Rail work will cause disruption

Day trippers and commuters who are heading to Edinburgh this summer face increased journey times.

Works on the Stirling to Edinburgh line start this weekend and will run for around six weeks.

The closure of the Winchburgh Tunnel, near Linlithgow, will affect services from Saturday, June 13, until Monday, July 27. Engineers will be working 24-hours-a-day during this period to lower and relay two lines of track through the 330m-long tunnel and install equipment to carry the overhead power lines needed for the electrification of the railway.

Customers who normally travel between Stirling and Edinburgh will have a temporary timetable, with services being diverted and taking approximately 25 minutes longer.

As a result of the diversion, trains will not call at Edinburgh Park. Buses will run in both directions between Linlithgow and Edinburgh Park, connecting into train services. At peak times, travel will take considerably longer due to road traffic.

The work is part of the Scottish Governmentfunded, £742m Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP) which will electrify the EdinburghGlasgow Queen Street line by 2016 – allowing the introduction of faster, greener and longer electric services on the route.

Phil Verster, ScotRail Alliance’s managing director, said: “This is a massive piece of work that will help deliver long lasting benefits to our customers. Electrifying the line between our two biggest cities will allow us to run faster, longer and greener trains that will cut journey times and increase the number of seats available on this key route.

“To make all of this happen, we need to improve the line and install the equipment that we will need to run these new and improved trains, which will cause unavoidable disruption.

“This work is a vital part of transforming our railway, and the benefits will be felt for generations to come.”

Extra staff will be at stations to assist passengers and queuing systems will be in place at Linlithgow, Edinburgh Waverley, Haymarket and Edinburgh Park.

Additional weekend engineering work will also take place before and during the ‘core’ tunnel closure period. Customers are strongly advised to check the ScotRail website before travelling for amended timings and up-to-date travel information.

For more information, visit www. scotrail. co. uk/ winchburgh