Britain
Winchburgh Junction - Edinburgh loop. Plans to increase Edinburgh - Falkirk High - Glasgow frequencies from four to six trains per hour (tph) were deferred, negating a number of infrastructure enhancements, including the remodelling of Greenhill Junction west of Falkirk. The review also suggested that the business case for 6tph in the short-term might weaken the prospects for a high- speed link between Edinburgh and Glasgow (see panel below). Under the revised plan, EGIP will
reduce the fastest journey times between Edinburgh and Glasgow from 50 minutes to 42 minutes and although the current service pattern of four trains per hour will be maintained, additional capacity will be provided through the
High-speed proposals gain momentum
L
AST November Scotland’s deputy first minister Mrs Nicola Sturgeon announced
that Transport Scotland would develop proposals for a high-speed line between Edinburgh and Glasgow, which could reduce the journey time between Scotland’s largest cities to less than 30 minutes. The government is keen to complete the project by 2024. “Our initial feasibility work shows that’s an ambitious timescale, but it’s achievable within 10 years and we’re planning on that basis,” explains director of rail for Transport Scotland Mr Aidan Grisewood. “We’ve begun work on detailed route options and development of the business case, and we’re working with the British government on how the plans can be developed alongside High Speed 2 (HS2). The business case will get stronger if we can achieve a connection to England more quickly.” At present there are no plans to extend HS2 to Scotland, and HS2 Ltd has no remit to develop lines in Scotland. Nonetheless, Britain’s Department for Transport has announced it will commission a joint study with Transport Scotland to look at phase 3 development, consider requirements for new lines, or upgrades to achieve the critical three-hour journey time between Edinburgh/Glasgow and London. Grisewood says Transport Scotland has appointed a high-speed project manager, who will begin work this month.
26
Scottish HLOS funding for Network Rail 2014-2019 (£m) 3323
operation of longer trains. This is likely to require platform extensions at a number of stations, including Glasgow Queen Street, where work could be carried out as part of a broader modernisation of the station. The initial phase of EGIP is moving
forward quickly. In January Network Rail awarded a £40m contract to Carillion for electrification of the 50km Glasgow Queen Street - Cumbernauld line, which includes platform lengthening at Cumbernauld and turnback facilities at Springburn. The project will be completed in 2014, when Cumbernauld services will be diverted to the low-level platforms at Queen Street to operate as an extension of existing Springburn - Dalmuir services. The redevelopment of Edinburgh Haymarket station, due to be completed at the end of the year, is progressing well and structural clearance work has been completed at various locations along the route in readiness for the start of electrification, which will be completed by the end of 2016. An announcement is also expected soon on the procurement of a new fleet of emus for Central Belt services, which will allow the redeployment of dmus to strengthen services elsewhere. The review brought the total project cost of EGIP down from £1bn to £650m,
2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 Total 639 664 664 672 684
but while the changes have proved controversial, Transport Scotland director of rail Mr Aidan Grisewood argues it is misleading to describe them as cuts. “The minister has been explicit about his keenness to deliver the Stirling/Alloa/Dunblane electrification by the end of 2019 and there’s no reason why it can’t be done,” he says. “Stirling is the next logical step beyond EGIP phase 1, and future phases will follow.” As part of HLOS, the Scottish government has agreed to fund a rolling programme of electrification covering up to 100 single track-km per year following on from the completion of EGIP. Other lines identified in the industry’s Strategic Business Plan for electrification during 2014-2019 include Glasgow - Whifflet/ Coatbridge, Glasgow - East Kilbride/Barrhead, and Glasgow - Shotts - Edinburgh. An innovative project completed
recently which is likely to be a model for future infrastructure schemes in Scotland is the electrification of the 8.8km single-track suburban branch from Corkerhill to Paisley Canal southwest of Glasgow. This line was effectively an island of diesel operation in an area where almost all other services were electric. Reliability was a problem, largely because the timetable was not geared to dmu operation, and
The Paisley Canal electrification project is seen as a model for future alliance working between the franchise operator and infrastructure manager. Photo: Robin Ralston
IRJ April 2013
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