The Cycle Path
National Cycle Route 75 closed on 19th October 2008 to allow work to begin on the new section of line, between Bathgate and Drumgelloch.
Network Rail is investing £7.3m to relocate the cycle path as part of the project. This is in recognition of its importance to cyclists and the local communities it passes through.
By the end of 2010 the new cycle path will run alongside the reopened railway line, connecting local communities to new stations along the route.
National Cycle Route 75
After the Airdrie-Bathgate line was closed in 1982, the railway line became a public footpath and cycle track, enjoyed and well used by many people over the last twenty-five years. It is a core section of the Clyde to Forth cycle route offering a 16km path across central Scotland.
Why have we closed the cycle path?
In 2004, Scotland’s Government gave the green light for the reopening of the Airdrie-Bathgate Rail Link. The project was recognised as a key transport improvement with one of the major benefits being to help address increasing congestion in the road network. The engineering solution which caused the least disruption to local communities was to re-instate the railway where it had once been, on the cycle path.