A £30million railway project hailed as being delivered four years early will miss two big sporting events it was due to meet.

The electrification of the Whifflet to Glasgow line via Rutherglen was brought forward from 2018 to this year to improve services for the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup.

The line will link the city to Whifflet, in Coatbridge, via Carmyle, Mount Vernon, Baillieston, Bargeddie and Kirkwood and Network Rail says it will now be complete in September - but refuses to give an exact date.

However, an update on the project states the work means replacement bus services will be in use up until September 29, one day after the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles ends.

Last year, when he brought the work forward, Scottish Transport Minister Keith Brown said the work would "allow greater flexibility in deploying trains to help meet passenger demand during the Games, as well as free up rolling stock to run elsewhere on the network, including during the Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in September 2014".

Now, having missed the Games target, Network Rail says it will have no impact on services for the Ryder Cup.

A spokesman said: "To give a seamless service to the thousands of visitors to Glasgow, Network Rail decided to postpone the main work until after the Games.

"This inevitably means the overall completion date has been revised and will now be in September, still four years early. We acknowledge this is later than originally agreed, but we felt that for the good of the Games it was a necessary action to take."

When pressed for an exact date of when it would be ready, he replied: "The work will be complete during September. The revised completion date will have no impact on the delivery of rail services for the Ryder Cup."

A spokesman for Transport Scotland said: "The electrification of this line would have no material impact for services serving the Games and Ryder Cup, but it had been hoped the scheme would be completed before they started, along with the great number of other improvements carried out on Scotland's transport networks in preparation for welcoming the world to these events."

Scottish Labour's transport spokesman Mark Griffin criticised the delay. He said: "The SNP has a dismal record on delivering rail projects.

"The point of bringing this project forward was to provide additional support for major events, so it being completed in September will be of cold comfort to those passengers who faced problems with the trains after visiting the Games."

stewart.paterson@ eveningtimes.co.uk