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Monday 15 Apr 2019

Easter investment for Aberdeen-Inverness line

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Network Rail will be working around the clock this Easter to deliver vital upgrades on the railway between Kintore and Inverurie as part of the Aberdeen-Inverness Improvement Project.

From end of service on Friday, April 19, until the start of service on Tuesday, April 23, engineers will be extending bridges at a range of locations on the line to create the space needed to add a second track between Aberdeen and Inverurie.

Work will also be carried out to remove redundant structures on the railway and enhance undertrack drainage.

In order to deliver these vital engineering works as safely and efficiently as possible, the line will be closed between Dyce and Inverurie over the Easter holiday weekend with a bus replacement service operating between the two stations.

A further phase of work on these enhancements will also take place on Saturday, April 27, and Sunday, April 28, with buses again replacing trains between Dyce and Inverurie.

Graeme Stewart, Network Rail senior sponsor for the Aberdeen-Inverness Improvement Project, said: “We understand the inconvenience this work may cause to some passengers and residents, but such a huge investment in the railway cannot be delivered without some short-term closures of the line.

“The Aberdeen-Inverness Improvement Project means more services, more seats and faster journeys for passengers and will help create new opportunities for the communities the line serves.

“Our engineers will be working hard to complete this complex programme as quickly as possible.”

Funded by the Scottish Government, the Aberdeen-Inverness Improvement Project will increase capacity on the route between the two cities.

The benefits of the project for ScotRail customers include:

• More services between Elgin and Inverness (from December 2018), increasing during 2019 until there is an hourly service all day, providing 1,300 additional seats.
• Additional Elgin-Aberdeen early morning and late evening services.
• InterCity trains operating between Aberdeen and Inverness, providing an extra 1,400 seats each day between the two cities.
• A half-hourly service all day between Inverurie and Aberdeen from December 2019, with extra services at peak times, providing 3,000 additional seats each day

Network Rail engineers will also be working from May to August to complete the multi-million-pound upgrade to the track and signalling between Aberdeen and Inverurie.

From May 4 until August 19, the railway will undergo a series of closures to allow engineers to double the track between Dyce and Inverurie, carry-out more bridge upgrades and deliver signalling enhancements.

The following service alterations will be in place during the upgrade works:

May 4–June 14: Buses replace trains between Dyce and Inverurie.

June 15–August 9: Buses replace trains between Dyce and Huntly.                 

August 10–August 12: Bus replace trains between Aberdeen and Inverness.

August 13–August 19: Buses replace trains between Aberdeen and Huntly.

During the 15 weeks, engineers will lay 10 miles of rail over circa 40,000 sleepers and replace or refurbish 19 bridges on the line.

More service information for passengers is available at scotrail.co.uk/improvements as well as on the ScotRail app.