Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link

Airdrie–Bathgate rail link
Refurbished Caldercuix Railway Station
Overview
Type	Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Central Scotland
Termini	Edinburgh Glasgow
Operation
Opened	December 2010
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Abellio ScotRail
Rolling stock	Class 334
Technical
Number of tracks	Double
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV 50hz AC OHLE
Operating speed	90 mph (140 km/h) max
Route map North Clyde Line Airdrie Drumgelloch (1989)(closed May 2010) Drumgelloch (2010) Caldercruix Blackridge Armadale Bathgate (Upper)(former E&BR station) Bathgate (1986)(closed October 2010) Bathgate (2010) Livingston North Edinburgh to Bathgate Line (now North Clyde Line)

The Airdrie–Bathgate rail link is a railway in central Scotland.

Instigated as part of a round of transport improvement projects proposed by the then Scottish Executive in 2003, the plan was to open up a fourth direct railway link between the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh. The project was completed in October 2010, at an estimated cost of £300 million. The rail link received the final approval of the Scottish Parliament on 28 March 2007, and gained royal assent on 9 May 2007.

In line with plans to complete the missing part of the M8 motorway, the Executive stipulated that public transport links between Scotland's two largest cities must improve.

The new line reinstates the Bathgate and Coatbridge Railway between Airdrie and Bathgate, closed to passengers in 1956 and to freight in 1982, joining the North Clyde Line of the Glasgow suburban railway network which currently links the North Lanarkshire town of Airdrie to Glasgow Queen Street railway station, to the Edinburgh to Bathgate Line, which connects with the West Coast and East Coast Main Lines at Haymarket. It is now possible to travel from Edinburgh Waverley to Queen Street (Low Level) in around 65 minutes. It will complement the existing "shuttle" service between Queen Street (High Level) and Edinburgh via Falkirk High, which will remain the primary railway link between the two cities, taking around 50 minutes at peak times.