Engineers are currently working in Scotland’s second busiest station to extend platforms 5 and 6, to the east of the station, and 12, to the west.

The project will prepare Waverley for the arrival of Virgin East Coast’s new Azuma trains and ScotRail’s new class-385s.

As the project enters its next phase, work will soon begin to extend platform 12 further into the station and to remove redundant buildings on platform 11.

To enable these vital enhancements to take place, the escalators on platform 11 will close to the public on Saturday, September 2, and reopen in early 2018 when the extended platform 12 comes into service.

Closing the escalators is the safest way to deliver the works as the need to erect hoardings around the platform extension site will reduce circulation space at the foot of the escalators creating the potential for overcrowding.

Additional station staff will also be on-hand when the escalators close to help passengers.

Rodger Querns, Network Rail programme director, said: “Extending Edinburgh Waverley’s platforms is vital to the long-term future of the station and paves the way for the introduction of two new state-of-the-art train fleets.

“Completing such a significant piece of engineering work in one of the country’s busiest stations is a significant challenge and one which will mean some short-term disruption to the platform 11 escalator.

“However, we are committed to carrying out these enhancements as quickly as possible and with the minimum of inconvenience for passengers.”

The enhancements are being delivered as part of the Scottish Government’s Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP) and the Department for Transport-funded Intercity Express Programme (IEP).

The infrastructure works, and new rolling stock, will help to transform travel on both routes increasing passenger capacity and reducing journey times – by around 10 minutes between Edinburgh and Glasgow and by around 20 minutes between the two capitals.