£3.4m repairs under way at Glenfinnan viaduct made famous by Harry Potter

Repairs to the world-famous Glenfinnan viaduct worth £3.4m have begun and are expected to take around a year to complete.

The longest concrete viaduct in Scotland, which sits 100 feet above the River Finnan on the West Highland Line, will be repaired as part of ongoing maintenance to help futureproof the iconic site.

Network Rail said there will be no disruption to rail services during the work on the 123-year-old structure, including on the infamous ‘Harry Potter’ Jacobite train.

A compound has been set up at the foot of the landmark with repairs expected to take just under 12 months.

Laura Craig, scheme project manager of Network Rail, said: “The main works to the viaduct will be concrete repairs.

“We’ll also be doing some repairs to the pier that sits in the River Finnan.

“Years of planning have gone into this project.

A compound has been set up at the foot of the landmark with repairs expected to take just under 12 months. Network Rail

“The work will not have a massive visual impact on the way the viaduct looks and that’s very deliberate, with it being grade A listed.

“We won’t be scaffolding the structure at all but in the coming weeks, you’ll start to see the rope access technicians on the viaduct as they begin work.”

Ahead of work commencing, a community drop-in event was held in Glenfinnan to allow members of the public to be consulted on plans.

Ms Craig added: “We want to thank all who came to the drop-in event.

“It was great to catch up with locals to answer questions and chat about our plans.

“We know it’s a much-loved viaduct and is, of course, the longest concrete viaduct in Scotland, spanning 1000ft.

“It’s a bucket list job for our team to work on and we’ll be sharing as much information and as many updates as we can throughout the project.”

The Jacobite train service was previously suspended due to a dispute with the Office of Road and Rail (ORR). iStock

West Coast Railways, operator of the Jacobite, announced on Thursday that afternoon services will be cancelled from May 6 until May 19.

It had previously suspended the service due to a dispute with the Office of Road and Rail (ORR).

In a statement, it said: “This suspension of this service is due to a debate with the rail regulator around door locking.

“We share the regulator’s commitment to safety and our priority now is to work with it to renew permission to enable us to run The Jacobite on the main rail line.

“We hope to be able to operate scheduled future afternoon trips on the Jacobite, but will contact all customers ahead of their journey date directly, in the event the trip they have booked will not run.

“In that case, we also will issue a full refund.”