Nightmare for commuters on return to work

THOUSANDS of commuters suffered a nightmarish return to work after the festive break yesterday as heavy snow and late-running engineering work brought chaos to roads and railways.

There were lengthy traffic delays on key routes in Edinburgh and the Borders after overnight snow created hazardous conditions during the rush hour.

Rail passengers on five main routes into Glasgow had to switch to buses after Network Rail failed to complete major work for the second time in a week. First ScotRail reacted furiously at the lack of warning over the delay.

Up to 4in of snow was reported to have fallen in parts of the Central Belt, with Midlothian the worst affected. Stretches of the Edinburgh city bypass were reduced to single lanes because of the hazardous conditions, causing lengthy tailbacks. Problems intensified after a westbound vehicle on the bypass overturned at around 6:30am. No-one was injured.

Meanwhile, the A68 was closed at Soutra Hill in the Borders from around 8am-9am, after two lorries became stuck in heavy snow. Police then closed the A702, the main route between Edinburgh and the M74, from 10am-11:30am after lorries began experiencing similar problems.

Lothian Buses, Edinburgh's main operator, said the snow caused significant disruption. Iain Coupar, its marketing director, said: "We were looking at delays of around 45 minutes. We had to turn services back in some areas as the buses couldn't get through."

Grampian Police said heavy snow had led to "hazardous" driving conditions on the A90 at Laurencekirk, and on the A93 at Braemar, Ballater and Banchory.

Problems with the installation of new signalling prevented the re- opening of both rail lines between Glasgow and Paisley after a two-week shutdown, affecting five routes to the Ayrshire and Inverclyde coast.

The delay came days after Network Rail finished major work on the Glasgow-London line four days late.

A reduced service on the main Glasgow-Paisley Gilmour Street line resumed last night, serving Ayr, Ardrossan and Largs, but there will be no trains to Gourock and Wemyss Bay until at least tomorrow. The Glasgow-Paisley Canal line will not reopen until the following day at the earliest.

Mary Dickson, managing director of First ScotRail, said the company had been told on Sunday that most services would run.

She added: "Our customers must be wondering what is going on, and so are we. This late communication is not good enough and we will be asking hard questions of Network Rail to ensure our customers are not let down again."

RAIL WORKS DELAY CRITICISED

WATCHDOGS joined the criticism of Network Rail yesterday over its unexpected late-running works.

James King, of Passenger Focus, said: "We urge Network Rail to make every effort to get trains running normally as soon as possible."

David Simpson, Network Rail's Scotland routes director, apologised to passengers and said he was frustrated at the delays by contractors Jarvis. He said the problem centred around integrating new signalling, installed as part of the £9 million project, with existing signals.