£41 million Edinburgh Gateway rail station failed to open on time as staff were locked out

A FLAGSHIP new railway station opened an hour late yesterday – as red-faced staff waited for a set of keys to unlock it.

The £41m Edinburgh Gateway eventually opened at 7am with two train services unable to pick up or drop passengers off at the station while it was locked.

Last week, we revealed how the railway station has been branded a “white elephant” less than a year after it opened – as figures show it was used by barely a third of the expected number of passengers.

Taxpayer-funded Edinburgh Gateway opened on the outskirts of the capital last December but is often deserted because it does not connect to the busiest rail services.

And we reported how construction costs for the station were originally estimated at £24m but soared to £41m by the time it was completed.

Transport chiefs said they expected 500,000 to 600,000 passengers a year.

But figures obtained by The Sunday Post showed just 134,655 people used it in its first eight months – putting it on course to fall dramatically short.