On Saturday (15 March), Network Rail’s engineers begin work on renewing infrastructure on the Inverclyde lines in the west of Scotland.

The engineers will work during the day and at night and hope to complete the first part of the work by Tuesday (March 18).

Network Rail is spending more than fourteen million pounds of the work, which will include renewing track, refurbishing structures and repairing a railway tunnel.

The work will take place at various locations between Port Glasgow and Gourock and Wemyss Bay.

At Wemyss Bay Junction, which lies to the west of Port Glasgow station, engineering workers will renew points.

Port Glasgow station has also benefited from upgrade work recently, with work to facilitate step-free access being completed last year.

In Greenock, workers will replace walls next to the railway line between Cartsdyke and Greenock Central stations.

They will also replace the timber deck that carries the track on a railway bridge over Sinclair Street in Greenock.

At Newton Street tunnel, engineers will repair the stonework and waterproof the structure. The tunnel runs for a distance of more than a mile between Greenock West and Fort Matilda stations.

The project is complex, so engineers will carry out further work on the following weekend (Saturday 22 and Sunday 23 March).

To enable workers to access the infrastructure to carry out the work, train services will be suspended. To help passengers during the disruption, replacement buses will run between Paisley Gilmour Street and Wemyss Bay / Gourock on March 15, 16, 17 and 18 (Saturday to Tuesday) and on the weekend of March 22 and 23.

Train services from Hillington West on the line between Glasgow Central and Wemyss Bay via Paisley Gilmour Street are already being severely disrupted by work on the station’s platforms.

Passengers can check how their journey might be affected on Network Rail’s website or ScotRail’s website.

“This vital work will help improve performance and reliability for our customers. Our engineers will work around-the-clock to complete these projects as quickly as possible and we thank passengers for their understanding while this crucial investment takes place.”

Ross Moran, Network Rail Scotland route director