WORK is set to start next year on a cut-price £100 million scheme to boost capacity at Waverley Station.
Rail passengers will face massive disruption from August next year until October 2007 when work is carried out on a range of improvements, including two new through platforms, lifts and escalators.
The plan, which falls far short of the ambitious
£400m scheme originally pledged by the station’s former owner Railtrack, will only allow an extra four trains to use the station every hour.
Scottish ministers and rail chiefs are expected to announce details on Tuesday.
They will insist the door remains open for further development at the station beyond 2007, which could include new passenger facilities, extra platforms and a shopping area.
But it is still unclear how much cash the Scottish Executive and the Strategic Rail Authority will contribute.
Around £4m of Executive cash will also be given to Network Rail to complete the project’s design and development work.
The £100m price tag will cover the construction costs, but an extra £50m is expected to be added to account for "optimism bias" - including compensation for train operators.
Rail bosses had considered increasing the number of platforms at Waverley from 14 to 23 for expanded services on the east coast main line and extra commuter services from Fife.
Under the more modest £100m scheme, one extra platform will be added on the station’s north loop, with another for the south loop.
The tracks at the west end of the station will be remodelled to boost capacity, and a turn-back will be formed at Haymarket Station while parts of Waverley are out of action. A lift and escalators from Princes Street will also be built.
A boost to capacity is seen as critical with the reinstatement of the Airdrie-Bathgate route, and the possible reopening of the Borders rail link.
The rail link to the airport will also require more platform space. And there is a campaign to reopen the south suburban line, which would mean a new set of commuter trains running through the station.
The SRA believes the work could be completed without closing the station, but an extra platform would be required at Haymarket where some trains would have to terminate.
Rail chiefs are expected to consider a range of further development options after completing the scheme in 2007.
The first option, which would cost £500m, would see no extra capacity, but repairs to the roof and structure. A £600m option would boost capacity by an extra eight trains per hour. The most expensive plan, costed at £630m, would feature the same extra capacity, but also a retail area.
SNP transport spokesman Kenny MacAskill said: "Any improvements are welcome, but it is a big disappointment compared to what we could have had and should have. Waverley Station is the flagship station for the capital of Scotland. This is piece-meal development being done on the cheap."
And a rail industry insider claimed:
"Waverley is the key to everything, but there is a lack of a central strategy. There is concern in the industry. Who is going to pay for it, the Scottish Executive or the SRA?"
A spokesman for Network Rail refused to comment. No-one from the SRA was available to comment. A spokesman for the Scottish Executive also declined to comment, but added: "An announcement is imminent."
