A temporary rail service could be put in place to pacify the ongoing disruption to rail services south of Ayr caused by the station hotel building.

South Ayrshire Council Chief Executive, Eileen Howat has taken a number of proposals forward from local councillors including the introduction of a stop off Carrick Road, known as the Townhead Depot, which would solve the matter while southbound services continue to be unavailable.

The roof at the Ayr Station hotel building was recently deemed as more dangerous than first thought, meaning works to secure public safety of the building are no further forward.

Meanwhile, South Scotland MSP and Scottish Labour’s Shadow Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Connectivity and Transport, Colin Smyth has called for Transport Secretary, Micael Matheson to intervene. He said: “Hard pressed passengers have been patient and put up with the far from ideal replacement bus services to and from Stranraer and the reduced capacity from Ayr to Glasgow.

“The fact there are no services whatsoever south of Ayr is just not acceptable and we need urgent action. That’s why I’ve written to Transport Secretary Michael Matheson and called on him to personally intervene on the matter to get rail services moving.

“In particular, he must insist that efforts to set up a temporary station, possibly at the ScotRail depot off Carrick Road in Ayr, should be speeded up. A temporary station would allow services to start running south of Ayr once again.”

While the Townhead Depot is the most popular suggestion to resolve matters, Scotrail have gave little indication that it is possible. A spokesperson from Scotrail said: “We’re working with the council, Network Rail and partners to reintroduce services to Stranraer as soon as it’s is safe and practical to do so. At present, we still don’t have access to Ayr Townhead Depot.”

It is becoming less clear when progress will be made, and transport authorities still don’t have an end in sight. A Transport Scotland spokesperson said: “We understand the inconvenience that disruption to rail services in the area is causing and partners in the Ayr Station Taskforce are working together to find a solution to this issue as quickly as possible.

“All options are being explored, including alternative station infrastructure and services as well as the mitigations that would be required to deliver these safely.”

Councillor Alec Clark is also pushing for the temporary station to be introduced. He said: “The Townhead platform is one of the options we’ve proposed. All you have at the moment is a bus service.

“If this had been some kind of transport issue in one of the cities it would addressed very differently. They have to look at options. They haven’t answered anything.”