A £180m fleet of electric trains will be introduced on the Scottish rail network.
Siemens will supply 130 new carriages, providing 9,000 more seats, which
will be brought into use by the end of 2010.
Finance Secretary John Swinney announced the deal, which will see 134
jobs created to operate and maintain the fleet and the expanded depots.
The trains will operate mainly in the west of Scotland and on the forthcoming
Glasgow Airport rail link.
"If we want to encourage more Scots to switch from their cars to public
transport, we need to continue to invest in our rail network," Mr Swinney
said.
First ScotRail said the new trains would lead to rolling stock being released
to operate on the forthcoming Airdrie to Bathgate line, meaning more capacity
on services connecting stations between Edinburgh and Glasgow.
Workforce expansion
HSBC will act as a third party in the deal with Siemens Transportation Systems,
which will see the agency Transport Scotland provide £180m for the new
fleet.
First ScotRail will then lease them out on a 17-year operating contract.
First ScotRail managing director Mary Grant, said: "This is the biggest
electric trains order in Scotland for a decade.
"It will result in extra trains, and services, at a time when more and more
people are choosing rail as their preferred means of travel."
Transport Scotland will also provide £40m for a platform extension
programme across Ayrshire and Inverclyde to accommodate the longer
electric trains.
SCOTLAND is to get a £180million fleet of new hi-tech trains - and most
will operate in and out of Glasgow.
Transport chiefs will also create 134 jobs by spending another £50m on
longer platforms and building a new maintenance depot in the city's South
Side.
They are to buy 38 locomotives and 130 carriages that will provide extra
seating for 9000 passengers.
The fleet will be used on the Glasgow-Edinburgh service and Glasgow-
Inverclyde and Ayrshire.
Several of the new trains will provide passenger services on the planned
Glasgow Airport Rail Link.
The fleet will be fully air-conditioned and carriages will also be fitted with
CCTV, as well as power sockets for laptops.
They will be more spacious, with easy access for the disabled and
provision for cycles and luggage.
The new rolling stock will be phased in over three years, but will begin
running at stations from December 2010.
Longer platforms will be constructed at stations in Ayrshire and Inverclyde,
while a hi-tech repair and maintenance depot will be built in Glasgow's
Shields Road to replace an existing facility.
As well as the 134 extra jobs needed to maintain and operate Scotland's
expanded fleet, additional drivers are to be recruited, along with cleaners
who will be based at a depot in Yoker.
The investment comes amid predictions passengers numbers will rise
significantly over the next 10 years.
James H _________________ The blinding obvious is what you showed to me.....
Last edited by james73 on Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:18 pm; edited 2 times in total
MORE than 60 trains were delayed or cancelled when points broke down at
Glasgow Central.
Thousands of travellers were hit when the failure blocked lines.
Managers were forced to cancel some services and hold back others as
engineers worked to get trains running for the evening rush hour.
One commuter travelling on the Cathcart Circle as the worst delays hit
said: "I had to wait 40 minutes for a train, just to make a 10-minute
journey home."
A spokesman for Network Rail said there had been a "track circuit failure"
shortly before 3pm yesterday and engineers resolved the worst hold-ups
before peak traffic hit.
By late afternoon, five services had been cancelled and 58 had suffered
delays totalling just over eight hours.
The spokesman said: "A number of lines were affected, blocking one
route into the station. The delays were significant but not major."
The failure came despite last year's extensive engineering works at the
station, which were part of an £85million investment programme.
James H _________________ The blinding obvious is what you showed to me.....
And the Mr '10 minute journey' should have went got the bus _________________ Now coming at you with 95% more significance, 1% less salt and virtually fat free!
The railway line between Kilmarnock and Dumfries is to be closed for two
weeks for major upgrade works.
The closure from 19 July to 3 August is planned to enable the completion
of a £35m project to eliminate an eight-mile "bottleneck" between Gretna
and Annan.
All services between Glasgow Central and Carlisle will be affected, with
replacement buses in operation. First ScotRail has advised passengers to
allow more time for their journey over the period of the works.
The double-tracking of the section between Gretna and Annan was
announced last year. It is hoped it will reduce delays and allow increased
capacity on the route.
Network Rail's route director in Scotland, David Simpson, said it was an
important project.
Vital link
"The Gretna to Annan route is a vital rail link for both freight and
passenger trains and the upgrade is an important part of Network Rail's
vision to modernise and grow the railway in Scotland," he said.
"We are working closely with First ScotRail to provide alternative
transport arrangements while this work is completed and would like to
thank the local communities for their continued support and patience."
Replacement bus services will run between Kilmarnock and Carlisle for
the duration of the closure.
At peak times, express buses will also run between Glasgow and Carlisle,
calling at Dumfries, Annan and Gretna.
James H _________________ The blinding obvious is what you showed to me.....
I'm still waiting to find when the "new" half-hourly service fae Killie to Glasgow will start.
Supposedly they* can't confirm a start date, nor which stations it will stop at, or where the new rolling-stock that they bought to use has vanished to.
Any ideas Mr Driver?
* "Scottish Government" _________________ don't hold your breath too long..... this tunnel is a Texas mile
I'm still waiting to find when the "new" half-hourly service fae Killie to Glasgow will start.
Supposedly they* can't confirm a start date, nor which stations it will stop at, or where the new rolling-stock that they bought to use has vanished to.
Any ideas Mr Driver?
* "Scottish Government"
You'll be waiting a while for that yet. They need to add in passing loops between
Kilmarnock and Barrhead before they can run half-hourly trains. Or they could just
reinstate the entire section as double track, but that would make too much sense...
James H _________________ The blinding obvious is what you showed to me.....
I'm still waiting to find when the "new" half-hourly service fae Killie to Glasgow will start.
Supposedly they* can't confirm a start date, nor which stations it will stop at, or where the new rolling-stock that they bought to use has vanished to.
Any ideas Mr Driver?
* "Scottish Government"
I'm hoping that this service stops at Nitshill and Priesthill/Darnley.
I was told about the possibility of this happening over a year ago. It would hopefully make the Nitshill to Central service every 15 minutes during rush hour
On a completely different matter.
I picked up a couple of videos today from a Charity Shop which may be of interest to those members with a train background.
"The Classics - Railway Volume 1, Number 3" which includes G.W Pannier Tanks
The second which I though was something that would be of interest to more members is -
"Summer of '68 - Last Weeks of BR Steam"
I didn't know that in August it will be 40 years since steam trains were withdrawn from service.
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