Six more weeks of train delays
Emergency work under way to repair crucial viaduct
THE West Coast Main Line faces at least another six weeks of disruption as a storm-damaged bridge is near to collapse.
The Lamington Viaduct, near Abington, South Lanarkshire, is unlikely to be ready for trains to travel over it until the first week of March, a month later than had been expected. Replacement buses and a rail shuttle, via Dumfries, will continue to operate.
RAIL passengers using the West Coast Main Line face at least another six weeks of disruption after engineers revealed that storm damage to a crucial viaduct is so bad the structure was at risk of “catastrophic collapse”.
Emergency repairs have stabilised the Lamington Viaduct, near Abington in South Lanarkshire, but the bridge is now unlikely to re-open to passenger and freight trains before the first week in March.
Network Rail originally expected to complete repairs by February 1, but yesterday confirmed that the structural damage caused by Storm Frank on December 30 was much worse than expected.
While they aim to re-open the bridge in March, they stressed that this was “not an exact date” as further downpours and storms could delay it further.
Passengers using Virgin Trains West Coast, First TransPennine Express (FTPE) and the Caledonian Sleeper are all affected by the disruption, which is adding around 70 minutes to journey times between the Central Belt and London.
Replacement buses and a rail shuttle, via Dumfries, will remain in place to transport passengers to and from Carlisle and Lockerbie.
The East Coast Main Line is unaffected, though services between Edinburgh Waverley and London King’s Cross are likely to be busier than usual.
A spokeswoman for FTPE said the closure had cut passenger journeys on its cross-Border service by 19,700 over the last three weeks, with a reduction of more than 10,000 in the last week alone.
Virgin Trains said it was too early to say what the impact had been for its services.
Phil Verster, managing director of the ScotRail Alliance, said: “The damage caused by Storm Frank to the Lamington Viaduct has been very serious.
“Our engineers have been in a race against time to get the structure stabilised and prevent it from collapsing into the Clyde. Only now that we have won that race can we really see the full extent of the damage.”
The River Clyde beneath the viaduct swelled to a depth of 10ft – four and a half times its average – at the peak of the Storm Frank flooding.
“Water levels recorded at the nearby Abington measuring centre were the highest ever.
The onslaught left the bridge’s foundations dangerously eroded, causing the viaduct to sink by seven inches and tilt 10 inches to the side.
The risk of collapse was so high that engineers and divers were unable to inspect the full scale of the damage until it was stabilised last week.
Network Rail bosses said they had not seen such significant infrastructure damage since the Ness Viaduct was washed away in 1989, adding that a routine inspection of the viaduct on December 9 had given them “no cause for concern”.
Three steel bearings, which support the Lamington Viaduct’s bridge deck and track, have also been compromised.
So far, engineers have pumped 300 cubic metres of concrete into the foundations to stabilise the structure, parts of which are 170 years old, with 1,500 tonnes of stone used to create a temporary dam across part of the river.
Last night they were due to begin drilling 26ft down into the foundations to create cavities into which steel rods will be fitted. The rods will be used to “jack up” the bridge to its original height.
Network Rail said it would have 150 staff working on back-to-back shifts 24/7 until the bridge was repaired.
Mr Verster added: “I know that the damage that Storm Frank has caused to this viaduct is impacting on a lot of people. We are doing everything we can to get the repairs done and the line re-opened quickly and safely.”