Rail travellers face disruption

Published on Friday 26 December 2008 11:13

RAIL travellers face disruption from today as signalling works and track improvements get under way.

Glasgow Central will be affected from today, with services between Dundee and Aberdeen out of service in the new year.

Steve Montgomery, operations and safety director at First ScotRail said: "We have done everything possible to keep inconvenience to an absolute minimum by running as many services as possible.

"Full plans are in place to provide alternative transport arrangements where required.

"Journeys will take longer than normal and passengers should allow more time from travel."

No trains will be running in and out of Glasgow Central high level station from today until the start of service next Tuesday.

The suspension is to allow signalling operations to be transferred to a new 200 million West of Scotland signalling centre at Cowlairs.

Replacement bus services will run from locations outside central station for the four days.

Glasgow Central low level station will be open from December 27-29 with a reduced service.

Replacement coaches will also be made available for Virgin Trains passengers, connecting with trains to and from England at Carlisle or Motherwell.

Planned track improvements to Hilton junction, near Perth, starting today until Hogmanay, will also affect some services to and from Inverness, Aberdeen, Ladybank and Dundee, with buses being laid on in some areas.

In addition, track improvement works between Ardrossan and Kilwinning will affect services on the Largs line in the New Year. A bus service will replace trains on January 2 and 3, with services returning to normal on January 4.

Services between Aberdeen and Dundee will be replaced by buses on January 3 and 4 for enhancement work near Laurencekirk.