DOUBT has been cast on an official assurance that the ill-fated Cairngorm funicular will be ready to open after Christmas.
A statement on the Cairngorm Mountain website says the funicular “looks set to be back in action towards the end of December or early in the new year”.
However, it is claimed that season tickets for the lifts at the snowsport resort – which cost £571 for an adult – are being sold on the back of “false promises”.
In early October, Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) Ltd (CM(S)L) advertised cheaper early bird season tickets stating that it was anticipated that the railway would return to service during the “upcoming” snowsport season.
Last year a similar assurance was made by the then chief executive Susan Smith, prompting skiers and snowboarders to buy their ski passes.
However, the funicular, built at a cost of £19 million and which has so far cost £25m to repair, did not reopen as repair works continued.
First opened in 2001, the railway closed in October 2018 due to structural issues, reopened in January 2023, then shut down that August for more repairs.
CM(S)L is a subsidiary of Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) who have been criticised for pumping so much money into the funicular.
The organisation did manage to claw back £11m less legal costs from the original developers but protesters object that this doesn’t even cover half the repair bill and maintain the sum could have been better spent elsewhere in the region.
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HIE said the railway “looks set to be back in action towards the end of December or early in the new year”.
Local resident Gordon Bulloch pointed out that scaffolding around the funicular had not yet been taken down even though the official opening for snowsports at the resort is this Friday.
After that, safety trials need to be carried out to make sure the repairs are satisfactory.
Bulloch said that when the railway previously closed for repairs, the safety tests took around six weeks. This would mean the funicular would not reopen until the end of January at the earliest.
“Meantime, HIE/CMSL is trying to sell people season tickets on the back of false promises,” he said.
In their statement, HIE said the contractor Balfour Beatty was due to finish remedial works on the viaduct that supports the railway.
“The focus will then shift to a series of important follow-up actions that have to be carried out before the funicular can carry passengers again. These include mechanical safety inspections and testing, trial runs and staff training,” the statement said.
“This will, unfortunately, mean the funicular will not be back in service for the official launch of Cairngorm Mountain’s 2024/25 winter season, December 20, as had been hoped.
“However, it does appear that the long wait for the service to resume and enable visitors to access the ski area quickly and easily by rail again will soon be over.”
That statement added that the reason the funicular was withdrawn from service in August 2023 was when an inspection found that tension in some “scarf joints” that link beams with 94 piers along the 1.8km length of the viaduct was below the recommended level.
“Re-tensioning these joints – and ensuring that tension is maintained – has been a core element of the remediation programme, which has been led by Balfour Beatty under contract from Cairngorm Estate owner Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE),” the statement said.
“Tension in beams and diaphragms that are essential for load distribution has also been carefully examined and adjusted as required, and associated grouting has been carried out on the piers.”
HIE said the return to service would “mark the end of a difficult few years” for HIE and its subsidiary CM(S)L, which operates the resort.
However, the campaigners are sceptical that the repairs will be long-lasting as they believe the structure is irreparably flawed.
The funicular was built using precast concrete beams instead of steel which would have been more costly.
“What they are doing is a sticking-plaster job,” said Bulloch. “It is not going to solve the problem because whatever has caused stress to the concrete scarf joints and beams over the years will continue to do so and they will have to apply more sticking plaster.
“We honestly believe that even though a hell of an amount of money has gone into the funicular there is no guarantee that it will ever be right again.”
He said HIE should have cut their losses in 2018 and found a cheaper replacement for the railway such as a gondola lift instead of trying to repair it.
HIE was approached for comment.
