Rail line could reopen early

Passengers face major disruption

Railtrack has revealed that the Gretna to south Glasgow section of the West Coast main line could reopen on Thursday morning.

The company said it was "hopeful" of restarting services on the line, two days earlier than expected.

Railtrack intially said the line would be closed for 72 hours from Wednesday morning amid safety concerns following last week's Hatfield crash.

Earlier the government had joined criticism of Railtrack's handling of the closure.

Sarah Boyack: "Safety top priority"

Scottish Transport Minister Sarah Boyack has called Railtrack and train operators to a meeting next week and Downing Street has added its voice to the criticism over the decision by Railtrack to close part of the line for safety checks.

A spokesman said the prime minister "fully understood" the concerns of passengers, who felt they were not given sufficient notice.

The way the announcement was made on Tuesday evening - with the closure coming into effect at 0600 on Wednesday - "wasn't ideal", he added.

Ms Boyack said safety was the top priority but that the announcement could have been handled better to prevent inconvenience to travellers.

She said: "My officials have been in contact with Railtrack and I will be meeting them and other representatives of the rail industry on Monday to discuss this and other matters."

Railtrack Scotland director Jeanette Anderson repeated the company's apology to passengers.

'Traumatic times'

"The industry is going through traumatic times and in light of that we have taken this opportunity to carry out additional inspections and ultrasonic testing to ensure there are no underlying faults on the rail tracks which cannot be detected by the eye," she said.

Thousands face disruption after the decision to close the line between Glasgow and Carlisle to allow engineers to examine the track where minor cracks - known as gauge corner cracking - had been detected previously.

The Hatfield crash, in which four people died, was caused by a broken rail.

An engineer points to evidence of corner gauge cracking

Ms Anderson said no major problems had been found so far. Fourteen cases of gauge corner cracking had been found across 4,500km of track in Scotland over the last six months.

Train operator ScotRail was "enraged" by the track closure, which caused the cancellation of sleeper services on Tuesday with no way of contacting 700 passengers booked on trains.

The company has confirmed that all sleeper services between Scotland and London will remain suspended on Wednesday night. Full refunds will be given on unused tickets.

Virgin Rail, which operates services between Scotland and London, is running buses between Glasgow and Carlisle, adding about an hour to the journey.

Scottish asset manager Jim Bellingham told the BBC's Good Morning Scotland programme: "We have found some minor cracks but nothing to be concerned about. These are additional measure following Hatfield."

No go from Glasgow Central

He said the decision to shut the line, which was taken in Scotland, had not been made lightly.

"We felt the tests were necessary, sooner rather than later. Alternatively we would have had to stagger those tests over a longer period causing more disruption to passengers over a longer period," he said.

Railtrack chief executive Gerald Corbett defended the decision to close the line.

"You have to make these decisions very quickly.

"Our local people have the accountability for safety. If they get it wrong and make a wrong judgement, they can get prosecuted," he said.

I have seen people crying in trains because of the unsafe conditions, old people being pushed and jostled about and people only finding standing room in the toilets

Paul Arkison, rail user

Scottish National Party MSP Margo MacDonald has called for an immediate debate in the Scottish Parliament on rail safety.

"It is clear that with the closure of the main West Coast line today, we cannot rest content in Scotland over the safety standards in our railways," she said.

"Rail travel is a fundamentally important part of everyday life in Scotland and the parliament exists to enhance and improve the quality of life for Scots."

E-mail anger

BBC News Online Scotland has received a flood of e-mails from people around the world, commenting on the line closure.

Ian Burrett, from Scotland, wrote: "I fear that once again, the Scots people are treated as a region, as a small part of 'somewhere up north' and thus any distruption is insignificant.

"I can bet that short notice like this would not have occured if the people affected worked in Greater London and the large commuter belt."

Paul Arkison, who uses the Glasgow-Ayr service, described ScotRail's anger at the closure as "hypocritical".

"ScotRail's trains leak when it rains and after 3pm on trains leaving Glasgow you are unable to get a seat," he wrote.

"I have seen people crying in trains because of the unsafe conditions, old people being pushed and jostled about and people only finding standing room in the toilets.

"ScotRail are the major culprits when it comes to passenger safety and lack of customer relations."

Passengers are being told to call 08457 484950 for further information on affected services.