The East Linton development will see trains call at the village for the first time on more than half a century.

The team have started work to set up access roads and the site compound that will support the development over the next twelve months before marking out, clearing and levelling the area that will be the site of the new station.

Work on the station-proper at East Linton will begin early in 2022 and will see the construction of a two-platform station on the East Coast mainline, with 126 car parking spaces. The station itself will be fully accessible with lifts and a footbridge connecting both platforms with access for pedestrians and cyclists.

The new station will support economic growth by providing a connection into Edinburgh Waverley, offering an excellent new link to public transport and enabling residents from the area to access and expanded range of employment, education and leisure opportunities.

A station opened in the village of East Linton in 1846 but the last passenger services stopped in 1964. 

PJ Trainor, Network Rail’s project manager for the East Linton station development, said: “The start of preparatory work ahead of the construction of the new station in East Linton

“Getting on site and literally clearing the ground for the new development is a significant step forward for the project and one which brings us closer to the construction activity and ultimately the re-opening of the station itself and all the opportunities it will bring to the village.

“And while it is exciting to look forward to delivering the station, the construction itself represents a challenge for the project team and one which we are fully aware will cause disruption and inconvenience for the community in the short-term.

“Our commitment is to do what we can to minimise disruption throughout the work and fully engage with the local community to let them know what is happening, when and what it will involve in terms of potential inconvenience.”

Passengers and freight customers across Scotland are to benefit from more than £17 million of investment in Scotland’s Railway over this Christmas and New Year.

Engineers will be relaying track, renewing junctions and refurbishing structures in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Lanarkshire from Christmas Eve until early January.

Most work will be carried out while trains aren’t running, but significant activity on the West Coast Mainline around Uddingston, Motherwell and Carstairs will affect customers.

From end of service on Christmas Eve until January 2, work will be taking place to renew Uddingston Junction, while over the Christmas and New Year weekends work will also be underway to install foundations for new overhead powerlines around Carstairs.

Kris Kinnear, Network Rail Scotland’s capital delivery director, said: “The work we are undertaking over the festive period is vital to the long-term future of Scotland’s Railway.

“Helping to make our infrastructure more resilient and more reliable, the work we are doing is part of a five-year, £4bn investment in our railway.

“However, such complex improvement work cannot be delivered without some short-term disruption of the railway and we’re urging passengers on these routes to plan ahead and check their journey in advance.”

Meanwhile, Network Rail will begin a major improvement project on the Forth Viaduct in Stirling from January 2022.

The £2.7m investment will repair and re-paint the structure, while installing a new walkway, with work taking place from 10 January until 22 September 2022.

Lovers Walk, which runs parallel to the river, will be closed for the duration of the project and a traffic management system will be in place on Causewayhead Road.

Allison Flanagan, scheme project manager at Network Rail, said: “We’re investing in improving the Forth Viaduct as part of our ongoing commitment to running a safe and reliable railway.

“While we understand that a road closure and traffic management system is never ideal and can add time to journeys, we need to have these measures in place to allow the project to be completed in the safest and most efficient way.

“When complete, the structure will be better protected against the elements for years to come and won’t need to be re-painted for up to two decades.

“We’d like to thank the community for their patience and understanding while we carry out these vital works.”