MORE HIGHLAND LINES REOPEN FOR PASSENGERS

Wednesday 8 Nov 2006

MORE HIGHLAND LINES REOPEN FOR PASSENGERS

Region & Route:: Scotland’s Railway: Scotland

Train services resumed today between Inverness and Kyle and Inverness and Tain following the completion of extensive repairs to flood-damaged sections of the Highlands railway. By the end of next week services will also be able to run to Thurso. Wick services remain suspended while significant works are carried out at Ardgay and at Watten, between Georgemas and Wick, where a railway bridge has been virtually destroyed by floods and landslides. Repair work will take a few weeks to complete; in the meantime replacement buses are operating from Dingwall to Wick via Thurso. David Simpson, Route Director for Scotland, said: “Over the past few weeks our teams have carried out a phenomenal amount of work to repair the railway in the Highlands. Extreme weather caused serious damage to the infrastructure at almost one hundred locations in the Highlands; we have completed work in nearly all of these and will continue to work around the clock until all lines are running normally." The work being carried out by Network Rail includes repairing bridges, relaying track, removing trees and shifting tonnes of rubble that landed on the railway during last month’s storms. 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).

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