IT will be 2019 before all journeys on the Edinburgh to Glasgow rail line are cut to 42 minutes, ScotRail’s boss has said.
Managing director Alex Hynes said that while the train operator would “like to deliver” that time from December, it “wouldn’t be every service at 42 minutes”.
Travellers have been told they can expect quicker journey times between Edinburgh Waverley and Glasgow Queen Street as part of the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP).
But the project, originally costed at £742 million, has been hit by numerous delays.
It has also emerged that the new refurbished high-speed trains ScotRail is delivering are unlikely to be up and running by the contractual date in June.
Hynes told MSPs a delay in refitting the vehicles meant it was his “aspiration” that the first of the new trains would begin service in July, but was “not in a position to give a firm date” for this.
Hynes told the Scottish Parliament’s Rural Economy and Connectivity Committee: “Originally we wanted to go above and beyond the contractual date of June to deliver something for the timetable change in May.
“Sadly that is now looking unlikely but we’re working to bring that first refurbished train as soon as we can.”
ScotRail is hoping to introduce the first of the refurbished Great Western railway fleet into service on the Aberdeen to Edinburgh route “very shortly”, he said.
Hynes added: “It’s my aspiration that we put the first train into service in July but that is contingent upon the heavy overhauler producing me a train which is fully refurbished.”
He told MSPs there were still outstanding issues with the windscreen and software for the new electric Hitachi trains which will run between Waverley and Queen Street, but that progress was being made on both.
However, the ScotRail boss said windscreens with an alternative design were being fitted this week, and work was ongoing to reduce the number of software issues.
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