BRITAIN'S Rail Minister has called on all interested stakeholders to play their part in saving a historic railway works in Glasgow.

Andrew Jones MP was speaking in an adjournment debate with Glasgow North East MP Paul Sweeney on the proposed closure of St Rollox railway works, currently owned by Gemini Rail Services, in which he said a change in infrastructure at the plant was needed for it to have a future.

During the discussion, held in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Mr Jones said he would encourage all affected parties to work together to find a solution, including the possibility of electrification on the site.

Estimates suggest that the cost of connecting the site to the newly electrified Glasgow to Edinburgh would be in the region of £700,000.

This sum, according to the UK's Rail Minister, would be allocated by Scotland and was out of his hands.

The debate comes after Springburn's MSP Bob Doris secured a stakeholder meeting regarding the site on January 23, with Transport Secretary Michael Matheson requesting a delay to any consultation on closure until after this date.

He added: "If Network Rail can play a part, it should do so. If the company can play a part, it should do so.

"It is possible that this plant may be saved, with the injection of opportunity via some changes to infrastructure.

"Ultimately, however, it will need to have a supply chain of orders, otherwise it will continue to be loss-making and its future will not be sustainable.

"I will take the actions that I have described to try to encourage all the parties to come together to form a deal."

During the debate, Mr Sweeney claimed that Gemini had already removed all signage from the site over the weekend, as well as dumping more than £1million of waste materials such as paint.

He said there is now hope that rail providers could take over custody the site, creating a new maintenance and manufacturing hub for multiple companies to utilise competitively, including Gemini.

However, he believes this requires a cash injection from the Scottish Government to keep the plant alive.

He added: "There is a small window of opportunity to make a decisive and relatively low-cost intervention to restructure how the site is operated.

"We are on the brink of an irreversible loss for Scotland. The UK Rail Minister cannot act. Will the Scottish Transport Secretary act?"