Fife rail misery after cables cut

TRAVEL: Passengers faced disruption due to vandalism

More vandalism to Fife’s rail network caused chaos for travellers.

Cables were cut near North Queensferry, nine days after a similar incident in the area.

Frustrated commuters saw train services cancelled and revised from 3pm onwards as engineers carried out emergency repairs.

Services on the Fife Circle and between Edinburgh and Perth, Dundee and Aberdeen were affected.

Transport minister Humza Yousaf warned the vandals had put their own as well as others’ lives at risk.

He tweeted: “Very frustrating that cables being vandalised causing significant disruption for commuters.”

British Transport Police are investigating the incident which resulted in significant disruption well into the evening.

The earlier theft on September 25 saw around 50ft of signalling cable stolen.

Fife travellers faced misery yesterday as train services were cancelled due to a second case of vandalism on the lines in a little over a week.

Cables were cut near North Queensferry, just nine days after a similar incident in the same area which also led to chaos for commuters.

Engineers were working yesterday afternoon to repair the damage as British Transport Police investigated the incident.

ScotRail announced at around 3pm that services running through the Edinburgh to Inverkeithing area would be delayed or revised.

Several services on the Fife Circle line and between Edinburgh and Dundee and Aberdeen were called off as a reduced number operated.

Services to Perth were also revised and rail replacement buses were called in. Disruption continued until the end of the day.

It was initially believed a signalling fault was to blame but ScotRail revealed at 4.30pm that cables had been cut.

The company Tweeted: “It’s been confirmed #Inverkeithing disruption is due to cable vandalism. @BRP are investigating. Our team on ground working hard to fix.”

A spokesperson for British Transport Police said: “We have a reported cable vandalism or theft near North Queensferry.

“We were alerted around 3pm and are currently making assessment as to how much cable has been vandalised or stolen. There is some disruption on the line as repairs are made.

“We would also like to hear from anyone who may have seen any suspicious persons or vehicles around the area at that time.”

Customers were advised by ScotRail to seek alternative means of transport until repairs were made.

In the region of 50ft of valuable signalling cable was taken from the line between North Queensferry and Inverkeithing on September 25.

The theft caused widespread disruption, with more than 30 trains cancelled as a result of signalling failure.

Anyone with information about Wednesday’s incident can call British Transport Police on 0800 405040 or text 61016.

Picture: Gareth Jennings. Commuters emerge from Dundee station after travel was disrupted by the latest act of cable vandalism.