Edinburgh-Glasgow rail link facing potential three-year delay

Date: 2/4/2013

A £650 million project that will see the electrification of the main Edinburgh-Glasgow rail line is facing a potential three-year delay, the Scotsman reports.

According to industry sources, the scheme looks set to be hindered by a number of substantial engineering and construction obstacles, which could hit plans to provide faster journeys and more seats along the route.

Possible stumbling blocks that have emerged include the closure of part of the route for up to three months to allow work on a tunnel to be carried out, while a deal will also have to be reached to demolish a section of the Millennium Hotel in order to accommodate longer platforms at Queen Street station in Glasgow.

It is believed that issues such as these - as well as a range of other problems which include both public and private sector organisations - mean the scheduled completion date of 2016 could be missed.

"Detailed designs are not likely to be completed until next year, then the negotiation and acquisition process is likely to go on until the end of 2015," an industry source said.

"If that happens, there is no way the longer platforms can be completed by 2016."

Despite the reports, Transport Scotland insists that the project will be delivered on time, although a programme for completion has not yet been agreed.

Indeed, detailed information about the scheme has been removed from the initiative's website, and an agreement is yet to be reached to demolish the west wing of the Millennium Hotel.

Previous plans to redevelop the Queen Street station are also being reconsidered, with the inclusion of work to expand the adjacent Buchanan Galleries shopping centre set to be included.

But the authorities continued to deny that any of these issues will stand in the way of the project being completed in 2016.

"Any suggestion that the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme is delayed by three years is nonsense," a Transport Scotland Spokeswoman said.

Posted by Sarah Bailey

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