THE addition of a rail halt at the Halbeath Park and Ride is never likely to come to fruition, according to a Dunfermline councillor.

The £10 million Halbeath Park and Ride celebrated its third birthday this week and offers motorists the option of leaving the car behind and hopping on a bus. 

The transport hub has proven popular and there have been persistent calls to add a rail halt, especially as the Fife Circle line runs just to the north of the car park.

However, Dunfermline North councillor Ian Ferguson says an ethylene pipeline between Mossmorran and Grangemouth is close to the spot where any rail halt would be built.

He believes this has been overlooked in discussions regarding a rail halt and will result in hopes being scuppered.

“The pipeline comes ashore to the west towards Kincardine and travels through Fife, round the top of Dunfermline and then comes down to Kingseat Road and does a sharp left at the railway line to Cowdenbeath and Mossmorran,” he explained.

“If you went to the Halbeath Park and Ride and walked up towards the railway line, there is a a gap of about 10 yards which is grassy and that’s where they put the pipeline around 25 to 30 years ago.”

Cllr Ferguson claimed house-builders he had spoken said they wouldn’t build on it or close to it so he is unsure how a train station could be built on or in close proximity to it.

“It seems strange that everyone is still talking about it – clearly there is something not right,” he told the Press.

“I have got a lot of good maps of the area showing where it goes and it is not going to happen.

“It is a nice thing for the politicians to say that we will build something there but the detail is not there. 

“Health and safety won’t let them build on it. We could get round it by moving the train line a little north but who is going to do that?”

A Transport Scotland spokesperson said a new station at Halbeath does not feature in the Scottish Government’s current £5 billion investment programme to 2019 but didn’t rule out the possibility of one in the future.

“The park and ride facility referred to in the Strategic Transport Projects Review proposal for a rail link between Inverkeithing and Halbeath is the now established bus based park and ride,” the spokesperson said. 

“However, the Scottish Government is committed to ongoing improvements to rail services and connectivity and is willing to consider projects subject to the its investment priorities for the strategic transport network, a robust business case, affordability and other competing proposals.”