Scots will face rail nightmare until end of year

May 4 2008 By Fariha Karim

THOUSANDS of rail passengers face misery for the rest of the year due to engineering works on the Glasgow to London line.

Diversions and closures will mean severe delays every weekend until 2009 due to a £8.6billion upgrade by Network Rail.

Travellers on their busiest route are being forced on to bus services for 20 weekends as engineering work is carried out near Rugby and Milton Keynes.

Journey times will also be extended for a further 15 weekends as trains are diverted to other sections of the network.

Rail users watchdog Passenger Focus called on operators to compensate passengers who are forced to use replacement bus services.

Chief executive Anthony Smith said: "It is not right that passengers should be expected to pay the same fare when they are not getting the service they paid for."

Rail bosses got the go-ahead on Friday for the upgrade from the Office of Rail Regulation (ORR).

They fined Network Rail a record £14million earlier this year after engineering work on the line overran by four days.

Network Rail will be hit with a further fine if the upgrade is not complete by the end of the year.

ORR director Michael Lee said: "We will closely monitor Network Rail's performance between now and December."