Rail services impacted via Carstairs until May 30

Operators are reminding customers in Carstairs, Carluke, Wishaw, and Motherwell, to plan ahead and know their travel options during major improvement works at Carstairs, beginning this weekend.

No services will operate between Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley via Carstairs between Saturday, March 4 and Tuesday, May 30 while Network Rail works to modernise the layout of the Carstairs Junction, a key section of the West Coast Mainline linking Glasgow and Edinburgh to London.

The £164million overhaul will see the infrastructure operator work in three phases between March 4 and June 4 to simplify and upgrade the track layout to clear an existing bottleneck on the network, making it more reliable and able to better cope with passenger and freight demands.

ScotRail is urging customers in Carstairs, Carluke, Wishaw, and Motherwell, to plan ahead and know their travel options, as services between Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley via Carstairs will be impacted for the duration of the works. No ScotRail services will operate between Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley via Carstairs from Saturday, March 4, however the train operator will run the following amended peak time services:

• 07.05 Glasgow Central to Edinburgh via Carstairs will be diverted via Shotts with replacement buses in operation from Carstairs, Carluke, Wishaw, and Motherwell for customers to connect at Bellshill

• 07.18 Carstairs to Glasgow Central High Level and 07.39 Carstairs to Garscadden via Glasgow Central Low Level will start at Wishaw.

• 17.37 Anderston to Carstairs will terminate at Wishaw. The train operator has arranged for valid train tickets between Carstairs and Glasgow Central to be accepted on the 37 and 137 Stuarts Coaches service between Carstairs and Lanark, allowing customers to connect with ScotRail services between Lanark and Glasgow Central High Level, and providing customers in Carstairs with an hourly service to and from Glasgow.

The train operator is asking customers to allow additional time for travel as journey times will be extended compared to the normal service via Carstairs.

The improvement work will also impact Avanti West Coast, TransPennine Express, Caledonian Sleeper, LNER, and CrossCountry services.

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