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Friday 3 Mar 2017

Plain sailing for Far North track renewals

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Network Rail has had over 1,000 new rails delivered by sea to Scrabster Harbour in an innovative first for Scotland’s railway.

The 1,100 60-ft rails were unloaded over Monday, February 27, and Tuesday, February 28, after arriving in the harbour aboard the RMS Laar.

The materials will be used to renew 6.5 miles of the Far North line’s Thurso branch, stretching from Thurso Station to Georgemas Junction.

The delivery is a first for Scotland with new rail normally arriving by road or rail transport.

Network Rail estimate that delivering by sea has saved 110 road freight journeys and reduced carbon emissions by approximately 200 tonnes.

The renewal works will begin this month and will help to improve reliability on the route.

Alex Sharkey, Network Rail area director for Scotland East, said: “We are committed to investing in the Far North line and between 2014 and 2019 we will spend over £30million in the area.

“We have already delivered a renewal of the signalling systems on the route and have plans in place to renew track, raise linespeeds over level crossings and improve earthworks and structures.

“As an industry we are also determined to reduce the environmental impact of our activities. This is a wonderful example of how we can do that – taking traffic off the roads and substantially reducing the carbon foot-print of the project.”