RAIL SERVICES on the main east coast line between Edinburgh and Aberdeen were thrown into complete chaos yesterday following an electrical fire in Inverkeithing.

It caused signalling and communications failures forcing Network Rail and train operators First ScotRail and GNER to cancel scheduled services for much of the day.

The fire began about 11 am beneath King’s Street bridge, a stone’s throw from Inverkeithing station, badly damaging two cables on the Fife Circle line.

Firefighters from Rosyth were quickly on the scene and put out the flames in minutes. No-one was injured in the incident.

As Network Rail engineers examined the damage, the extent of the problem soon became clear. All services in Fife were suspended and GNER trains between London King’s Cross and Aberdeen terminated in Edinburgh and passengers were ferried to the north-east by bus.

Both First ScotRail and GNER were forced to advise passengers to seek alternative means of transport, as they tried to cope with the situation.

First Scotrail even advised customers to avoid travelling to avoid lengthy delays. Buses and taxis were used to help get passengers who had started their journey to their destinations.

A spokeswoman said, “First ScotRail apologises for the severe inconvenience caused by this disruption and assures our customers that everything we can do will be done to minimise the impact of the line failure.”

Bus operators Citylink and Stagecoach, who operate services into Fife, both laid on extra services. Buses were also used to ferry passengers between Dundee and Kirkcaldy and Inverkeithing and Cowdenbeath.

By late afternoon things were beginning to get back on track with half-hourly services between Edinburgh and Kirkcaldy running in a bid to cope with the rush hour. Aberdeen-Edinburgh trains ran via Stirling with six carriages to maximise capacity.

The frequency dropped to hourly by 7 pm to allow engineers time to fix the burned-out cabling and the work was expected to be completed by midnight.

A Network Rail spokeswoman said last night, “If all goes well things should be running normally by tomorrow morning.”