SCOTRAIL
around works on the mainline between Paisley and Glasgow Central, which were being carried out by Network Rail. Those works are continuing and they will provide tremendous capacity improvements on that corridor that we hope to make good use of after the implementation works which will be carried out throughout 2011.
“A lot of the enabling works have already been completed, including the new platforms at Glasgow Central and other works around things like overhead line portals and bridge re-decking. We are also ahead of ourselves in terms of awarding contracts and in arranging the possession strategy, which we have managed to engineer to reduce the amount of disruption to the passengers by about 60 per cent of the time which was originally put forward.”
Another project which Network Rail is involved in is the Edinburgh -Glasgow Improvement Programme, which involves a £1 billion investment in the railway throughout the central belt of Scotland.
“This investment is mainly focused between Edinburgh and Glasgow but also involves about 350 track kilometres of electrification.”
The investment going into the Scottish railways is, of course, good for jobs in the areas where work is taking place.
“Yes, these projects are great for jobs and I believe that the Scottish Government recognises the need for rail to help in building the economy, through providing both employment and great transport links, which both help the economy to grow. It is not just the construction work,
Network Rail outlines future for Scotland’s railway
T
he growing popularity of rail travel will see passenger numbers on
some Scottish routes more than double over the next two decades, a new report by Network Rail has found.
Published for consultation today, the draft Scotland Route Utilisation Strategy (Generation Two) builds on the Scotland RUS established in May 2007, and recommends a range of measures needed to ensure the rail network can continue to meet demand.
The report’s findings suggest that passenger numbers in the Glasgow area will increase by up to 38 percent by 2025, while passenger growth in Edinburgh is anticipated to grow by 90 to 115 percent by 2025.
Strong growth is also forecast outside of the central belt, with
58 rtm
routes between Fife, Stirling and North Berwick and Edinburgh and between Aberdeen and Inverness likely to see significant increases in passenger numbers. Rail freight traffic will grow by around 11 percent by 2030.
The report also sets out a range of recommendations and suggestions to be considered further to help keep pace with the growing popularity of rail, including: • Introducing new or strengthened services on a number of lines from Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire into Glasgow Central
• Further electrification of routes in the Strathclyde area
• Introducing additional services or stops on routes between Fife and North Berwick and Edinburgh
• Running trains earlier in the morning between Glasgow and Edinburgh
Oct/Nov 10
but the benefits that the railways bring, once the construction is complete.”
Another hot topic at the moment is safety on the railways, following a number of track worker deaths in the past year, along with the incident at the Falls of Cruachan, near Oban, where a train was derailed by rocks on the track.
“If you look at the statistics they will confirm that rail is the safest form of transport in Britain and this is tremendous news. In terms of the safety of track workers our record is usually very good. However, one death is one death too many.
“Unfortunately, we have had three fatalities in Scotland in the past year; one on the Forth Bridge, one on the Tay Bridge and one at Stewarton. Each of these incidents has been absolutely tragic and should
never have happened but they have and we need to learn from what has happened and take the steps necessary to ensure that nothing like this happens again in the future.”
Another area where questions have been raised is around the issue of level crossings in Scotland, where a number rely on lights alone to warn drivers of oncoming trains.
“Network Rail is doing a huge amount of work right across Great Britain around level crossing safety and to raise awareness, but 96 per cent of the risk at level crossings comes from road user misuse or abuse of level crossings. We are continually engaged in education programmes to try and get people to act responsibly around level crossings.”
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