A long-awaited new rail station at Inverness Airport is poised to be given the go-ahead next week after more than a decade on the drawing board.
Councillors have been urged to give their backing to the £5million development at Dalcross when the plans finally go before them.
The 568ft platform is expected to be built by December, if approved, with the station to be open to passengers before the end of next year.
The development is viewed as vital to accommodate growing airport passenger numbers, the nearby business park and thousands of new homes being built at Tornagrain.
The proposals include car parking for 150 vehicles, as well as shelters, real-time passenger information and ticket machines, while the airport is expected to run a shuttle bus on the mile-long route between the terminal and station.
The Petty level crossing would also close, despite concerns raised about access by some local residents and the community council.
Inverness Chamber of Commerce chief executive Stewart Nicol hailed the project’s progress last night.
“There’s an awful lot of major items that are coming together and all of these will hugely improve the city,” he said.
“We have seen a lot of development around Inverness and its extremities and the new station is fantastic and needed in the city. It’s all very significant for tourism and infrastructure.”
The proposed location of the station is adjacent to the C1017 airport access road, between the first and second roundabouts after leaving the existing A96, at the southern corner of the airfield.
A rail station previously operated at Dalcross, by the site of the closure-threatened level crossing, opening in 1855 and closing in 1965.
Plans to revive the stop-off began to be devised by local transport chiefs Hitrans in 2005, and it has already drawn up proposals to build a second platform and a “passing place” for trains at Dalcross between 2019 and 2024.
Once built, every train on the Inverness to Aberdeen route will stop at the station, with forecasts projecting that within 50 years it will overtake Elgin to become the second busiest in the north, after Inverness city centre.
The development ties in with plans to have half-hourly train services between Elgin and Inverness, and an hourly service pattern between Inverness and Aberdeen.
The platform will be able to accommodate high-speed trains with five carriages and two engine cars.
Recommending approval of the plans in a report to Tuesday’s south planning committee, officials said it would be “a valuable asset for the continued investment at Inverness Airport, the business park and the community of Tornagrain”.
