SCOTLAND'S busiest rail service was badly disrupted after a cow strayed on to the line.

The animal wandered on to the track around a mile from Lenzie, East Dunbartonshire, where it was struck and killed by a train at 10.30am.

The incident resulted in services between Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh, via Falkirk, being cancelled, delayed or revised at short notice while police, fire, and Network Rail staff worked to remove the carcass from the line.

The line was partially reopened by 2.45pm and fully reopened by 4.15pm yesterday.

No rail crew or passengers were thought to have been hurt, but the front of the train was damaged.

It is unclear how the cow came to be on the line. An inspection of the surrounding area could find no sign of damage to fences running alonside the track.

The disruption came less than 24 hours after a similar incident. On Sunday evening several cows wandered on to the line several miles east of Lenzie.

The incidents, which involved separate farms, are not believed to be related. No damage to fences was detected in the earlier incident.

A spokesman for Network Rail said investigations were ongoing to determine how the animals were reaching the track, but one possibility being examined was that they may have been able to jump over a fence or wall.

He added: "Engineers worked as quickly as possible to remove the animal from the tracks, inspect the railway for any damage and check lineside fences. We apologise to passengers for the inconvenience this incident will have caused."

The incident forced ScotRail to cut its services between Edinburgh and Glasgow Queen Street from every 15 minutes to every half an hour, with a diversion via Falkirk Grahamston.

Passengers were able to travel on a replacement mini bus between Falkirk High and Falkirk Grahamston, but there were no train services at all at Croy, Lenzie and Bishopbriggs.

Vouchers for First Glasgow buses were available from the Glasgow Queen Street booking office to passengers who wanted to trade in their train tickets and use the bus instead.