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Monday 22 Jun 2009

REPAIRS REQUIRED ON KILMARNOCK-CARLISLE ROUTE

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

• Engineers to carry out vital works • Replacement buses to minimise disruption

Passenger services between Kilmarnock and Dumfries are being restricted to between 07:30 and 18:30 each day to allow for repairs at the Enterkin Burn Viaduct in Dumfriesshire.

As a result, ScotRail is running a revised timetable between Glasgow Central and Carlisle over the coming weeks while Network Rail engineers carry out structural repairs to the Victorian-built viaduct.

The works will result in no direct train services between Kilmarnock and Dumfries after the 18:13 train each day, with replacement buses introduced instead.

Network Rail expects the work to take approximately four weeks to complete.

David Simpson, Network Rail’s route director for Scotland, said: “The work we are undertaking is vital to the future use of the viaduct and cannot be postponed or delivered without some impact of services.

“We apologise to passengers for the inconvenience this engineering work will cause, and assure them that we will complete the repairs as quickly as possible.”

A ScotRail spokesman said: “We are operating as comprehensive a timetable as possible to minimise the impact on our customers. Alternative arrangements are in place, where necessary, and more time should be allowed for journeys.