It wasn’t first class but rail chiefs are ‘pleased’ after day one of tunnel work
A STRICKEN freight train, signalling faults and a “missing” rush-hour service were among the problems to hit Scotland’s rail network as its resilience was tested on the first weekday of major engineering works in the Central Belt.
Despite the glitches, transport bosses said they were satisfied that the first weekday had passed off without serious disruption.
Commuters had been warned to add an extra 30 minutes to their journeys and expect much busier trains for the next six weeks as the Winchburgh Tunnel, near Linlithgow, was closed as part of a £750 million Glasgow-Edinburgh electrification project.
A spokeswoman for ScotRail Alliance, an umbrella body for ScotRail and Network Rail, said: “We’re pleased with how the first working day of the Winchburgh timetable has gone. It is already apparent that customers have heeded our advice, planned their journey, and set off earlier.
“However, it is only day one, so we’re closely monitoring customer feedback and will continue to fine tune based on what people tell us and how they are actually travelling. Our overall objective is to minimise the impact on our customers and enable them to travel by train wherever possible.”
She added that work to remove the track and lower the tunnel floor was “progressing well”.
There will be no services to and from Glasgow Queen Street High Level platforms until the upgrade is complete at the end of July, meaning passengers face longer journeys on replacement buses or via alternative Glasgow Central and Queen Street Low Level routes.
ScotRail has deployed hundreds of extra staff at key railway stations across the region to assist passengers.
Queue systems modelled on the Commonwealth Games arrangements are also in place at Glasgow Queen Street, Edinburgh Waverley and Haymarket to ensure that passengers board on a first-come-first-served basis, with quotas to reserve space for passengers boarding at intermediate points.
However, there were a series of unexpected problems on Monday as a freight train broke down near Aviemore around 9am, causing delays to services between Queen Street, Waverley and Inverness. The train was cleared two hours later.
Separate signalling faults also caused disruption to Helensburgh-Edinburgh services, and delays to trains between Hillington West and Paisley Gilmour Street. It comes days after Network Rail - the body responsible for rail infrastructure - was criticised by the industry regulator over its maintenance backlog, including delays in renewing signalling equipment.
There was also mixed feedback from passengers on social media.
While many praised the lack of disruption on their routes and hailed a “smooth journey and very helpful staff”, others complained that late-running replacement buses at Linlithgow were a “shambles”, with passengers having to direct the drivers.
Others were left perplexed when the faster 6.54am service scheduled to stop at Queen Street low level shot past them without stopping, forcing them to board the slower 6.58am service instead. A ScotRail customer service agent on Twitter said there had been “some confusion with the service”, but it would run as planned today.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Transport Scotland said there was increased congestion on the M9 Stirling to A8 Newbridge (Edinburgh Park) route as a result of rail replacement buses, but “no major delays beyond the usual morning build-up”. A breakdown on the Forth Road Bridge in the evening rush hour also caused some delays.
He added that they expected the roads network to be “much busier” from Thursday when the Royal Highland Show at Ingliston begins.