Barrhead to Glasgow Electrification

PROJECT ACTIVITIES

The Glasgow - Barrhead electrification project is part of a Scottish Government investment to decarbonise passenger services across Scotland's Railway by providing greener trains onto the route.

Electrification introduces a substantial change to the railway environment in terms of risk for those living or working near to the newly electrified route.

The new overhead power cables carry 25,000 volts of electricity and are always on, so always stay off. Trespassing onto the railway and getting too close to the overhead line equipment is extremely dangerous and can be fatal.

Over autumn, we are carrying out finishing works, followed by signalling commissioning and then running test trains on the route, ahead of the introduction of electric trains from December 2023.

Ahead of this, we completed a six-week programme of intensive engineering works over the summer to prepare the line for electrification.

This critical phase of the project allowed us to work 24/7, with over 70,000 hours worked. Activity included installing 14,400 metres of overhead power cables and renewing 130 metres of track.

We also delivered works at four key stations – Kennishead, Priesthill & Darnley, Nitshill and Barrhead.

Bridge parapets were raised in height at Kennishead and Priesthill & Darnley stations to make them safe and compliant for an electrified railway.

A significant amount of work took place at Barrhead station, with Platform 3 extended to accommodate longer four-carriage electric trains. This involved moving the current buffers and rebuilding the access paths.

The old lattice footbridge at Nitshill station, too low to fit the overhead cables underneath, was replaced with a new ramp.

The ramp provides access to Platform 2 for services to Barrhead and Kilmarnock and is accessed through a reopened underpass off Nitshill Road.

During the works, our signalling engineers took advantage of the line closure between Barrhead and Kilmarnock to carry out refurbishment of the signalling system near Lugton in East Ayrshire.

This project forms part of a rolling programme of decarbonisation and follows on from the electrification of the main Edinburgh - Glasgow line, the Stirling-Dunblane-Alloa route and the Shotts line, with 325 single track kilometres of electrified railway delivered across Scotland over the last decade.