SCOTRAIL officials last night sought to reassure anxious commuters
that its plans to introduce single track sections on the Milngavie
branch line will not lead to delays in services or affect safety.
Nearly 400 people gathered in Kessington Hall, Bearsden, for a public
meeting on the controversial ScotRail plan to introduce single track
between Westerton and Bearsden and Hillfoot to Milngavie -- stretches of
track on which up to 5000 people travel every day.
The meeting, attended by Labour MPs Mr Sam Galbraith, Strathkelvin and
Bearsden, and Mr Tony Worthington, Clydebank and Milngavie, was told by
ScotRail that the plan to introduce single track is a key element in its
#18.5m improvement and re-signalling scheme for the Glasgow north
electric line, which was included, and approved, in the 1983 Strathclyde
Regional Council rail review.
Mr Alan Mackay, ScotRail's regional operations superintendent, told
the meeting that the proposals would result in a more effective service
for customers. The track change was essential, he said, in order to
ensure that ScotRail could meet the needs of the travelling public.
With public fears over rail safety particularly acute following the
recent tragedy at Bellgrove, on the outskirts of Glasgow, Mr Mackay
sought to reassure the public. ''Safety is our paramount consideration.
It always has been, and always will be.''
Representatives of Stag, the Safer Track Action Group, told the
meeting that it would be ''foolhardy to downgrade the Milngavie line
before the lessons of the Bellgrove disaster have been identified and
absorbed''.
Mr Ken Sutherland, a member of Stag and the research officer for the
Railway Development Society, said the group's claim that services would
be seriously affected by a single track system had been reinforced
yesterday by two separate incidents.
The breakdown of a train between Milngavie and Glasgow led to delays
for up to 100 passengers, and another delay was caused by doors jamming
on the 10.20am train from Milngavie to Glasgow.
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