24.07.15
Edinburgh-Glasgow line electrification work nears completion
Electrification work on the Edinburgh to Glasgow Queen Street line will be completed this Sunday after much disruption to passenger services in the past six weeks.
The track had been closed for 44 days in order to be lowered to install new slabtracks and electricity conductors as well as remove supporting steel work, repair masonry walls and tamp adjacent tracks.
Improvement engineering works in the Winchburgh tunnel began in June and affected services on the main line between Linlithgow and Haymarket, diverting passengers to rail replacement buses or slower alternative lines in operation on the Dunblane, Stirling and Alloa to Edinburgh line.
Services are due to return to normal on Monday (27 July) and trains will resume running between Edinburgh, Falkirk High and Glasgow Queen Street. Services from the Dunblane area will no longer divert via Dalmeny, so passengers travelling to or from Edinburgh Park will not need replacement buses.
The £17m project is part of the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme and part of a total of £742m worth of transformations.
The project aims to electrify the line by 2016 and redevelop several stations in the hopes of reducing journey times by 20%.
David Dickson, Network Rail’s route managing director for Scotland, said the team worked “around the clock” over the 44-day closure to complete the works, and added: “The Edinburgh-Glasgow Improvement Programme is a unique chance to modernise and enhance our railway and transform rail services across the central belt, creating a faster more resilient and more reliable network.”