In 2015 the Society Council agreed that Birkhill would be upgraded as a signalled passing station, a development which will transform both the operational capabilities of the railway and the station itself. The S&T Department has already commenced some of the work needed by erecting 5 signals.
The development needs to be done in phases due to the B&KRs running seasons. In Autumn of 2016 the SRPS established an Appeal to generate support to bring the development in to reality.
Work commenced in June 2017 with the cutting out and laying of the initial foundations and construction of the platform retaining wall. During the course of 2018 the footbridge foundations where dug and concrete pour, the old footbridge from West Calder station was recovered and moved to a local fabrication company’s yard where it has gone through a full restoration including sandblasting, patching, priming and final painting and was finally delivered to the Bo’ness yard December 2018. The first quarter of 2019 saw the bridge foundations being completed, the back filling of the 2nd platform, the footbridge foundation area filled in. June 3rd saw the footbridge support columns erected. September 28th 2019 was the big day as far as the footbridge finally being installed and what a transformation it has made to the whole look at Birkhill. The next tasks are to complete the bolting down and work on the platform itself.
Please see the weekly posts for the latest update on the build programme, a gallery page has been created to provide a pictorial account of build progress please click on the link below to view: