Work under way to prepare Cairngorm funicular railway to re-enter service after two-year closure

New work has begun to prepare the Cairngorm funicular railway to return to service in the coming weeks after being closed for almost two years.

Staff at Cairngorm Mountain have begun a series of maintenance activities on the electrical, mechanical and hydraulic systems that govern the movement of the two funicular carriages up and down the 1.8km viaduct.

Later this week, an engineer from Swiss funicular specialist Garaventa, who supplied and maintain the carriages and control system, will join the local team to carry out scheduled annual inspections of the mechanical systems.

The trains are expected to complete frequent trial runs on the mountainside over the next week or so.

Meanwhile, remediation works are continuing on the viaduct structure, led by Balfour Beatty on behalf of mountain estate owner Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE).

Although the remediation programme was substantially completed before Christmas, inspections identified a range of issues requiring further work and teams from Balfour Beatty returned to the site early in January.

The highest railway in the UK had reopened in January 2023 after four years of repairs costing £25m – more than the initial cost of building the line – but shut down again in August of that year.

Significant work had to be undertaken to strengthen the 1.8km viaduct, but detailed inspections showed that further work was needed.

HIE says it continues to aim for the funicular to be safely back in service as soon as possible within the current winter season and will provide a firm date for relaunch once this can be confirmed.

Previously, a Highland MSP called for a public inquiry into the failings of the government agency-owned funicular railway.

Conservative Edward Mountain said in April 2024: “We were promised the mountain was going to be open before this skiing season and we’ve had some great snow, from the beginning of December up on top of the mountain, but couldn’t access it.

“It means the 15,000-odd skiiers that we’ve had are much less than we should have had and that means businesses across the whole of Speyside have suffered.”