WAVERLEY STATION WORKS ENTER CRUCIAL PHASE

Wednesday 4 Oct 2006

WAVERLEY STATION WORKS ENTER CRUCIAL PHASE

Region & Route:: Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Improvements to Waverley station, which will give passengers more train services, improved punctuality and better access, came another step closer today as the next phase in the £150 million redevelopment was unveiled. The massive improvement project includes creating two new through platforms at the station, extensive track remodelling, new signals and user-friendly entrances. This will allow four more trains per hour to pass through Waverley in each direction, and will reduce congestion and overcrowding for passengers. To allow the work to be completed, from 27 December 2006 several platforms at Waverley Station will be closed at various times, along with part of the lines running between Waverley and Haymarket stations. A limited number of Fife Circle, one Stirling and one Carnoustie service will terminate at Haymarket rather than continuing through to Waverley. Customers on these trains will disembark at Haymarket, change platform and board the next train bound for Waverley. Passengers will be able to transfer to a Waverley service within five to seven minutes, and the final journey time from Haymarket to Waverley will be approximately three minutes. There will be additional timetable changes affecting some North Berwick, Newcraighall-Bathgate-Dunblane and West Calder services. To make these arrangements possible, five new platforms will come into use: four at Waverley and a new bay platform at Haymarket. Special information guides will be available and extra staff will be on hand to help travellers. The work is expected to last until December 2007. Malcolm Reed, Chief Executive of Transport Scotland, which is funding the redevelopment, said: "The number of trains using Waverley has increased by 50 per cent in the last 15 years with more than 500 trains a day travelling through the station. These works are vital to improving the rail network not only in Edinburgh but also in the rest of the country. They will allow us to introduce new rail services such as links to Edinburgh airport, Stirling to Alloa and Kincardine and Airdrie to Bathgate. In the meantime, everything possible will be done to help passengers during these changes. I am confident that in the long term, passengers will reap the long term benefits of these improvements." David Simpson, Route Director at Network Rail, which is managing and delivering the project, said: "The redevelopment of Waverley station means that a few minutes will be added to some passengers' journeys while we carry out major infrastructure improvements. A great deal of planning has been put into this; we have worked very hard with our industry partners to ensure that inconvenience is kept to an absolute minimum. We are proud to be carrying out this work and passenger benefits are at the heart of our commitment to delivering a world class railway in Scotland." Mary Dickson, Managing Director of First ScotRail, said: “As always, our focus is on our customers. Robust arrangements are in place to keep passengers fully informed, and to ensure that any inconvenience is kept to a minimum during works which will ultimately make journeys easier by lessening congestion and increasing the number of services.” Robert Samson, Passenger Focus, Passenger Link Manager said: “It is essential that during the redevelopment work passengers are kept informed about the disruption to services and timetable changes affecting their journey. We are pleased to note that the rail industry in Scotland is working together to co-ordinate the timetable changes and ensure that passengers have access to the information in plenty of time to inform their journey decisions.”

Notes to editors

There will be four stages of works during 2007, each with different platform closures at Waverley and slight changes to the timetable. Platforms 15, 16, 17 and 18 close from 27 December 2006 to the end of March 2007, 18, 19 and 20 close from the beginning of April to mid-May, platforms 12, 13 and14 close from mid-May to the end of July, and the final stage where platforms 8, 9, 10 and 11 close runs from August to November 2007. Platform numbers refer to new numbering that will come into effect at the end of December 2006 A full timetable will be produced four weeks prior to when it becomes effective, and an up-to-date Haymarket Connection booklet will be available online on 5 October and at stations from November, giving details of all services affected EDINBURGH WAVERLEY STATION FACTS • Edinburgh Waverley is Britain's largest train station area-wise outside London, with passenger numbers currently at 23 million per year and climbing • The station is currently operating at its capacity limit; the number of trains using Waverley station has increased by 50% over the past 15 years to 576 per day • Waverley is of critical importance to Edinburgh’s future economic and commercial development as it will drive the city’s tourism and visitor numbers SERVICE INFORMATION Fife On weekdays 18 Fife services will terminate per day at Haymarket instead of Waverley; these include three morning peak Fife Circle trains due to arrive at Haymarket 08:14, 08:54, 09:06 and three evening peak services due to arrive at Haymarket 16:33, 17:34 (both Fife Circle) and one Cowdenbeath 16:08 On weekdays 16 services per day will depart from Haymarket instead of Waverley; these include one morning peak due to depart Haymarket for Cowdenbeath at 09:23 and two evening peak due to depart Haymarket for Cowdenbeath at 16:23 and 16:52 On Saturdays, 16 Fife-bound services will depart from Haymarket rather than Waverley, and 15 services will terminate at the station instead of Waverley No Sunday services will be affected Carnoustie On weekdays one Carnoustie service will terminate at Haymarket (08:54) instead of Waverley. No other Carnoustie services are affected Stirling On weekdays one Stirling service will terminate at Haymarket (08:44) instead of Waverley. No other Stirling services are affected Newcraighall-Bathgate-Dunblane From 11 December 2006, there will be no through services linking Newcraighall to Bathgate and Dunblane. Instead, all Newcraighall-Bathgate-Dunblane services will terminate at Edinburgh Waverley, with passengers changing trains if travelling onwards. Two exceptions will run as normal: 0626 Dunblane to Newcraighall and 0648 Newcraighall to Dunblane weekday services North Berwick In addition, most services between Edinburgh and North Berwick will depart from and terminate at Waverley rather than Haymarket. The services which remain unaffected are as follows: 0758 and 1750 from North Berwick Monday-Friday and 0820 and 1520 on Saturdays; and 0824 and 1634 from Haymarket Monday-Friday and 0822 and 1634 on Saturdays. These services will run between North Berwick, Edinburgh and Glasgow Central in both directions Bathgate Two alterations have also been made to the Edinburgh-Bathgate service. The 0923 Bathgate to Edinburgh will depart from Livingston North rather than Bathgate at 0919 Monday-Friday, and the 0848 Edinburgh to Bathgate service will terminate at Livingston North rather than Bathgate West Calder During the works, only two services will be cancelled: the 0737 and 0940 from West Calder to Edinburgh Waverley. All return services from Edinburgh to West Calder remain unaffected FURTHER INFORMATION Further details on alterations to train services can be obtained by calling National Rail Enquiries on 08457 48 49 50. From 5 October passengers will also be able to view full details in a Haymarket Connection Guide on the Network Rail website, www.networkrail.co.uk and on the First ScotRail website at www.firstscotrail.com. First ScotRail timetables for December 2006 until May 2007 will be available at stations from early November For further information on the Waverley redevelopment project email waverleyinfrastructureworks@networkrail.co.uk or access the Edinburgh Waverley website at www.networkrail.co.uk/edinburgh

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 - Scotland
0141 555 4109
mediarelations@networkrail.co.uk

About Network Rail

We own, operate and develop Britain's railway infrastructure; that's 20,000 miles of track, 30,000 bridges, tunnels and viaducts and the thousands of signals, level crossings and stations. We run 20 of the UK's largest stations while all the others, over 2,500, are run by the country's train operating companies.

Usually, there are almost five million journeys made in the UK and over 600 freight trains run on the network. People depend on Britain's railway for their daily commute, to visit friends and loved ones and to get them home safe every day. Our role is to deliver a safe and reliable railway, so we carefully manage and deliver thousands of projects every year that form part of the multi-billion pound Railway Upgrade Plan, to grow and expand the nation's railway network to respond to the tremendous growth and demand the railway has experienced - a doubling of passenger journeys over the past 20 years.

Media centre