Queen Street rail works

TOURISTS coming to the West Highlands by its world-famous railway this summer will have 25 minutes added to their journey as a result of refurbishment work at Queen Street station, in Glasgow, due to begin in seven weeks.

For 20 weeks engineers will work around the clock to complete work on the Glasgow-Edinburgh route via Falkirk High, the biggest ever job since it was built in Victorian times.

The West Highland Line will have timetable changes and 25 minutes added to journey times as the trains are diverted around the work. The high-level at Queen Street station will shut, putting all trains on to the lower level.

‘We appreciate the importance of tourism for the West Highlands,’ said a spokeswoman for Abellio ScotRail.

‘Services on the West Highland Line are planned to run at the same frequency as the current timetable and with the same number of coaches.

‘Trains will continue to arrive at and leave from Glasgow Queen Street but at the low-level instead of the high level station and will take around 25 minutes longer due to the need to follow a diverted route in the Glasgow area.’

To cope with the demand on the lower level station, extra station staff are being drafted in to help customers with luggage and seat reservations to get trains in and out as quickly as possible.

The work will renovate the main 918m tunnel, which involves extracting 10,000 tonnes of concrete from the existing lining, then installing a 4,000m section of new rails. Once the work is complete longer and faster trains will link Glasgow and Edinburgh.