Friday 26 Jun 2020
West Highland line recovery works underway
- Region & Route:
- Scotland’s Railway: Scotland
Network Rail engineers will be working around-the-clock to repair flood damage at Lochailort on the West Highland line.
The line will remain closed between Fort William and Mallaig until Monday, July 13, while engineers work to rebuild over 80m of railway washed away by severe weather on Thursday, June 25.
More than 1,600 tons of material has been displaced and engineers will have to completely rebuild the supporting embankment, ballast and track before the line can reopen.
Liam Sumpter, Network Rail Scotland route director, said: “Our engineers are working hard to fully assess the damage and complete the repairs needed to reopen the line as quickly as possible for customers.
“Flash flooding has caused significant damage at several points along an 80m stretch of track and we will need to rebuild the track-bed and supporting embankments before we can reopen the line.
“We are working as quickly as possible to complete these repairs in what is a very challenging location.”
Passengers can check their journey at National Rail Enquiries https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ or with their train operator https://www.scotrail.co.uk/
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Network Rail press office - Nick King
Media relations manager (Scotland)
0141 555 4108 / 07515 617073
nick.king3@networkrail.co.uk
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