January works for investment in Scotland’s railway: Aerial Image-4

Thursday 20 Dec 2018

January works for investment in Scotland’s railway

Region & Route:
Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Network Rail is advising passengers travelling between Ayrshire and Inverclyde into Glasgow to expect changes to their services on each weekend in January as engineers undertake a range of works on the railway.

Buses will replace trains between Glasgow Central and Paisley on Saturdays and Sundays and additionally between Glasgow and Port Glasgow on Sundays throughout January. No weekday services will be affected.  

Work being delivered includes renewal of track at Ibrox and Hillington, demolition and start of reconstruction on a footbridge at Arkleston, in Paisley, and installation of rock netting to protect the railway from falling debris at Bishopton.

All the work is part of wider projects designed to enhance safety, protect the infrastructure and improve performance. Although part of ongoing projects, the work on these specific weekends cannot be delivered safely without the need to close the railway.

The decision to close the railway is never taken lightly, particularly on such a busy rail corridor, which is why we will be delivering multiple projects at the same time over these weekends to ensure the access to the track is maximised.

Lindsay Saddler, Network Rail’s infrastructure director said; “There is never a good time to close the railway, however, the lower volume of services and number of people travelling on weekends means that this is the least disruptive time to deliver the work required.

“The projects have been planned so that the track access we are taking next month maximises the amount of work that we can get done and minimises disruption for passengers.

“We are sorry for any inconvenience these works may cause and would advise people travelling from Ayrshire and Inverclyde to plan their journeys in advance on each weekends in January.”

Passengers should leave extra time for travel, and plan journeys in advance. Further information is available at www.scotrail.co.uk as well as on the ScotRail app.

Routes affected by changes are:

Glasgow Central – Ayr / Largs / Ardrossan (Saturdays 5, 12, 19, 26 January)

Buses replace trains between Paisley Gilmour street and Glasgow Central

Change trains at Kilwinning for Largs/Ardrossan

Glasgow – Gourock / Wemyss Bay

Buses replace trains between Glasgow Central and Paisley Gilmour street

Glasgow Central – Ayr / Largs / Ardrossan (Sundays 6, 13, 20, 27 January)

Buses replace trains between Paisley Gilmour street and Glasgow Central

Glasgow Central – Gourock / Wemyss Bay

Buses replace trains between Glasgow Central and Port Glasgow

 

Notes to Editors

Notes to Editors

Track renewal work at Ibrox and Hillington is part o a wider programme of work which will see 2.5miles of track removed and replace along one of Scotland’s busiest rail corridors between Glasgow and Paisley.

At Bishopton tunnel between Bishopton and Langbank we will clear vegetation, scale the rock face and install rock netting on embankment slopes around the ‘tunnel void’ to protect the railway from falling debris.

At Arkleston, Paisley, we will crane out old footbridge, pile, prepare and pour concrete foundations and crane in new footbridge as part of a £1.2m investment to maintain link between two lineside communities.

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 - Owen Campbell
NR Press Office 0141 555 4108 / 07515 617073
Owen.Campbell1@networkrail.co.uk

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