Not good news if you plan on travelling between England and Scotland by train.
Earlier this month (see news January 4) we reported that the West Coast Main Line (a key rail route between London, the Midlands, the North of England and Scotland) was to be closed north of Carlisle for one month owing to storm damage.
But now Network Rail Scotland has today said that the damage is worse than expected. It means the West Coast rail line to Scotland, according to Network Rail Scotland “will not now reopen until the first week of March.”
We would expect that the current arrangements will remain in place, whereby passengers travelling between Carlisle, Glasgow and Edinburgh will have to make do with the existing bus and shuttle train services. In turn this will mean journey times will be extended.
An alternative routing for London-Glasgow passengers would be to take Virgin East Coast from Kings Cross and change at Edinburgh on to a local Scotrail service to Glasgow.
As before, the Caledonian sleeper train will be operating down the East rather than the West Coast route.
More information and images of the extent of the damage to the Lamington Viaduct can be seen on the BBC website here.
Alex McWhirter
