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Thursday 28 Sep 2023

EK community invited to railway event on station plans

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Network Rail is holding a public engagement event on Wednesday 11 October to highlight proposals for Hairmyres and East Kilbride stations.

Ahead of submitting a Prior Approval Notice with South Lanarkshire Council for the works, the event is being held at the Plaza Mall (outside Costa Coffee), EK Shopping Centre, from 1pm to 5pm.

The station proposals are part of the wider East Kilbride Enhancement project, a £139.8m investment at the centre of the Scottish Government’s ongoing strategy to decarbonise Scotland’s Railway.

Under the proposals, Hairmyres station will relocated to a site off Redwood Avenue, 600m to the west of its existing location, and a new accessible building at East Kilbride station will be built

Plans also include extending the existing track loop at Hairmyres by 1.4km and installing a second platform at the site of the new station. The enhanced loop will provide greater operational resilience during times of disruption and the opportunity to increase services to meet future demands.

Stephen McCall, Network Rail programme manager, said: “I would encourage East Kilbride residents to come along on the 11 October to meet the team and find out more about our plans for both stations and the sustainable benefits the wider project will deliver.

“The East Kilbride Enhancement project will create an electrified railway that allows us to remove diesel trains from the network and introduce carbon-free journeys for communities along the East Kilbride to Glasgow railway corridor. This will be a game changer in terms of the passenger experience, as the benefits will include improved line speed, reliability of service and a greener, cleaner railway environment.”

Working in collaboration with South Lanarkshire Council, the new location for Hairmyres station also creates an opportunity to provide an improved transport interchange hub with increased car parking, including disabled and EV charging spaces.

The council is leading on plans for the transport interchange which incorporates provision for new traffic signal-controlled junctions for the north and south areas, connections to the wider active travel network and secure cycle storage.

The station enhancements being delivered by Network Rail also include a new accessible footbridge with lifts at Giffnock station, a new footbridge and additional station entrance at Clarkston and a new station footbridge at Busby.

Members of the public can find out more about the East Kilbride Enhancement project by emailing EKEnhancements@networkrail.co.uk or calling the Network Rail helpline on 03457 11 41 41. For the latest information and updates as the project progresses, follow us on Twitter @NetworkRailScot or visit www.scotlandsrailway.com