Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link: from conception to construction

Scotland’s rail network is currently enjoying an unprecedented level of funding for enhancement projects across the country. However, one project in particular has the potential to transform lives throughout the Central Belt.

The Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link project, funded by Transport Scotland and delivered by Network Rail, is the most ambitious rail project currently being undertaken in Scotland. Ultimately, it will provide a new double-tracked, electrified route between Glasgow and Edinburgh, transforming access to public transport for the communities along the line.

The new line presents enormous opportunities for the people of West Lothian in the east and North Lanarkshire in the west, for the Scottish economy and for the companies operating Scotland’s railways.

Despite being named the Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link, the real strength of the new line is in the wider package of enhancements. The impact of the new rail link will be felt far wider than the local communities through which it will pass.

While the key to the project is to reinstate the route between the current terminus at Drumgelloch and Bathgate, the line also provides a new opportunity to link Scotland’s two main economic centres, Edinburgh and Glasgow. The current routes from Airdrie to Drumgelloch and Bathgate to Edinburgh will be upgraded to double track and the whole route from Airdrie to Edinburgh will be newly electrified.

Ultimately, the new rail link will allow a service of four trains per hour in each direction and will potentially allow a non-stop service from Helensburgh on the Clyde coast to Edinburgh using the North Clyde service. The journey will make frequent stops, helping to reduce the burden on the busy existing express services between Edinburgh and Glasgow and providing Central Belt passengers with more travel options.

The catalyst for the Airdrie-Bathgate project came from a key recommendation of the multi-modal Central Scotland Transport Corridor Studies (CSTCS) in 2002, which primarily focussed on examining trunk road links.

When published, not only did this study address the future of three crucial road corridors into Glasgow – the A80, A8 and M74, recommending upgrading the A80 and A8 to motorways – it also championed several complimentary rail-based schemes as part of its findings.

Under the CSTCS, the Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link was envisaged as helping those without access to a car to keep pace with the opportunities presented by the improved road links suggested in the report. The report’s authors had originally envisaged a rail link which would simply redress this imbalance. However, on further analysis, investment in a rail link also showed a high rate of return in its own right due to the enhanced and sustainable social and economic benefits it would bring for both business and social users.

In 2003, the project began to gather momentum as the then Scottish Executive agreed to support the project and provide funding to a more detailed examination of the proposals.

This Government-funded appraisal took the concept identified in the CSTCS report and expanded it to give a definitive layout for the route, including those sections where the old track bed had been lost; firm costs for the new and upgraded infrastructure; a review of the operating assumptions; and an in-depth analysis of the viability of proposed intermediate stations.

This more detailed appraisal confirmed two crucial points – the project was technically feasible and also the economic case was sustainable when the engineering and material costs associated with a development of this size was factored in.

However, as all new rail infrastructure in Scotland was subject to the Scottish Parliament’s Private Bill procedures (currently being replaced by a Scottish equivalent of Westminster’s Transport and Works Act) the proposals had to pass through a three-stage parliamentary process before the new rail link could become a reality.

The project plans and submissions from other interested parties were studied by a committee of MSPs, who posed questions and examined concerns raised by the various contributors, to ensure that the proposals received a rigorous and public examination.

A series of public hearings were also held at locations along the line of the new route to allow those communities to be fully involved in the process, raising issues of concern and making suggestions on how best to develop the line to meet their own needs.

It quickly emerged that one of the main concerns for local residents would be the siting of new stations on the route. The original plans outlined in the CSTCS had envisaged a quick, non-stop service between the main stations at Drumgelloch and Bathgate.

However, the consultation process revealed the local communities, and the two local authorities through whose boundaries the line would run, viewed the new route as a golden opportunity to regenerate the areas bordering the route, creating new housing and attracting inward investment on the back of up to four new stations.

As a result of these appeals, two intermediate stations, at Caldercruix and Armadale, were proposed in the Bill put before the Scottish Parliament as the project sought to strike a balance between the need for local access to the rail network and the wider objective of creating a viable and quick link between east and west. Strong representations were also given by two other communities, at Plains and Blackridge, and the Scottish Executive gave an undertaking to re-examine the potential for these two additional stations.

The project was unanimously approved by the Scottish Parliament in March 2007 and Transport Scotland agreed funding for the capital cost of £300 million. Royal Assent was granted in May and advance works for the project commenced just weeks later.

With the first commercial services expected to run in December 2010 – within the same decade as the initial study – the Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link is the biggest project of its kind in Scotland so far this century.

The next 12 months will see the new route begin to take shape, with the completion of advance works such as double-tracking of the line between Bathgate and Edinburgh and the electrification of the Mound tunnel on the western approach to the capital’s Waverley station.

October has also seen the appointment of Scott Wilson Group, which will work to finalise the designs for the new line and its supporting infrastructure. The company has already been heavily involved with the project for more than a year, having been commissioned in 2006 to draw up outline designs, and it will now provide structural, geotechnical, track, station and depot design services ahead of the appointment of a main contractor to build the route.

The scale of the overall project is ambitious, and it will require considerable skill and commitment from all of those involved to deliver the new line on time and on budget.

In the west, the single track between Airdrie and Drumgelloch, which was only reinstated in 1989, will need to be rebuilt and double-tracked and the station itself will be re-located east to a new, larger site where a two platform station and car park can be constructed.

From the new Drumgelloch station, the route east to Bathgate will be rebuilt, largely following the original track bed. Completely new stations will also be constructed at Caldercruix and Armadale. These stations will have two platforms and have been designed to accommodate six coach trains. They will be fully compliant with the Disability Discrimination Act and vehicle access and parking at the new facilities will cater for both local customers and those travelling from further out.

Unfortunately, the original route into Bathgate from the west has been lost and a new approach for the line has had to be designed. This station will therefore be relocated as part of the project and will be built to the east of the existing facility, featuring larger car parking facilities and also a bus interchange. A light maintenance depot will also be established at Bathgate to serve the route.

The line between Bathgate and Edinburgh will also be transformed by the project with the existing line – previously a mix of single and double tracks – being upgraded to double track throughout and Newbridge Junction being remodelled. The Mound Tunnel at Waverley will also be electrified before the end of this year to accommodate the fully-electrified Airdrie-Bathgate services in 2010.

When finished, the new Airdrie-Bathgate route will enhance not just the transport options for many people living along the route, it will also open up a host of new economic and social opportunities too, providing direct access to Glasgow and Edinburgh for people living in the corridor between Airdrie and Uphall. It will enhance public transport opportunities for non-drivers and help ease congestion on Central Scotland’s roads and provide a credible alternative for many to the daily car commute.

The Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link Project has demonstrated how a major rail development can move from conception to construction in as little as five years. Although there is still a long way to go, the success of the project to date should provide a blue-print for other major rail projects to follow.