A COMMUNITY group say they have been left in the dark over the re-opening of a Largs railway line.


As we reported last week, a landslip near Southannan has covered the line in thousands of tonnes of debris which has put the railway out of action.
The community resilience group asked transport chiefs for clarity over the continuing limbo as ongoing engineering works are taking place to repair the line - but say they have been left unanswered.
A Network Rail spokesperson responded: "We don't have a timescale due to the severity of the landslip. 
"As soon as we have information we can share on this we will. 
"ScotRail will continue to have bus replacements on this route for now to keep passengers moving."
However, the community resilience team are pushing for timing on how long the railway is likely to be offline, and have raised their concerns too with the Scottish Transport Secretary Michael Matheson MSP.
A spokesperson for the resilience team said: "As ScotRail cannot guarantee a seat on a replacement bus service we believe that Network Rail should provide an estimate of a return of this rail service (Ardrossan-Largs) used by key workers. It is simply not good enough.
"The key worker/critical group is very large and includes health, social care, fire, police, ambulance, local authority, carers, etc. 
"It is inevitable that a high percentage of those currently travelling on the train will be essential workers.
"We still haven't been able to establish how long it is going to be - whether it is three weeks, six weeks or 12 weeks, and the public deserve a right to know. People are relying on that train to get to work - people should have some idea of when the line is expected to return to being operational and a clearer understanding of how long it is going to take.
"As a coastal community, we have had an Act of God in terms of the landslides, but we have also had road closures during weekends, and the A760 has been shut a few times recently so people are running out of options when it comes to travelling. 
"We feel if we could get a more direct date as to when the train line is expected to return to action it will help in going forward as we are trying to help the public with facts."
Specialist earthworks, drainage and overhead power engineers were sent to assess the damage caused by landslips near Fairlie and West Kilbride. At Fairlie, thousands of tonnes of debris was deposited over a 50m stretch of track.
With the hillside above the line still moving in places it has added to the complexity of the clear-up operation.
Largs fire crew were also called out to the scene on the evening it happened as electrical overhead lines set trees on fire as a result of the landslip.