THOUSANDS of commuters face travel chaos for a month when five railways stations in Glasgow will be closed.

The shutdown follows the collapse of old mine works near the Cathcart Circle line.

Passengers will be forced to swap trains for buses to allow engineers to carry out emergency safety work costing £2million in the South Side of the city.

The stations to be shut are Pollokshaws East, Queens Park, Crosshill, Mount Florida and Cathcart.

All five will be closed from Tuesday, July 22, and won't reopen until Sunday, August 17.

Passengers were today told they will have to switch to local bus services.

First ScotRail is to run a revised timetable between Glasgow Central and stations at Neilston, Renfrewshire, and Newton, South Lanarkshire, to enable engineers to tackle the subsidence problem.

The train operator says the extensive repairs will add around seven minutes to some journey times, while passengers face changes to departure and arrival times during the month-long programme.

Network Rail, which is responsible for rail infrastructure, has hired civil engineering contractor Edmund Nuttall, the firm which built Glasgow's Squinty Bridge, to carry out the work.

Programme manager Raymond Johnstone said: "At the end of May, we identified subsidence near the Cathcart Circle line just south of Pollokshields East station.

"This coincided with works being carried out by developers on an adjacent site. A speed restriction of 5mph was imposed immediately and watchmen were assigned to the site to monitor the track condition after every train movement.

"A full survey of the site by Network Rail has identified the cause of the subsidence. Ancient mine workings four metres below ground have partially collapsed, causing the ground near the track to subside.

QUEEN'S PARK	MOUNT FLORIDA	CROSSHILL	CATHCART

"In order to fix the problem, Network Rail considered several options and all but one would have involved excavation of the site and long-term disruption to train services and residents for many months.

"The solution involves drilling bore holes and filling the gap beneath the ground with grouting material. This will require a four-week closure of the track in this area."

Steve Montgomery, operations and safety director at First ScotRail, said: "We will be operating as comprehensive a timetable as possible during this time in order to minimise the impact on our customers.

"Where a rail service cannot be operated, alternative transport will be available and staff will be on hand to provide assistance."

Train passengers who have already bought season tickets and zonecards won't be charged by bus firms so long as they produce them.

First ScotRail also plans a half hourly shuttle bus service which will call at all five stations. Buses will also pick up and drop off commuters at King's Park who are travelling to and from Newton and Neilston.

Posters highlighting the temporary timetable are to be displayed at stations while wheelchair users are asked to contact First ScotRail's travel line.

... but customer satisfaction is up!

First ScotRail has continued to deliver high level services, passengers have reported in the national rail watchdog's Great Britain rail network survey.

Passenger Focus today released its Spring 2008 National Passenger Survey which found overall satisfaction with First ScotRail (88%) was up 5% points from Spring 2007.

The findings follow the announcement earlier this year that the First ScotRail franchise has been extended for three years to 2014.

Passengers told the watchdog four key areas of the First ScotRail service had improved including ticket buying facilities at the station, the availability of staff and the upkeep and repair of station buildings and platforms.

However, passengers increasingly see station car parking to be a problem with only 44% satisfied with facilties - a drop of 11%.

The Passenger Focus survey found that across Scotland, overall satisfaction with rail services was generally higher than the GB average of 80%.

National Express East Coast received a score of 86%, Virgin Trains an 85% approval rate and overall satisfaction with Cross Country and First Trans Pennine Express was at 84%.

Scotland passenger link manager Robert Samson commented: "Once again passengers have told us train operators in Scotland are doing a good job, but there is still work to do across the board.

"This feedback demonstrates train companies shouldn't rest on their laurels but listen to customer criticism."

James King, Passenger Focus Scottish board member, agreed: "While the scores in Scotland are better than the national average, they do show scope for improvement across a number of areas, including value for money, facilities for car parking and how well firms respond to delays."

The NPS was conducted at around 650 stations between January and March.