Edinburgh rail commuters hit by delays

COMMUTERS suffered major disruption in Edinburgh this morning after an overhead power line fault at Waverley station, Network Rail said.

A fault with overhead power lines caused major disruption. Picture: Ian Rutherford

The track firm had to turn off the electricity to the overhead wires to repair the damage, causing a log jam of trains using Scotland’s second busiest station.

ScotRail trains on several routes were delayed or cancelled by the 7:15am incident, including the main line to Glasgow and secondary lines via Bathgate and Shotts.

The disruption also affected the North Berwick, Fife and Dunblane lines, with some passengers switched to buses.

A ScotRail spokesman said: “ScotRail has provided replacement buses and customers have been able to use rail tickets to board First Buses between North Berwick and Edinburgh.

“Services are currently returning to normal, but there will be knock-on delays as a result of this morning’s disruption.

‘We would like to apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused by this issue, which was outside our control.’

Network Rail said the problem was caused by “equipment failure” involving a support arm attached to the overhead power lines on platform seven which was spotted by a train driver hanging down below the wires.