The ScotRail Alliance in the UK has confirmed that the Edinburgh-Glasgow main line will reopen today, following the completion of a six-week project to upgrade the Winchburgh Tunnel.
Work under the £17m project included lowering and relaying track through the 330m-long tunnel and installation of equipment to allow electrification of the line.
With the completion of the works, all ScotRail passenger services will now resume normal service from today.
“Completion of the work at Winchburgh is a key milestone in the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme, which is a comprehensive programme of improvements to Scotland’s rail network.”
The completion of work will see a 20% reduction in journey time, as well as enable the rail network to carry 30% more passengers between Scotland’s two biggest cities.
Scotland Minister for Transport and Islands Derek Mackay said: “Completion of the work at Winchburgh is a key milestone in the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme, which is a comprehensive programme of improvements to Scotland’s rail network.”
In this project, additional staff were also deployed to stations along the route to help advise passengers affected by the project, which impacted mainly on services on the Glasgow-Falkirk High-Edinburgh and Dunblane/Stirling-Edinburgh lines.
ScotRail Alliance managing director Phil Verster said: “The on-time completion of a project of this size and complexity in just six weeks is a significant achievement for all of the engineers involved.
“It also demonstrates how, by working more closely together, the rail industry in Scotland can deliver vital enhancements to our network while also keeping passengers informed and on the move.”
“Electrifying the line between our two biggest cities will allow us to run faster, longer, greener trains that will cut journey times and increase the number of seats available on this key route.”
The refurbishment of Winchburgh Tunnel is part of the Scottish Government’s £742m Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP) and is a major step towards the electrification of the main Edinburgh-Glasgow Queen Street line by 2016.