Network Rail outlines Plan B for major road closure in Thornton
Network Rail has come up with a Plan B for a major part of its £311m plan to electrify the Fife Circle line after a massive community backlash.
The timetable behind a proposed 14-month long total closure of Main Street in Thornton has been torn up.
Instead, it will operate single lane closures from June 20 until October 18, when the entire road will be shut until March 2027, and then a single lane will operate again until the end of the works next July.
But that still means the main road through the town will be completely shut for around five months - a proposal which one leading councillor said would cause a level of disruption “off the scale.”
Network Rail’s compromise plan was outlined at a community liaison meeting in the town on Wednesday night after it finally secured a road closure order from Fife Council. Without it, the work could not start.
But it has not won full support from the community or politicians who held the company to account over the way it has handled the matter which led to 175 people packing a drop-in session and forcing the temporary pausing of the project.
Councillor Altany Craik (Glenrothes West and Kinglassie,Labour), said: “I cannot fundamentally accept that this is the best we can do.”
He said the council had “reluctantly” granted the traffic order after a lot of discussion, explaining that legislation meant it cannot unreasonably prevent Network Rail from carrying out the works.
It was due to begin on May 12, bu that timetable was halted after the massive backlash locally.
Network Rail has to shut the road to demolish, and then rebuild and raise the rail bridge to ensure the structures meet the required height clearance for an electrified railway, and allow the installation of the new overhead line equipment underneath.
Much of the lengthy timescale centred on moving utilities before any work started on the actual bridge, which has to be raised around 30cms.
After attending the liaison committee, Cllr Craik - the council’s finance, economy and strategic planning spokesman, posted: ”I cannot fundamentally accept that this is the best we can do. Has Network Rail over specified the bridge? Are there quicker ways of working? How can we parallel work / prefabricate off site?
“This is a £311.5m Scottish Government project to partially electrify the line for trains that might be here by 2032. Would a delay to resolve this have been a disaster? Apparently so.
“The team from Network Rail did its best to answer these kinds of questions, but underneath it all I got the feeling that it has a process and that is that. Warm words and sympathy won't cut it.”
Network Rail accepted the work will disrupt the town, but added: “We apologise for the inconvenience. We will continue to work closely with the community.
“We’ve worked with Fife Council and the local community to revise our plans, keeping the road open for longer, shortening the full closure, protecting access for pedestrians and reducing the impact on public transport and local businesses.”
The projected timeline for the project will see work start on June 20 - a compound has already been established - with one lane remaining open to traffic.
A full road closure , with massive diversions around the A92, starts on October 19 to allow the bridge to be demolished and raised, with one lane re-opening on March 31, 2027. The work should be complete by July 9 next year.
A Network Rail spokesperson said: “The Fife electrification project is part of a £311.5m investment to modernise the network and deliver increased capacity, reliability and accessibility while reducing carbon emissions.”