No, not to my knowledge which is why they are running 156s on the East Kilbride line even after electrification.
TS has known for more than 5 years that "new" rolling stock was needed for East Kilbride services mostly due to the slow death of the class 156 fleet, which was built in 1986. Either EMUs or BEMUs were required, and these could have been secured from a variety of sources, but once again TS went straight to the solution of putting up wires. Therefore the procurement of the required rolling stock is overlooked, usually until it is too late, given the need for staff training and potential infrastructure support works.
The blind faith in installing wires on the EK branch, maybe trying to prove a political point, rather than already securing modern non-diesel rolling stock, better suited for the commuter/ suburban line is another example of where Transport Scotland & Scot Government are not prioritising passengers needs. In addition by relying on sloth-like infrastructure delivery they are also failing to follow the principles of the Rail Decarbonisation Action Plan & Fleet Strategy, which drives this overall aspiration, to move forward quickly and efficiently with the removal of diesel units ahead of full scale electrification.
Due to this lack of forward thinking it should be noted that once all the works are completed in late 2025, as it stands, there will be no seating capacity increases, journey time reductions, drivers opening doors to reduce dwell times and all services operated by EMUs on the EK branch. Given this underwhelming outcome it may be hard to convince current rail users that the 5 months of closures and the total investment in new wires will all be worth it.
