Major Scottish railway line blocked and properties evacuated as fire crews attend garage blaze

Emergency services were called to Station Road in Cowdenbeath at 4.32pm to reports of “domestic garages being alight”.

The fire service sent four appliances and remain in attendance.

ScotRail has now announced that there will be alterations to services between Edinburgh and Cowdenbeath as well as Edinburgh and Leven.

Meanwhile, people are being asked to avoid the area while a number of properties have been evacuated “as a precaution”.

Train services between Edinburgh and Cowdenbeath will be terminated at and started back from Dunfermline Queen Margaret.

Meanwhile, train services between Edinburgh and Leven will be delayed or diverted via Kirkcaldy.

ScotRail say that they are ‘working closely’ with emergency services to get the line reopen but have no estimate for when this will be.

In a post to social media, ScotRail said: “The emergency services are dealing with an incident in the Cowdenbeath area and unfortunately that means we can't run trains between Dunfermline Queen Margaret and Cowdenbeath as the line is currently blocked.

“We're working closely with the emergency services to get the line reopen, but we've no estimate for this at present.”

Residents advised to remain indoors and keep windows closed

Officers were called to the fire at around 5.10pm.

The High Street is closed at the roundabout at Perth Road and Foulford Street.

Foulford Street is closed at its junction with High Street. Stenhouse Street is closed at its junction with Hall Street, and High Street is closed at the roundabout with Broad Street.

A number of properties in the area have been evacuated as a precaution.

Members of the public are being advised to avoid the area and residents are advised to remain indoors and keep doors and windows closed.

Meanwhile, Network Rail Scotland said: “We’re assisting the fire service who are dealing with a fire next to the railway at Cowdenbeath.

“We’ve had to close both lines through the area for now. We’ll share another update soon.”

Alterations in place while line remains blocked

Scotrail have ticket acceptance in place with Stagecoach between Leven and Inverkeithing via Dunfermline.

When boarding the bus, passengers should show their ticket or Smartcard to the driver.

To check for updates, passengers are encouraged to check the Scotrail website.