10.03.16
A single failure could stop Glasgow trains during Queen Street closure – Verster
A single failure could ‘kill’ extra rail services into Glasgow during the 20-week closure of Queen Street Station, the boss of ScotRail Alliance said during an evidence session at Holyrood.
Phil Verster warned the Scottish parliament’s infrastructure and capital investment committee that plans to keep the city’s rail network running from 20 March to 8 August while the station is closed for upgrades to allow faster and longer trains meant there would be no spare capacity.
He added that he was deploying extra staff from other lines to try to ensure the network kept running.
While giving evidence to the committee, Verster said: “It's all-out, and it will be for this 20 week period. It's going to be a huge effort from our side and we have to find ways to create the robustness which spare capacity could have given us.
“With the way I am cycling rolling stock and services through areas from Bellgrove to Hyndland, if I have a train failure there, the plan is dead. The daily service plan is dead. And that’s just the way the network is.”
Glasgow is also due to get upgrades to its subway, with a £200m contract awarded to the Stadler Bussnang AG/Ansaldo STS Consortium to develop new trains.