No timescale for reopening Cairngorm funicular

The Cairngorm funicular reopened in January last year after a four-year closure, but was later shut down again

The owners of the UK's highest railway say there is no timescale yet for reopening the attraction following its latest problems.

The Cairngorm funicular, near Aviemore, was closed for four years from September 2018 due to structural issues with the track.

It was reopened to the public in January 2023 following £25m ($32m) of repairs before it was closed again in August due to snagging issues.

Owners, public agency Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), said it could be months rather than weeks before it was back in service.

Opened in 2001 at a cost of £19.5m, the railway connects a base station with a restaurant and a ski area 1,097m (3,599ft) up Cairn Gorm mountain.

HIE said the latest issues with the funicular were complex, and involved checks to thousands of metal rods in the railway structure.

Dave Macleod, head of property and infrastructure, told BBC Scotland News: "We cannot give a timescale at the moment.

"It is a really challenging project.

"Every focus is on getting up and running as soon as possible, but it's a complex project."

He added: "We are talking as soon as possible. We are not talking years, but probably months rather than weeks."

Mr Macleod said the situation was disappointing and did mean continuing costs to HIE.

Conservative MSP Edward Mountain has called for a public inquiry into how the £25m repairs were handled.

The Scottish government provided £16m towards that cost of fixing the railway.

A government spokesperson said: “We recognise the importance of the funicular and the Scottish government is working with Highlands and Islands Enterprise to ensure it is back up and running as quickly as possible.

“The current programme of works has proven more technically challenging and complex than had been expected.

"The project team also had to contend with severe weather conditions and below-freezing temperatures on the mountain."

Repairs to reopen the railway last January ran to £25m

Repairs and strengthening work started in April 2021 following the railway's closure in late 2018.

But the Covid pandemic, a shortage of materials and bad weather led to the rising cost of the work, and delayed an earlier reopening.

The complex civil engineering project involved thousands of lifts by helicopter to deliver 800 tonnes of concrete to the site. Bearings and other components were also replaced.

Engineers had to avoid causing damage to deep peat, and boulders removed to allow access to the railway were put back in place with their lichen-covered surfaces the right way up.

Tests on the railway and a safety certificate from the UK Department of Transport were required before it could be made available to the public.

Before it was closed, the funicular's operators estimated that it carried about 300,000 visitors each year.

£11m settlement

Last August, HIE received a total of £11m in out-of-court settlements relating to the Cairngorm funicular.

HIE had been pursuing legal action in the Court of Session against construction company Galliford Try Infrastructure Ltd and designer AF Cruden Associates Ltd over work carried out in the 1990s and early 2000s.

It had also sought payment relating to guarantees issued by Natural Assets Investments Ltd, the parent company of CairnGorm Mountain Ltd (CML), which had operated the funicular on HIE's behalf.