Passenger figures soar on new Airdrie-Bathgate line

NEARLY 200,000 passengers have used three new stations on the re-opened Airdrie-Bathgate line since it opened a year ago, figures show.

Trains returned to the route in December 2010 after a gap of 55 years, providing a new link between Edinburgh, Glasgow and Helensburgh.

Almost 90,000 people have used Armadale station, which opened last March because of wintry weather delaying construction,

Caldercruix, which opened in February after being similarly held up, had nearly 69,000, while Blackridge recorded more than 40,000.

The Scottish Government’s Transport Scotland agency said the stations were on course to meet their initial annual forecasts. The £370 million scheme has also boosted existing stations on the route by an average of 14 per cent.