Troon fire: Major rail disruption as firefighters tackle massive blaze at station

The fire had a ‘significant impact’ on the historic train station building, which was designed by James Miller and built in 1892

(PA)

Rail services in western Scotland were severely disrupted after a large fire broke out at a station.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) was called to Troon railway station at 12.40pm on Saturday, with six appliances in attendance.

Scotrail was forced to cut the power to overhead lines to allow firefighters to tackle the blaze and the fire caused major disruption to the Scottish seaside town.

Scotrail said that this “took out a large area and affected other routes’ power supply”.

Trains were either cancelled, delayed or revised because of the fire, the company tweeted at the time and travellers were urged to use other services.

The fire had a “significant impact” on the historic train station building, which was designed by James Miller and built in 1892.

No one was thought to have been injured in the blaze.

Glasgow MSP Paul Sweeney commented: “Tragic to see this fire engulf the beautiful James Miller designed railway station building on platform 1 at Troon.

“It was originally built by the Glasgow and South Western Railway in 1892. I hope it can be restored. Good to see RailwayHeritage is already offering their support.”

Within hours of the fire, the Railway Heritage Trust offered its support to both Scotrail and Network Rail to salvage as much of the historic building as possible.

The fire broke out on a day where temperatures were expected to hit 21C in the town, which is popular in the summer with tourists from across the west of Scotland who flock to its beach as the mercury rises.

Saturday was provisionally recorded as the hottest day of the year so far in all four UK nations, with some regions of Scotland reaching at least 28C.

Speaking to the Ayrshire Daily News website at the scene, Ayr MSP Siobhian Brown - whose constituency includes Troon and the nearby Prestwick - said the fire was “devastating”.

She added: “I’ve spoken to the transport minister and he’s being updated on the situation that has had a significant impact on the whole building - as you can see they’re still trying to get the fire out.

“There will be severe disruptions to the train lines going from Ayr up to Glasgow and they’ll be putting on buses and we will keep you updated on the situation.”

She added: “We don’t know for sure how the fire started but we do believe that it did start in the ticket office somehow but we will have to determine that further down the track.

“But thankfully, nobody has been hurt.”

Additional reporting by Press Association