Train services between Ayr and Stranraer will be restored from today.

Earlier this year South Ayrshire Council enforced an exclusion zone at Ayr station. This was because the privately-owned former Station Hotel has been deemed unsafe.

While Ayr station remains open for business, the exclusion zone means we have had to make changes to services to and from Ayr, including the cancellation of services between Ayr and Stranraer.

Following work by Network Rail engineers, including a safety risk assessment and some changes to the railway infrastructure, and a further test of the route this morning, it is now possible to reintroduce a limited number of ScotRail services between Ayr and Stranraer.

While this won’t restore all services, it is a significant improvement for our customers.

The 16.59 Stranraer-Glasgow Central and the 18.13 Glasgow Central-Stranraer services will operate today.

On Friday the following services will operate:

07.00 Stranraer – Glasgow Central

08.08 Glasgow Central – Stranraer

16.59 Stranraer – Glasgow Central

18.13 Glasgow Central – Stranraer

As soon as we have a further update on which services will operate over the weekend we will let our customers know via our website, app, and on social media.

Bus services will continue to operate between Ayr and Stranraer for the train services that haven’t been reintroduced, and for services between Ayr and Girvan.

The existing timetable for services between Ayr and Glasgow Central remains in place.

Customers are advised to download the ScotRail app, visit JourneyCheck, or take a look at @ScotRail on Twitter for the most up to date information.

Alex Hynes, ScotRail Alliance Managing Director, said:

“We know it has been a challenging time for our customers, so we are pleased to be able to restore some services between Ayr and Stranraer.

“We are working flat out with South Ayrshire Council and our task force partners to get all services to and from Ayr back to normal as soon as possible.”

Bill Reeve, Chair of Ayr Station Task Force, said:

“The return of rail passenger services between Stranraer and Ayr is a welcome step towards resolving this issue. While we remain mindful there is still work to be done to restore the complete service it is good that hard work by both South Ayrshire Council and the ScotRail Alliance has now made this first step possible.

“The Task Force partners continue to work together to ensure we can bring back a full timetable as quickly as possible and we thank businesses, commuters and the local community for their continued patience while we do.”