NETWORK Rail is to plough ahead with bridge heightening work and compulsory property purchases despite them being rendered unnecessary because of cuts to a £1 billion electrification programme.
The infrastructure firm confirmed a £27 million project to raise the height of 28 rail bridges to allow the erection of electric overhead wires will continue, even though only 10 are on routes still to be electrified.
It is also engaged in "active discussions" regarding compulsory purchase orders (CPO) relating to 12 properties, thought to be houses, next to the proposed Dalmeny Chord and Greenhill Junction improvements. Both projects have been mothballed.
The details emerged after the Scottish Government said £350m had been cut from the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP), with only half of more than 200 miles of central belt track due for electrification expected to go ahead.
The EGIP cuts will mean two extra trains per hour between Glasgow's Queen Street Station and Edinburgh Waverley from 2016 will not be introduced, though longer trains are now planned to provide a similar increase in seating capacity.
Network Rail said the bridge work and CPOs will no longer support the revised EGIP scope but may be needed for future phases of the project. The Scottish Government has committed to electrifying 62 miles of track a year from 2016.
Network Rail said 10 offers had so far been made, the majority to residents in Dalmeny, near Edinburgh. Most of the 18 bridges on mothballed sections are on Stirlingshire railway lines.
A spokesman said: "We have made offers to buy 10 properties along the route and are in active discussion with agents regarding a total of 12 properties.
"As future electrification projects may include a need for the Dalmeny Chord and enhancements at Greenhill Junction, we remain committed to completing these transactions should the owners wish to sell.
"We are delivering a range of track and structural works at bridges on the Edinburgh-Glasgow, Cumbernauld, Dunblane and Alloa lines. Continuing to deliver all of these enhancements as part of one programme is cost-effective and also limits disruption to the rail network."
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