{"id":343641,"date":"2026-01-06T17:07:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T07:07:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.railfreight.com\/?p=68393"},"modified":"2026-01-06T17:07:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T07:07:11","slug":"scotlands-freight-heartland-gets-surgery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=343641","title":{"rendered":"Scotland\u2019s freight heartland gets surgery"},"content":{"rendered":"

A \u00a37 million (\u20ac8.4m) programme of Christmas and New Year engineering works has been completed at Mossend, near Glasgow. The works have delivered a major boost to the resilience and performance of Scotland\u2019s rail freight heartland. The engineering focused on renewing and upgrading critical infrastructure that supports the majority of Scottish freight movements.<\/strong>
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Network Rail Scotland says the investment underlines the strategic importance of the Mossend area, which handles around eighty per cent of Scotland\u2019s rail freight services. Mossend, on the edge of Bellshill, sits in the middle of the populous Central Belt, roughly midway between Glasgow and Edinburgh. It\u2019s directly connected to the West Coast Main Line and close to the East Coast Main Line, the two cross-border freight routes between Scotland and England.<\/p>\n

Wide-ranging renewals<\/h2>\n

The Christmas works covered a broad package of infrastructure interventions, delivered by Scotland\u2019s Rail Systems Alliance (RSA – a collaborative partnership organisation in the Scottish rail industry). These included plain line renewals, switches (points) and crossings renewals and refurbishment, culvert works, drainage improvements and extensive re-sleepering. Overhead line equipment and signalling works were also carried out, alongside measures to increase permitted line speeds. So – basically – the works. Over to Gerry McQuade in the video (apologies for the sleigh bells – it seemed like a good idea at the time, says Network Rail).<\/p>\n