Network Rail Scotland is investing an extra £4.5 million in a plan to boost performance in the North East and Highlands.
This will improve the reliability of Scotland’s Railway by targeting specific projects that will help to prevent infrastructure faults or reduce the time it takes to fix faults when they do occur.
The plan will see extra money spent across the North East and Highlands this financial year, including on the Highland main line, the East Coast main line, the Aberdeen-Inverness line and the Far North line.
It will also see more staff recruited at Network Rail’s depots in Perth and Inverness and new machinery and equipment supplied to these locations.
As part of the plan, Network Rail Scotland will (
www.networkrail.co.uk): renew or upgrade signalling systems; deliver additional track maintenance; invest in new machinery and equipment; increase lineside vegetation clearance; invest in remote monitoring systems to spot potential faults; and recruit additional staff for its depots.
Alex Hynes, managing director of Scotland’s Railway, said: “We are working hard across Scotland to drive up our performance and deliver the punctual reliable railway our customers deserve.
"Punctuality across the country is improving, and our maintenance teams in the North East and Highlands are working hard to reduce disruption as much as possible.
"This additional investment will be targeted at a range of initiatives that we believe will help to complement the extensive renewal and refurbishment work we already have planned — driving down delays and improving reliability.”
Network Rail Scotland will be investing over £4 billion in Scotland’s Railway over the next five years.