HOLIDAY WORKS DELIVER IMPROVED RAIL SERVICES

Thursday 7 Dec 2006

HOLIDAY WORKS DELIVER IMPROVED RAIL SERVICES

Region & Route:: Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

As most of us open presents and feast on festive fare, hundreds of rail workers will be out on the tracks this Christmas to make massive improvements to Scotland’s growing railway. Throughout the holiday period, from the start of Christmas Day to the end of 2 January, engineering work will be carried out at locations across Scotland including Dumfries, Falkirk and Paisley. David Simpson, Route Director, said: “Far from relaxing over the Christmas holidays, Network Rail engineers will be working harder than ever to deliver big improvements for train passengers. Christmas is traditionally one of the busiest times for our operational staff; we make the most of the huge drop in passenger numbers during the holidays to carry out as much work as possible and reduce the need for disruption at peak travel times. “Because Scotland’s railway is benefiting from more investment than ever, we’ve got a very challenging schedule to get through this year. Our teams are very experienced and thanks to them the start of 2007 will mean smoother, faster journeys for passengers.” The Christmas work includes:

A £4 million renewal of Cowlairs Junction to improve comfort and reliability for passengers travelling on the main line between Edinburgh and Glasgow
Renewing 1500 yards of track at Yoker, outside Hyndland, at a cost of approximately £700,000

Notes to editors

Service information for the Christmas period: There will be no First ScotRail services on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day. Other services may be reduced or cancelled during the Christmas and New Year period and passengers are advised to check before travelling A December Timetable Alterations leaflet is available at staffed stations and contains full details of all train services that are affected by engineering works over the Christmas period. Information is also available on First ScotRail’s website www.firstscotrail.com GNER will be operating revised timetables throughout the Christmas/New Year holiday period. There will be no GNER services on Christmas day or Boxing day. On New Year's day GNER will operate a revised timetable between Scotland the North East of England, Yorkshire, East Midlands and London Kings Cross. There will be no GNER services between Edinburgh and Aberdeen/Inverness on New Year's day Passengers are advised to check before travelling on http://www.GNER.co.uk No Virgin Trains will operate on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, and services will end early on Christmas Eve. There will be a special timetable of Virgin Trains at New Year, with services finishing earlier than normal on Hogmanay and some trains cancelled on New Year's Day Passengers can get all travel information via National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50 or www.nationalrail.co.uk Waverley/Haymarket changes: Passengers are reminded that owing to the £150 million upgrade of Edinburgh’s Waverley station, from 27 December 2006 some train services will depart from and terminate at Haymarket instead of Waverley, some services will depart from and terminate at Waverley instead of Haymarket and a small number of services will be replaced by a shuttle bus Full details are available in the Haymarket Connection Guide on Network Rail’s website, www.networkrail.co.uk/edinburgh or First ScotRail’s website at www.firstscotrail.com Platforms at Waverley will also be renumbered from 27 December as four new platforms come into use, along with a new bay platform at Haymarket

Contact information

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