The Largs rail line will fully reopen for passengers on Saturday (March 27) following the successful completion of work to repair landslip-damaged tracks near Fairlie.

The line between West Kilbride and Largs has been closed since February 5, when heavy rain caused over 7,000 tonnes of debris to fall onto the line from privately-owned land above the railway.

Engineers have been working around-the-clock to remove debris affecting a 100m stretch of track and have completely rebuilt the slope above the line, using specialist diggers to drop more than 27,000 tonnes of stone to strengthen the area.

New tracks have now been laid and, once overhead line and signalling repairs are complete, services will be able to resume through the landslip site by the weekend.

To keep passengers moving while these vital repairs have been taking place, ScotRail has continued to run a replacement bus service between Ardrossan South Beach and Largs throughout the repair works.

Liam Sumpter, Network Rail Scotland route director, said: “Our engineers have worked as quickly as possible to complete these repairs and get services back on the move for customers.

“This was a challenging and complex project, with thousands of tonnes of material having to be removed before we could begin to assess the damage to the line and make our repairs.

“We appreciate the inconvenience the closure of the railway has caused to passengers, and our lineside neighbours, and we thank them for their understanding during the recovery works.”

David Simpson, ScotRail operations director, added: “It has been a challenging time for customers and we did everything we could to keep them moving, with replacement buses helping those making essential journeys while these vital repairs were carried out.

“Our colleagues in Network Rail have worked hard to allow services to return to normal, and we have worked closely with them to help ensure the line has been reopened as quickly, and safely, as possible.”