Projects delayed – and millions over budget

WORK on several other flagship rail projects around Scotland is also well behind schedule – and currently tens of millions of pounds over-budget, The Sunday Post can reveal.

In 2014, the thenFirst Minister, Alex Salmond, announced a £170 million upgrade of the Aberdeen to Inverness line with the intention of delivering a 25-minute cut in journey times.

Last October, the Scottish Government appointed construction giant BAM Nuttall as principal contractor for improvements to the 108-mile link and said: “Main construction works will begin in spring 2016.”

However, the project is “currently still in development due to complications regarding scope”, according to the independent regulator the Office Of Rail And Road.

In its annual finance review of rail activity in Scotland, the ORR revealed it had put a cap of £191 million on the scheme amid fears its scope was getting out of control.

However, when Network Rail completed its design work in March this year, it produced a “project estimate significantly outside the cap”.

The cost of accommodating freight traffic on the route and complying with strict safety guidelines is blamed for the cost hikes.

Transport Scotland – which lists the Aberdeen to Inverness scheme as “in preparation” on its website – last night refused to be drawn on when work would start, the costs or even if the scheme was still scheduled to be delivered by the original deadline, 2019.

The ORR also made the “slower-thanexpected progress” observation about the Highland mainline.

The project will deliver journey time reductions of around 10 minutes and an hourly service between Inverness and the Central Belt, with Network Rail and ScotRail working on a plan to deliver this through better timetabling, new trains and some new infrastructure.

But the ORR is sceptical about it being completed on time.

In its review it states: “We continue to have concerns regarding the ability of the project to complete within the control period [by March 2019] as development progress remains slow.”

The ORR has ordered Network Rail to deliver a “robust programme and risk analysis” of the Highland mainline scheme by next month.

SNP ministers had originally said all of its main rail projects would be completed by 2017.

The then-transport minister Keith Brown told MSPs in June 2011: “Our priority projects remain the Forth Replacement Crossing, the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme, the Highland mainline and the Aberdeen to Inverness line.

“We expect to deliver these projects by 2017.”