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Wednesday 20 Dec 2017

Christmas work keeps electrification of central Scotland’s railway on track

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Network Rail engineers will deliver a range of work over Christmas and New Year period, as part of ongoing activity on the Stirling-Dunblane-Alloa (SDA) electrification project.

Part of a Scottish Government investment being delivered by Network Rail, electrification of central Scotland’s rail network will reduce journey times to Glasgow and Edinburgh as well as increasing capacity on peak services on new longer and greener modern trains.

Projects being delivered over the Christmas and New Year period include the electrification of Kippenross Tunnel near Dunblane, work on footbridge in Stirling station, and the installation of masts and metal work between Falkirk and Larbert.

The engineering work which will take place between Sunday December 24 and Wednesday December 27 and Sunday December 31and Tuesday January 2, 2018 is important to enable the project to push forward at a time when the railway is quieter than usual.

Kippenross Tunnel

To enable installation of a ‘conductor bar’ electrification system through Kippenross Tunnel, a number of anchor bolts must be drilled into the roof first.  This work will be carried out over 54hrs at Christmas and 29hrs at New Year, when trains are not running on the network.

Stirling station footbridge

In preparation for electrification of the line, work will begin to ‘height clear’ the footbridge between platforms two and three at Stirling station. Work will be continuous from Christmas Eve until December 27 as a four month programme of work on the structure gets underway

Falkirk to Larbert

On a number of track sections between Falkirk and Larbert, teams will work to erect masts, install metal work and register the equipment working from Hogmanay until the morning of January 2.

 

Iain McFarlane, route delivery director at Network Rail, said: “While we appreciate it is inconvenient for some, delivering working over the festive period means we disrupt less journeys as fewer people are travelling on the railway at this time of year

“Having longer periods of time to work on the track continuously enables us to do more work more efficiently and push ahead with some critical elements in the delivery of the Stirling- Dublane-Alloa electrification works.

“While we apologise for any disturbance caused as a result of these works, we would also like to thank our lineside neighbours for their continued patience as we deliver this important investment in Scotland’s railway infrastructure.”

Work is set to complete on the electrification of the line to Stirling Dunblane Alloa in 2019,  and builds on the recent delivery of electrification between Edinburgh and Glasgow via Falkirk High, the line between Springburn and Cumbernauld, the redevelopment of Edinburgh’s Haymarket station and the completion of the Edinburgh Gateway train-tram interchange.

Across Scotland this Christmas, Network Rail will complete more than £15m-worth of infrastructure upgrades with around 4,500 engineers working over 50,000 hours.

Signalling and overhead power lines will be renewed and replaced at locations around Glasgow, new tracks will be laid on sections of the west coast main line and on the main line between Edinburgh and Glasgow and a junction in Lanarkshire will also be renewed.

Across Britain, more than 32,000 railway staff will be out delivering £160m-worth of work creating more reliable infrastructure, reducing journey times and improving facilities and services for passengers.