ALL four rail routes between Edinburgh and Glasgow will be electrified by 2019 after Network Rail awarded Carillion Powerlines a £49million contract to electrify the Shotts line.
The contract covers the current ‘missing link’ between Midcalder Junction, west of Edinburgh, and Holytown Junction on the outskirts of Glasgow, and is part of a wider £160million programme to improve links between Scotland’s two biggest cities.
The contract covers the physical delivery of all elements required to electrify the line, including erecting around 1,450 piled foundations, 1,265 masts and 97 twin-track cantilevers, together with installing and energising the catenary.
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Work will be carried out in tandem with a route-clearance programme to ensure the power cables can run under structures on the line – an issue that has delayed the completion of electrification work on the Edinburgh to Glasgow via Falkirk route. Work to demolish and rebuild 17 structures on the route started over the Christmas period.
Read more in February’s issue of The RM – out now!
