First tracks of £300m Bathgate rail link are laid
SCOTLAND'S biggest transport baby took its first steps on the ground this week, nine months before the £300 million Bathgate to Airdrie rail link opens for passengers.
County MSPs Fiona Hyslop and Mary Mulligan said the project will "open up the heart of Scotland" as they helped lay the first links of the new section of track in Bathgate which will connect Edinburgh and Glasgow through West Lothian.
Network Rail has announced the new track's opening date for passenger services will be 12 December this year, with journeys to Glasgow from Bathgate taking around 30 minutes on the faster trains, which will run every half hour.
A journey from Edinburgh to Glasgow will take around 65 minutes, which politicians believe will ease congestion on the M8 motorway.
Culture secretary Fiona Hylsop said: "The Bathgate to Airdrie line opens up the heart of Scotland for jobs, the economy and will link families in West Lothian and Lanarkshire.
"It will also be more accessible to commute on a regular basis – that's the strength of the Bathgate to Airdrie line. It will really connect communities and family ties as well as the Scottish economy."
Despite a three-week delay in work during the big freeze, Network Rail said the project will be delivered on time and within budget, even though the weather disruption has added costs.
Hugh Wark, senior project manager, said: "The project is going to plan and everything is on time. We have had to accelerate works due to the snow, particularly in January, through additional shifts and extended hours and deploying extra equipment.
"We will have to reconfigure plans and there could be up to 1,200 people working at various sites at one time in the better weather. That figure is around 800 at the moment.
"We have a fixed price (for the project] and we are confident we will do it in the price agreed as there is a contingency built into the price.
"The new footbridge at the Blackridge platform has been installed and car parks and the platform is under construction."
Transport minister Stewart Stevenson called the link "vital" and said it will open up the Central Belt for new businesses.
"In addition to the significant employment during construction, the new rail service will create 130 permanent jobs with ScotRail," he added.
"And by providing a quicker public transport alternative to roads, the Airdrie to Bathgate link will also help to reduce congestion on the M8, making Scotland a greener and more environmentally-friendly place."
This week's track-laying ceremony follows 18 months of activity clearing the route, as well as a massive new station at Bathgate along Edinburgh Road, just outside the town
centre.
Gantries are being installed for overhead lines to power the electrified trains, and the bulk of the track will be installed by a 170-tonne track laying machine which is expected on site in May.
Ron McAulay, Scottish Network Rail director, said: "To date, our team has worked over two-and-a-half million hours and transported almost a million tons of earth and rock to develop the track bed and new cycle path, install new bridges and structures and upgrade the existing rail link between Edinburgh and Bathgate."
The project is funded by Transport Scotland and delivered by Network Rail.
Linlithgow MSP Mary Mulligan, whose constituency covers Bathgate, said: "I'm delighted to see the tracks now being laid and people will see there is now opportunities to travel from east to west. I can't wait for the opening later this year."
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Weather for Bathgate
Monday 21 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 6 C to 15 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
