response under the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004.
FOI reference: FOI/17/01887
Date received: 16 August 2017
Date responded: 14 September 2017
Information requested
Unpublished assessments, reports, studies, memos or correspondence in 2016 or 2017 relating to the forecast impact of dualling the A9 on existing and potential rail freight movements on the the main highland line between Perth and Inverness.
Response
As the information you have requested is 'environmental information' for the purposes of the Environmental Information (Scotland) Regulations 2004 (EIRs), we are required to deal with your request under those Regulations. We are applying the exemption at section 39(2) of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002 (FOISA), so that we do not also have to deal with your request under FOISA.
This exemption is subject to the 'public interest test'. Therefore, taking account of all the circumstances of this case, we have considered if the public interest in disclosing the information outweighs the public interest in applying the exemption. We have found that, on balance, the public interest lies in favour of upholding the exemption, because there is no public interest in dealing with the same request under two different regimes. This is essentially a technical point and has no material effect on the outcome of your request.
The details requested are contained in Annexes A and B attached with this letter. These documents relate to unpublished information during the period reqested (2016 and 2017).
Although your requests relates to unpublished documents in 2016 and 2017 only, I have included below a link to the A9 Dualling Case for Investment, which was published in 2016, and I have attached a Technical Note (A9 OBC Technical Note 12), which was produced in 2015 to identify impactsfor the dualling of the A9 by investigating the current characteristics of freight traffic along the Perth to Inverness Corridor, including the potential for existing road freight to switch to using rail freight or the reverse which you may find helpful.
A9Dualling Case for Investment:
Annex A – Extract from Ministerial Engagement Briefing - Anne E - Meeting with Rail Freight Group - 28 September 2016
Annex B – Extract from Engagement Briefing - Mr Yousaf - Rail Freight Group Annual Scottish Conference - Annex G - Questions Answers
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