THE Cairngorm funicular railway will be out of service from May 12 until June 2 to allow for a series of maintenance works to be carried out.
Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) Ltd’s in-house engineering team will lead works including rail grinding, gearbox repairs, undercarriage lubrication, and testing and inspection of the rail welds as part of an annual maintenance programme.
At the same time, Balfour Beatty, working on behalf of estate owner Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), will return to complete their programme of remediation works on the railway viaduct.
The annual maintenance on the funicular is usually carried out in in November, but the programme has been brought forward this year to run in parallel with the remediation programme and minimise inconvenience to visitors.
The funicular was out of service from August 2023 until 27 February this year, returning after inspections confirmed that all essential work to ensure safe operations had been completed.
At that time, estate owner Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) explained that contractors would be back to finish the remediation programme in late spring or early summer, which it said is usually a less busy time of year for visitors.
The remaining works will deal with non-urgent matters that will benefit the long-term durability of the structure, which is over a mile in length. This includes fine-tuning some joint assemblies to improve performance and minimise the risk of corrosion over time, as well as fitting tapes and caps to extend the working life of metal bars that would otherwise be exposed to the weather.
The pace of progress on the mountain will depend on a range of factors, not least weather – Balfour Beatty intending to take advantage of seasonal daylight by working beyond 5pm, HIE added.
