Five major roads, a shopping centre and a railway running over the top of them on two bridges. Now, one of those bridges needs to be replaced. The south side of Edinburgh is preparing for a major rail closure that will actually mean a major road closure. Five major road closures.
Scotland’s capital city has one dedicated freight route. The purpose-built South Suburban Railway, commonly known as “the Sub”, winds through the leafier parts of the city. It has faded out of memory for most because it has not had a passenger service since 1962. However, for seventy freight movements every day, it’s as busy as it ever was.
Natives restless
It’s the best view on the South Suburban Railway. Soaring over a big traffic circle, or a “roundabout”, in that poetic British way. Cameron Toll is so big it has a forest, a bike trail and two railway bridges running over it. There’s even a shopping centre named after it, right off its west side. However, it’s also been a byword for delays, closures and disruption – for the lines of road traffic below, and citizens bemoaning the lack of passenger trains.
The local administration (City of Edinburgh Council) has been pilloried. Residents say it has failed to coordinate a series of surface level road repairs and underground utility works. That has caused multiple closures over the past eighteen months. Coincidentally, that’s about how long Network Rail has been coordinating plans to refurbish one of the two bridges over Cameron Toll. That refurbishment has started today (4 March), with some of the roads closed for the duration of the work (until 14 March).
Value added for network
Network Rail says it’s a £1.25m (1.48 million euros) investment in the railway, but it’s worth far more. The Sub is the only way to avoid the heavily congested route through Waverley Station and Haymarket Station – two of the busiest in Scotland.
Railway closures will be kept to the weekends. However, some roads will be closed for ten days. “The project will see the complete removal and replacement of the timber deck and track on the structure,” explained Nick King, Network Rail’s media relations manager for Scotland. “The metalwork on the bridge is also being grit-blasted. The steelwork repaired and partially repainted in areas where work has taken place.”
Major freight route
Partial road closures will continue throughout March. Although Edinburgh’s restrained residents have been uncharacteristically furious about the continued disruption at this location, Network Rail can remain blameless – for once. A spokesman for the project was sympathetic. “This is the safest and quickest way to deliver the complex engineering work needed to refurbish the bridge,” he said. “The work is vital to the long-term future of the line. Our engineers are working hard to complete the repairs as quickly as possible and keep disruption to the local road network to a minimum.”
Edinburgh itself is not a major freight destination, but very much more traffic passes through the city, almost all of it using the Sub. Bulk and intermodal traffic using the East Coast Main Line (including from Blyth port and Tarmac Dunbar) require paths on the Sub to reach destinations throughout Scotland. It connects with hubs such as Inverness (intermodal), Fort William (alumina) and the port of Grangemouth. Traffic is also generated by Mossend yard, Cloburn Quarry and the West Coast Main Line. A public helpline has been set up by Network Rail in Scotland.