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Monday 30 Oct 2006

KYLE LINE RE-OPENS, BUT WORK CONTINUES ELSEWHERE ON HIGHLAND LINE

Region & Route:

Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Passengers on the Kyle line have train services again today, after the improved weather at the weekend allowed Network Rail engineers to carry out repair work.  A limited service is now running between Kyle and Garve and between Inverness and Dingwall. But other parts of the Highland line suffered more extensive damage during last week’s storms, and will take longer to repair.  It could be several weeks before the full Highland timetable returns to normal. David Simpson, Route Director for Scotland, said: “Our people have been working round the clock dealing with the effects of last week’s extreme weather.  We are pleased that we have been able to reinstate some services on the Kyle line today, and we will work as hard and as quickly as possible to get the other services back up and running.” The work will include repairing bridges, relaying track, removing trees and shifting tonnes of rubble that landed on the railway during last week’s storms. Extensive structural work and relaying of track is being carried out between Dingwall and Garve and it is hoped that services will resume by the end of this week. In the meantime a bus service is providing connections between Dingwall and Garve. No trains are running on the Far North Line where major work is being carried out at three sites north of Dingwall. At Helmsdale large sections of the railway had to be completely removed by crane over the weekend as the supporting ground had been washed away by a landslide. Structural work and relaying of track is underway and train services are expected to resume by the end of next week. At Watten, between Georgemas and Wick, a railway bridge has been virtually destroyed by floods and landslides. Repair work is underway and will take a few weeks to complete. An assessment of the railway line at Ardgay, between Invergordon and Lairg, will be carried out early this week. Service information is available from First ScotRail (www.firstscotrail.com or 0845 601 5929) or National Rail Enquiries (www.nationalrail.co.uk or 08457 48 49 50).