Work is being carried out in Linlithgow by Network Rail in order to raise the height of the walls bordering the railway at Royal Terrace and Union Road. This is part of the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme.

The investment has been valued at £650k and will work to make sure that the railway boundary is compliant with the safety standards for the electrified railway. This safety standard needs to be met in order to protect the public from the overhead cables required for the railway. This work has been commended by the railway heritage groups as well as the local community.

The programme of work is set to last six months and will increase the height of a listed Victorian boundary and used specialist stone masons as well as 160 tonnes of locally sourced Scotch Buff sandstone in order to maintain the visual integrity of the dividing wall. The existing coping stones will be removed and them replace in order to preserve the historic appeal of the raised wall. The Network Rail engineers will be gradually moving along the wall, raising it section by section. The team will include experienced stone masons and is expected to take over 4200 man hours to construct the equivalent of 360m of new walls using their knowledge of heritage projects in order to sympathetically carry out the work.

This work is being carried out in order to protect the public from the overhead cables, it will also provide a safeguard as the continued development of the infrastructure to the electrified network while still conserving the character of the railway environments. The walls in Linlithgow is a part of the programme of works that will increase the parapet heights raised on more than 100 structures as well as 60 bridges have been increased to prepare for the electrification of central Scotland’s railway.