Damage by fire-raisers causes commuter chaos

● Airdrie-bathgate rail line closed ● M8 queues from faulty traffic lights

Commuters between Edinburgh and Glasgow faced major disruption after vandals closed a rail line and problems on the M8 caused long delays.

An overnight fire damaged signalling equipment near Blackridge in West Lothian which closed a line between the cities between Airdrie and Bathgate for nearly 14 hours.

Overhead power lines were also significantly damaged in the incident. The fire started outside the railway boundary but spread to cabling beside the tracks.

The cost of the damage and disruption is estimated to be at least tens of thousands of pounds.

The alarm was raised at about 9:30pm on Wednesday, with the fire extinguished by midnight.

After specialist officers had completed investigations, the line was handed back to Network Rail at around 2am but engineers spent much of yesterday making repairs.

British Transport Police (BTP) is hunting the fire-raisers responsible.

Detective Constable Niall Mcgugan said: “Although this fire was contained very quickly, the damage was extensive and the repair cost will be significant.

“Whilst we are still working to determine exactly what happened, at this time we are working to the presumption that this fire was started deliberately.”

A Scotrail Alliance spokesman said: “As a result of this incident, trains were suspended between Airdrie and Bathgate.

“To keep people moving, replacement shuttle buses run between Airdrie and Bathgate.

“We do not tolerate vandalism on the railway, and we will assist the BTP in any way they require with the investigation.”

On the roads, faulty traffic lights on the Hermiston Gait roundabout at the eastern end of the M8 caused a 1.5-mile tailback during the morning rush hour.

They were switched off to ease the traffic flow.

The disruption was compounded by a crash near the Heartlands junction, further west.

Amey, the firm which maintains the motorway for the Scottish Government’s Transport Scotland agency, said: “An investigation into the fault is ongoing, and further testing is taking place to ensure the fault does not re-occur.”