Scotland's railway network given a £120m funding boost for electricity supply

More than a £120 million will be spent boosting the electricity supply into Scotland's railway network.

It is aimed at making rail travel greener by reducing the number of diesel locomotives and replacing them with electric-powered trains.

Scottish Government Transport Minister, Jenny Gilruth, said: "Increasing power supply into the Scottish railway network is critical to enabling our ambitions to run more cleaner and greener electric trains.

"Upgrading the power supply network will enable the introduction of electric trains on services to East Kilbride and Barrhead, on the Borders line and across Fife but will also support increased traffic on existing routes such as the East Coast Mainline."

Alex Hynes, managing director of Scotland's Railway said: "In tandem with the Scottish Government's ambitions to increase the number of electric trains running on Scotland's Railway, there comes an increase in the demand for power to operate these services.

"Investing in the power supply infrastructure will not only make the current electric network more resilient, it also delivers the significant growth in capacity needed as we continue to electrify our railway."

The investment over the next three years will see:

• Six new feeder stations at strategic locations across the network

• A further nine sites upgraded to increase the resilience and reliability of the infrastructure for the operation of electrically powered passenger and freight traffic.

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