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Tuesday 19 Dec 2023

Reminder to check before you travel over the festive period as engineering works take place on Scotland’s Railway

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Rail passengers are being reminded to check before travelling over Christmas and New Year as vital infrastructure improvement works take place at locations across Scotland.

Network Rail will complete important track, drainage and signalling work over the festive period in what is a £15m investment to keep the railway reliable for passengers and freight.

Some services will be disrupted by the programme, including:

Greenhill Junction

A key junction near Falkirk on the main Edinburgh-Glasgow line and Highland mainline, engineers will be replacing track, renewing and refurbishing points (rails that move to switch trains from one line of track to another) and upgrading signalling systems over nine days from late Christmas Eve until the early hours of January 2.

During that time Aberdeen/Inverness services will operate between Aberdeen/Inverness and Perth/Stirling only. Glasgow Queen Street - Alloa services will be diverted via Cumbernauld, and Edinburgh – Glasgow Queen Street, via Falkirk High, services will be diverted via Falkirk Grahamston and Cumbernauld. A replacement bus service will operate between Glasgow and Stirling with options to change trains at Stirling.

Edinburgh

In the capital, engineers will replace nearly 2km of track on the East Coast Mainline near Craigentinny on Christmas Day and Boxing Day when no trains are running and undertake drainage work at Haymarket North tunnel on New Year’s Day – meaning no LNER or CrossCountry services will be operating to the north or west of Edinburgh Waverley that day. Transpennine Express won’t operate between Carlisle and Edinburgh and Avanti West Coast will operate rail replacement buses between Carlisle and Edinburgh.

Helensburgh & West Highland Line

Signalling upgrades taking place at Craigendoran near Helensburgh over the New Year will see services to Helensburgh Central start/stop at Dumbarton Central on January 2 while services from Fort William, Mallaig and Oban will terminate at Crianlarich, with rail replacement buses in operation between Crianlarich and Glasgow Queen Street. Caledonian Sleeper services on the West Highland Line will not run.

Dundee

Engineers will be renewing a key set of point at Dundee Central Junction and renewing track over the Christmas and New Year period. While the majority of these works are being completed when no trains are due to run, LNER services won’t operate north of Edinburgh on New Year’s Day.

Gerry McQuade, capital delivery director for Network Rail Scotland, said: “The investment we’re making over the festive period will protect the railway infrastructure while improving the passenger experience.

“While most of the work will be delivered without impacting services, some disruption is to be expected. We’re reminding passengers to check their journeys with their train operator before travelling.”