Queen Street tunnel works complete one day early

The work on the tunnel which started in March, will be complete within weeks and services will start to operate again from Sunday August 7, instead of the following day as originally planned.

Passengers on many routes have put up with delays, cancellations and longer journeys throughout the period of the works to allow electrification of the Glasgow to Edinburgh line.

ScotRail said the work has been “challenging” but that the benefits would be “amazing”.

Phil Verster, managing director of ScotRail Alliance, said: “I’m delighted to confirm that we will be able to reopen the Queen Street tunnel a day ahead of schedule.

“This has been an extraordinarily complex job. Our people have been working round the clock, often in really challenging circumstances, to get this job done.

“I’m incredibly grateful to our customers for the patience and understanding that they have shown over the course of the last five months.

The work that we have been doing at Queen Street will deliver amazing benefits for our customers in the future. Our new faster, longer greener trains will be arriving in just over a year’s time, meaning more seats, shorter journey times with less impact on our environment.”

Later this year work to redevelop the station to lengthen platforms to take longer trains will start due to be complete by 2019.

The overall project to electrify the line is delayed by around seven months and new trains will not run on the line until July next year.

It was reported earlier this month the work is delayed and the costs have increased above the £742 estimate.

Transport Minister, Humza Yousaf, who said he was disappointed by the overall delay welcomed the early completion of the Queen Street tunnel work.

He said: “I am pleased that the work in Queen Street tunnel has completed on schedule and, like all rail passengers, I am looking forward to the resumption of normal services. I would like to thank the public for their patience during the closure.”