30 . Glasgow Business April/May 2016
TUNNEL TO A BRIGHT FUTURE
Queen Street improvements will mean that faster, greener trains can join the rail network
T
he £60m programme of work at Queen Street Station will ensure that the trains of the future will be able to operate on Scotland’s main
rail network. Te work will renew nearly two kilometres
of ageing slab-track through the Queen Street Tunnel and allow faster, longer, greener trains to run on the main routes into and out of the station. Te planned engineering works are needed
to address the deteriorating condition of the existing track, which is caused by a combination of a higher number of trains using the tracks and by water infiltration. During this 20-week closure, engineers are
working around the clock to renew the two lines of track through the 918 metre-long tunnel. To do this they will need to remove 10,000 tonnes of concrete slab-track and install 1,800 metres of new slab-track and 4,000 metres of rails. Separate to this work, engineers are also
taking the opportunity to install equipment to carry the overhead power lines needed for the electrification of the railway as part of the £742m Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme. In December, the ScotRail Alliance
announced its £475m train improvement programme – the largest in ScotRail’s history – that will see new trains delivering thousands
of extra seats, improved accessibility and enhanced facilities such as at-seat power points and improved Wi-Fi. ScotRail’s programme involves £475m
capital investment over the next seven years that will see 75 per cent of its train fleet either new or fully refurbished. Te closure of the tunnel has meant
that trains that normally operate out of Queen Street High Level have been diverted
to either Queen Street Low Level or Glasgow Central. Additional carriages have been added to
services that are running to provide as much extra capacity as possible on the affected services. A queuing system is being operated at Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh Waverley stations at peak travel times. Amended services during the tunnel closure include the following:
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