Media centre

Wednesday 16 Dec 2020

Massive investment in Glasgow’s railway this Christmas

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Passengers in Scotland’s biggest city are set to benefit from improved journeys in 2021 as Network Rail delivers projects to upgrade and renew infrastructure around Glasgow this festive period.

Engineers will be working on key rail lines in and around the city, relaying tracks, renewing junctions and upgrading signalling systems as part of a £16m investment in Scotland’s Railway over Christmas.

From late on Christmas Eve until the early hours of Saturday, January 2, work will be taking place at Cadder to the north of the city to replace over 1km of track and renew or refurbish 12 sets of points (rails that move to allow trains to switch from one track to another).

The team at Cadder will also be renewing signalling and overhead power equipment and upgrading points heaters, which will help stop rails from freezing during the coming winter months.

Also to the north of the city, at Greenhill Junction, work will take place over Christmas to upgrade signalling systems to make the railway more resilient and reduce delays for passengers.

These projects will have an impact on some services in and out of Glasgow Queen Street, but alternative routes between Glasgow and Edinburgh will be available.

To the south of Glasgow city centre, engineers will be working from New Year’s Day until the early hours of January 4 to renew junctions and life-expired tracks.

This will include work to renew equipment at Muirhouse junction, replace and refurbish track and other infrastructure on the approaches to Glasgow Central – near Bridge Street on the south side of the river – and within the station itself.

These works will affect some services into Glasgow Central over the New Year period.

Passengers who need to travel over the festive period are being urged to check their journey in advance. More details on services within Scotland can be found at: 2020 Christmas and New Year train times | ScotRail.

Those travelling are also reminded to continue following the Government’s COVID-19 travel guidance and if you must use public transport wear a face covering, travel at quieter times and maintain a distance from other passengers wherever possible.

Kris Kinnear, Network Rail Scotland’s capital delivery director, said: “The work we are undertaking over the festive period is vital for passengers and freight relying on Scotland’s Railway.  It is part of a £4bn investment being made in Scotland’s rail infrastructure between now and 2024.

“These projects will help make our railway more resilient, more reliable and more sustainable, but such complex infrastructure improvements cannot be delivered without some short-term closures of the railway.

“We’re urging passengers who need to travel over the festive period to plan ahead and check how these works may affect their journey this December and early January.”

Elsewhere in Scotland over Christmas, engineers will be relaying track and refurbishing structures in Edinburgh, Stirling and Inverness.