Thursday 5 Oct 2017
Engineers set to begin 10-day infrastructure upgrade between Inverness-Keith
- Region & Route:
- Scotland’s Railway: Scotland
Our engineers will be working around-the-clock from tomorrow night (Friday, October 6) to deliver a vital phase of the Aberdeen-Inverness Improvement Project.
During the 10-day closure of the line, Network Rail and main contractor BAM Nuttall will:
- Complete 1.5km of new track in Forres
- Finish the new Forres station and link road
- Complete 1.2km of new track in Elgin
- Extend the platforms at Elgin
- Upgrade Elgin level crossing to a full-barrier, CCTV crossing
- Remove redundant signal boxes at Elgin and Forres
- Upgrade signalling systems between Elgin and Inverness.
Due to the complexity of the engineering work and the heavy machinery involved, these projects cannot be delivered without the short-term closure of the line.
Replacement bus services will operate between Inverness and Keith from Saturday, October 7, until start of service on Tuesday, October 17, to help minimise disruption for passengers while we deliver this vital investment in Scotland’s railway.
Matthew Spence, delivery director for Network Rail Infrastructure Projects in Scotland, said: “The Aberdeen-Inverness Improvement project will transform train travel between the two cities and the work we are undertaking over the next ten days is vital to the delivery of the project.
“Our engineers will be working around-the-clock to complete this complex programme as quickly as possible.
“We understand the inconvenience these works will cause to some passengers, residents and motorists and we are working hard to keep disruption to a minimum.”
The Aberdeen-Inverness Improvement Project is a Scottish Government-funded scheme to improve journey times and increase capacity on the route between the two cities.
The project will provide a day-time hourly commuter service between Inverness and Elgin by December 2018 and a half hourly service between Aberdeen and Inverurie by the end of 2019, and increase end-to-end services to an hourly frequency in the longer term.
These new services will help to improve the flexibility the railway can offer the expanding communities around the two cities – opening up new job and leisure opportunities.
Anyone with questions about the work can contact aberdeeninverness@networkrail.co.uk or call Network Rail’s 24hr helpline on 03457 114141.
Contact information
Passengers / community members
Network Rail national helpline
03457 11 41 41
Latest travel advice
Please visit National Rail Enquiries
Journalists
Network Rail press office - Nick King
Media relations manager (Scotland)
0141 555 4108 / 07515 617073
nick.king3@networkrail.co.uk
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We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.
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