Network Rail is advising passengers of changes to their journeys as the first phase of its work to upgrade Carstairs Junction nears completion. This follows several months of disruption already as the work as been undertaken.
Following a sixteen-day closure of the West Coast main line, phase two of the programme will see part of the junction re-opening to allow some trains to run directly to Edinburgh – and via diversion routes to Glasgow – on weekdays.
During the three-month programme, which will run until June, trains will be diverted and journey times extended on services between Glasgow/Edinburgh and Carlisle.
The work is part of a £164m Scottish Government investment to modernise this key junction for passenger and freight services on one of Scotland's two cross-border routes. Work on this strategically important junction is complex and challenging and Network Rail, alongside contractor partners, developed the staged programme to manage the effect on services in the least disruptive way.
Engineers are working day and night to simplify and upgrade the track layout to clear an existing bottleneck on the network, making it more reliable and better able to cope with increasing passenger and freight demands.
The first sixteen days of the work focused primarily on completing the south junction: installing and upgrading the track, signalling and overhead line equipment to enable passenger and freight services to connect to Edinburgh and to add an additional diversionary route for services to Glasgow.
The closure of Carstairs junction impacts on cross-border operators including Avanti West Coast, Caledonian Sleeper, CrossCountry Trains and TransPennine Express, which are operating via diversionary routes or offering alternative journey options during this time. Services operating on the East Coast main line during this time are also likely to be busier than normal.
Passengers are advised to check with National Rail Enquiries or with their train operator for the alternative travel plans for their route.
During the first phase of the project, between Saturday March 4 and Sunday March 19, there are no direct services to Glasgow Central or Edinburgh on the West Coast main line through Carstairs.
Phase two of the work, taking place between Monday March 20 and Friday April 21, will see part of the junction re-opening, allowing some trains to run directly to Edinburgh and via diversion routes to Glasgow. On weekdays, however, journey times will be longer than normal.
The final phase, between Saturday April 22 and Sunday June 4, will see most services return to normal during weekdays. The junction will be fully closed each weekend with no direct services between Glasgow Central or Edinburgh and Carlisle on the West Coast main line.
There will be no ScotRail services to or from Carstairs for the full three-month period. ScotRail will run a range of alternative journey options throughout with Carstairs station re-opening on Tuesday May 30.
Carstairs Junction sits 26 miles south-east of Glasgow on the West Coast main line. Currently, the junction requires regular maintenance work as much of the infrastructure through the area is reaching the end of its operational lifespan. Speed restrictions are often imposed, which can affect performance.
The layout of the junction is no longer suited to today's pattern and volumes of service with over two hundred services passing through the junction on an average midweek day. Enabling works for the project have been underway since 2020 and the work delivered during the line closure will see over two hundred engineers working to upgrade the junction.
The new power supply being installed will allow engineers to switch off the overhead lines remotely to carry out maintenance, reducing the amount of time the railway is closed in future. The improvements will also bring reduced overall journey times through the removal of a 50mph speed restriction.
Jim McCleary, Network Rail's programme manager for the Carstairs Junction remodelling project said: “Although the weather has been challenging, work has been progressing well. As we near the end of the first stage of work, we have delivered new track, signalling and overhead lines all across the junction.
“Delivering work in the southern section enables the first section of the new layout to re-open and from Monday (March 20) passenger and freight services will begin to again run to Edinburgh and will also enable an alternative diversionary route for services to Glasgow.
“There is no pause for the team however and the next stage of work focuses on the West Coast main line section of the new layout, building it to be more resilient and reliable with the aim of reopening in late April.
“We are grateful for the support and cooperation of the travelling public and for the patience of the local community thus far as we deliver this massive investment our railway.”
Why not add a flyover or underpass for Avanti West Coast and Transpennine Express travelling to Edinburgh Waverley from Preston, Manchester and London.
No room to the north due to the State Mental Hospital.
For the period Mar 4 to Mar 19 there have been no West Coast mainline trains operating north of Carlisle, with bus replacements operating for the long Carlisle to Glasgow and Carlisle to Edinburgh routes. But there is a perfectly good diversionary route to Glasgow via Dumfries and Kilmarnock, which is used by just a handful of Scotrail DMUs. I can recall when the Carlisle to Carstairs line was being electrified in the 1960s, West Coast mainline trains were diverted successfully via this route. Of course Avanti and Transpennine electric trains would need diesel haulage over this route but this has been done before, so I wonder why this was not considered for the current Carstairs blockade?
The GSW route actually takes longer than the direct bus service from Carlisle to Glasgow.