Hogmanay revellers travelling between Edinburgh and Glasgow on New Year’s Eve are set to be hit with travel chaos as rail engineering works will shut down a line on the route.
From December 27 until December 31, all lines will be closed between Glasgow Central and Motherwell which will prevent ScotRail, LNER and CrossCountry services running on the line.
It means the line between Glasgow Queen Street and Edinburgh - used only by ScotRail – is likely to face overcrowding.
Replacement buses will transport passengers between Glasgow Central and Motherwell.
New Year's Day will also see the West Coast Main line from Glasgow into England hit by major disruption.
Avanti West Coast and TransPennine Express services will only be running south of Carlisle, with buses operating in Scotland instead of trains.
However, many passengers are unaware they will be hit by works as the shutdowns have not yet been added to timetables on National Rail Enquiries.
While festive celebrations last year were curtailed due to coronavirus restriction, thousands of Scots are planning to make up for it this year, with the rail disruption causing a blow to many planning to celebrate Hogmanay with loved ones.
Passenger groups have said the festive engineering schedule could be even bigger than Christmas works packages before the pandemic as rail shutdowns this year include works shunted to this Christmas by Covid curbs preventing some projects taking place last Christmas and over May bank holidays.
Rail Delivery Group, which represents train firms, reported a “considerable amount of engineering work” this Christmas.
Network Rail, close to formally announcing works, urged passengers to plan ahead and said 95 per cent of the rail network would be unaffected by schemes.
Tens of millions of pounds will be spent on Christmas rail projects across the UK, with up to 20,000 engineers expected to be called in.
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