North east rail travellers experienced their first weekend of disruption as major improvement work began on a busy Angus level crossing.
No trains ran through Carnoustie on Sunday to allow Network Rail engineers to start work on renewing the signalling system and infrastructure at the crossing next to the town’s station in a £5.5m investment.
Residents also faced the first of two road closures as work to upgrade the level crossing on Station Road got under way.
The road closed on Saturday for eight days with diversions put in place.
Passengers whose rail journeys were due to run through Carnoustie made use of a replacement bus service between Dundee and Aberdeen.
A number of travellers who got off at Dundee Railway Station after travelling from Glasgow on Sunday afternoon criticised the rail networks for a lack of information, both when booking tickets and at train stations.
Arbroath woman Louise Hamill chose to travel by train for “convenience”, buying an open ticket on Thursday.
She said: “There was no mention of a disrupted service. The first I knew was when I got on the train at Glasgow this morning.
“I would have been back in Arbroath 12 minutes after leaving Dundee on the train. Now I have to sit on the bus which will stop at all the stations in between.
“I probably should have checked when I booked my ticket but this is the sort of thing you just come to expect. I’m really not surprised.”
A fleet of buses lined up along Riverside Drive to transport passengers north.
Cairn Turberville, 25, from Aberdeen, said he was “fine” with the replacement service adding: “The work has got to be done.”
The work includes replacing two long level crossing barriers with four barriers, enhancing signalling equipment and a complete renewal of the level crossing surface.
The level crossing closed to road traffic from Saturday until Monday February 18.
It will close again from the evening of Saturday March 9 until Monday March 18.
The railway will be closed each Sunday between now and March 17.
Euan Falconer of Network Rail said: “We appreciate there will be disruption as a result of this work, however, this is the only way we can deliver the work required safely and efficiently.
“This work will further improve both road and rail safety and enhance the reliability of the railway on the busy east coast main line.”
