Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Trains between Aberdeen and Montrose hit by disruption due to broken down maintenance vehicle

A ScotRail train at Inverurie Station
Rail services between Aberdeen and the central belt have been disrupted this morning due to a broken down maintenance vehicle between Laurencekirk and Stonehaven.

Rail services in the north-east have faced a day of disruption after a broken down maintenance vehicle blocked the railway line.

Network Rail had been making improvements to the Aberdeen to Dundee railway line overnight.

The line was due to reopen to commuters between Laurencekirk and Stonehaven this morning.

However, rail bosses were forced to cancel all train services due to a broken down maintenance vehicle blocking the line.

On-site staff carried out a host of repairs to the vehicle, which broke down between Laurencekirk and Carmont.

ScotRail bosses have confirmed train services are now returning to normal as the line is cleared.

However, passengers are still enduring the affects of the closure as rail bosses cancelled a host of services between Aberdeen and Montrose.

A number of services between Inverurie and Aberdeen have also been cancelled in light of the disruption.

The 11.09am service departing from Aberdeen and the 11.29am service from Inverurie to Aberdeen were cancelled.

‘There were a lot of sighs of relief’

Press & Journal reporter Ben Hendry was among dozens of passengers stranded this morning as train services between Aberdeen and Edinburgh ground to a halt.

He said staff and passengers were left completely in the dark about the nature of the disruption.

He said: “There were dozens of passengers on the train already at about 5.50am when we heard that it was cancelled. Quite frustrating for that time of day.

“At that time nobody, including staff, knew what had happened and it was blamed on ‘engineering work’.

“We were warned there would be difficulty sourcing replacement buses on a school day – and told the line could stay shut as late as 10.30am.

“Eventually there were a lot of sighs of relief when we got a replacement train at about 7am. We’re now arriving in Edinburgh about an hour later than planned.”

What services are being impacted by the disruption?

All train services between Aberdeen and Montrose were cancelled this morning as a result of the disruption.

Commuters travelling from Aberdeen to Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow were being warned to expect severe disruption and cancellations.

Train services bound for Aberdeen were terminated at Perth and Dundee amidst the disruption.

Bosses also pulled the plug on the 8.41am train service from Glasgow to Aberdeen.

Meanwhile, trains travelling to Inverurie from Montrose were scheduled to set off from Aberdeen and will no longer call at Portlethen, Stonehaven, Laurencekirk and Montrose.

Commuters travelling north to Inverness also experienced disruption.

The 5.39am service from Dundee to Inverness was rerouted to begin from Aberdeen instead.

Rail tickets were being accepted on local bus routes to help minimise disruption to passengers.

Conversation