Cairngorm funicular to close on Tuesdays for up to eight weeks

The funicular railway at Cairngorm Mountain will be closed on Tuesdays during the remainder of June and July while a series of minor works is completed.

Owner Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) announced last month that workers from contractor Balfour Beatty were returning to carry out finishing touches to the major engineering project that saw the popular tourist attraction brought back into service in January 2023 after a four-year hiatus.

Although all critical reinstatement works on the funicular viaduct were completed the previous November, the arrival of the winter made it necessary to hold off on finishing some smaller jobs until now.

The current programme of work began on 30 May and is scheduled to last up to eight weeks. It includes final painting of some steelwork, tidying up mortar grouting and a few miscellaneous finishing items, none of which affects the safe operation of the 2km railway.

To minimise disruption for visitors to the mountain resort, the majority of the work is being carried out on night shift, with the funicular continuing to run a normal passenger service during the day.

Although HIE had warned that some daytime closure would be required, it had hoped to restrict this to a single day, Tuesday 13 June. However, public safety considerations have led it to decide that further one-day closures are necessary and these will take place on consecutive Tuesdays.

James Palmer, the development agency’s construction project manager, said: “Although these works are fairly minimal in the context of the overall reinstatement programme, they will all make a difference to the quality of the project.

“We had hoped to be able to avoid closure altogether, but unfortunately that has not been possible and we apologise to anyone whose planned visit to Cairngorm may be affected by the need to close on Tuesdays for a limited period.

“As with everything on Cairngorm, weather will play its part. However, at present, we are on course to complete these works before the end of July when normal service will resume.”