Landslide and bird's nest in Glasgow cause widespread ScotRail disruption

A landslip which seriously disrupted trains across the west of Scotland today will close a line for a week, Network Rail has announced.

The landslip included masonry beside a bridge over the railway. Picture: ScotRail Alliance

The closure came as a magpie nesting in overhead power lines also halted trains on a nearby route.

The separate incidents in north and west Glasgow affected services on cross-city lines and the West Highland Line to Oban, Fort William and Mallaig.

There was also knock-on disruption as far as Fife.

The landslip blocked a track on the line near Gilshochill Station in northern Glasgow, with debris thought to include masonry from an adjacent footbridge over the line.

Network Rail engineers are inspecting the extent of damage to the bridge, which will have to be shored up or demolished before trains can start running again.

Trains in both directions on that line between Anniesland and Glasgow Queen Street were halted as a precaution from around 9am.

The route will now be shut until Wednesday, 12 April.

Meanwhile, the bird's nest caused an electrical fault which stopped trains through Hyndland in the west of the city, also from around 9am.

Lines affected include on lines Helensburgh, Balloch, Milngavie with Edinburgh and Lanarkshire.

Delays and cancellations were expected to continue until 2pm.

A spokesman for the ScotRail Alliance with track owner Network Rail said: "The magpie had built its nest on a booster transformer - a piece of the overhead line equipment - which subsequently caused a trip in the power.

"The nest has now been removed."

In a similar incident, a magpie's nest caused a short circuit last Thursday, which halted trains between Port Glasgow and Gourock.

A third such incident happened on Sunday while a line near Rutherglen, on the south east edge of Glasgow, was closed for engineering work.