ScotRail targets further electrification schemes
The five years from 2019 could feature more wiring in Scotland, with ScotRail Alliance Managing Director Alex Hynes telling RAIL: “I’d love to see more electrification - Stirling to Perth, East Kilbride and the Edinburgh South Suburban.”
Hynes acknowledged that the East Coast Main Line would need work to increase its capacity, as more operators plan trains to and from Scotland.
This includes TransPennine Express, which plans to extend trains beyond Newcastle to Edinburgh, and First, which is planning an open access operation between London and Edinburgh. In addition, Transport Scotland is looking to open new stations in East Lothian at Reston and East Linton, which Hynes acknowledged would need services.
Hynes said that signalling east of Edinburgh Waverley was due to be renewed in Control Period 6 (201924), and that this work would need co-ordinating with other work to upgrade track and overhead power capacity.
He explained that Transport Scotland was putting Network Rail under pressure to develop business cases for schemes that it could then fund.
NR’s Route Strategy published in 2016 suggested several possible ECML schemes, including: remodelling the eastern approaches to Waverley to add an extra track through Calton North Tunnel (to give three tracks in total eastwards); four-tracking between Prestonpans and Drem; doubling Portobello Junction; and remodelling single-lead junctions at Niddrie West and Slateford.
Coupled with South Suburban electrification, these junction improvements would provide an electrified route around Waverley for freight trains. Electrification itself would allow Class 385s stabled at Millerhill depot to reach Waverley from either direction, and easier access to their maintenance depot at Craigentinny. As more ‘385s’ enter service, there will be more pressure on the singletrack line between Newcraighall and Portobello Junction, which is shared with half-hourly services to Tweedbank.
In its initial advice to Transport Scotland in February 2017, the Rail Delivery Group suggested that upgrading and electrifying the South Suburban should be done before remodelling Waverley’s eastern approaches, because an electrified South Suburban line would enable electric trains to reach Waverley without needing diesel help.
Other NR sources suggested that Dalmeny Chord might be built, following a decision to drop it from NR’s recently completed EdinburghGlasgow electrification via Falkirk High. If also electrified, it would allow some electric trains between the two cities to call at Edinburgh Gateway station, which opened in 2016 with this service in mind.