AN EARLIER column argued that the flood of houses into the county has not been matched by the necessary infrastructure.

The most vital infrastructure is rail, where some progress had been made. Lothian Region built Wallyford station a quarter of a century ago. Old slam-door trains have been replaced by modern class 380/385 units. In 2014, ScotRail started running a limited service to Dunbar, stopping at Musselburgh (for QMU) and, after decades without, Dunbar has a northbound platform again.

All good stuff, but it has pressured capacity on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) further. Not one metre of new track to ease this has been laid.

The £57m project west of Prestonpans simply shifted track away from mine subsidence in a one-for-one replacement.

After two decades of lobbying, plans to restore stations mean Reston is now under way and due to open early next year, with East Linton awaiting planning consent.

But a service to Berwick stopping at either will further crowd ECML capacity, as stopping trains require larger ‘slots’ of time than expresses.

Plans had been laid for TransPennine trains to Newcastle to provide a service but all that now appears to be up in the air.

This is because First intends to launch a fast Edinburgh-London service. To combat this, LNER wants to speed up its own services and add more. This may block any new local service until capacity is improved. This is where lack of foresight comes home to roost.

There is talk of quadrupling the line between Wallyford and Drem. But this is delusion. Such major work would cost at least £1bn.

There is a more sensible solution, suggested in an earlier column. It was short-sighted to build the new £7m platform at Dunbar without placing it on a spur (like the southbound platform), allowing local trains to stop while expresses pass.

What the county needs for the future is an hourly local service to Berwick, connecting the new stations and Dunbar with Edinburgh.

Interleaving this with the existing North Berwick service would provide half-hourly service west of Drem. However, this may mean loss of direct service to ECML stations to London, as well as Cross-Country services to Birmingham.

Capacity could be found by adding platforms to existing loops at Drem, plus the old Cockenzie loop at Prestonpans, with a new loop and platform near the Col Gardiner memorial, at a cost under £30m.

Local trains stopping at either station would clear the line to increase capacity and provide the transport backbone our county needs for its future.