Signalling fault sparks service disruption for rail travellers

THOUSANDS of commuters suffered major disruption yesterday after dozens of trains were cancelled following a signalling fault at one of Scotland’s busiest stations.

The track circuit failure in a tunnel just outside Queen Street station in Glasgow halted 25 ScotRail services and halved the frequency of its trains on the main line to Edinburgh.

Trains on lines to Dunblane, Cumbernauld and Anniesland via Maryhill were halted.

The shuttle service between Glasgow and Edinburgh, which has departures every 15 minutes, was scaled back to half-hourly.

The fault occurred at 7:55am and took three hours to fix, although knock-on disruption continued until 2pm.

A spokesman for Network Rail, which is responsible for signalling, said: “A signalling fault occurred in the tunnel at Queen Street shortly before 8am and was rectified by 10am.

“Engineers worked as quickly as possible to identify the fault and return services to normal.

“We regret the inconvenience this incident will have caused passengers.”

A ScotRail spokeswoman said: “We apologise to customers for any inconvenience caused due to circumstances outwith our control .”