Rail time target still on schedule despite issues

RAIL bosses are still aiming to cut journey times on the flagship Edinburgh to Glasgow service to 42 minutes by the end of next year, despite previous delays and “issues” with the new electric trains.

Transport minister Humza Yousaf said partners involved in the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP) wanted to achieve the target by December 2018.

But he told MSPs that Hitachi, which is producing the new Class 385 trains, was having “some issues” with delivering them, while there had been “well documented” hold-ups in work to electrify the route.

The EGIP project was originally costed at £742million, with the first electric services expected to come on route in 2016, a deadline that was pushed back until July.

Mr Yousaf said it would now be December before some electric trains are running on the flagship service linking Glasgow Queen Street station and Edin- burgh Waverley, with the new Class 385s to be phased in at a later date.

He said Hitachi accepted that they “have had issues around the programme scheduling, therefore delivery”.

The minister said: “It is fair to say some of the problems and issues have come on the manufacturing side. But it is also very fair to say there clearly is, as is well documented, there have been delays with the electrification process.”

Bill Reeve, director of rail at the Scottish Government, said that testing of the new trains had revealed some “issues”. He told the committee: “There are issues arising on testing, which is what you do testing for, which will require some work to address some of the issues.”

Rail operator ScotRail has ordered 70 of the new trains as it expands its electric railway network, with managing director Alex Hynes having told MSPs earlier this month that he could not guarantee 21 of them would be available when they are due in February.