PASSENGER trains have returned to Scotland’s smallest county after 40 years following the reopening of the line to Alloa.

The £85 million reopening project means Clackmannan-shire now has an hourly passenger service to Stirling and Glasgow, as well as coal trains, re-routed from the Forth Bridge, on their way to Longannet power station.

The first passenger train at Alloa was a ‘steam special’ hauled by The Great Marquess on Thursday 15 May. It carried Scots Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson and local people – including some who had worked on the line before it closed to passengers in 1968 – for a return trip to Stirling.

Mr Stevenson said: “This is a fantastic day. It has been a long time coming, but after 40 years we can look forward to passenger trains travelling through Alloa station once again.”

Scheduled passenger services, operated by First ScotRail, started on Monday 19 May.
Although passenger trains last ran on the line 40 years ago, some freight traffic continued on the western section until the 1990s. The project has reopened approximately 13 miles of abandoned line through from Stirling to Longannet power station in Kincardine, where it meets a branch line from Dunfermline.

A new station has been built at Alloa, which is the terminus for passenger trains – the section eastwards is initially only being used by coal trains.

The drive to reopen the line came from Clackmannanshire County Council, which promoted the parliamentary bill – the first private railway bill approved by Scottish Parliament.

But the eight-year project to reopen the line has not been without problems. A series of bodies were involved before Transport Scotland took over  the job last year. Costs had escalated as the need to fill old mine shafts for stability be-came apparent and landowners sought more compensation.

The project construction work was carried out by First Nuttall, a joint venture between First Engineering and Edmund Nuttall, with site supervision by Jacobs Engin-eering. Funding was provided by the Scottish Government, Clackmannanshire Council, Scottish Enterprise Forth Valley, Network Rail and EWS, which runs the coal trains.

Clackmannanshire Council leader Janet Cadenhead said: “The railway will breathe new life into Alloa and Clackmannanshire.”

ALLOA LINE FACTSHEET:

- The Stirling-Alloa-Kincardine Railway project involved installing 22,630 metres of plain line track and cable troughing; 33,846 sleepers; 79,094 tonnes of ballast; 29 signals and Automatic Warning System units, and three public and three private level crossings.

- The line’s largest structure – the Forth Viaduct at Stirling – was refurbished and work was also carried out on 13 underbridges, 19 overbridges and four footbridges.

- The major building job was the new station at Alloa on a site slightly east of the original. 

- The project also involved building a new road to avoid the need to reinstate a number of level crossings in the town.