Engineers started work on the £1.8 million project earlier this month and is expected to take four months to complete.
The huge investment to the Mallaig line in Lochailort will bring improvements to the hardiness of the railway, and comes after work was carried out in the same location during the summer of 2020 after flash floods washed away 80m of railway.
The project is expected to complete by June 2022 and will see the installation of a new concrete drainage tunnel or culvert put in place next to the existing Allt na Criche bridge which carries the Allt na Criche burn beneath the railway.
In order for the work to be carried out safely, the culvert will be lifted into place using a 215-tonne crane throughout a 78 hour period of round-the-clock work and will take place from Friday the 18th of March to the morning of Tuesday the 22nd of March.
When the culvert is installed, a new embankment of 145m in length and with heights ranging between 1m and 2.5m will be built and will protect the railway and land surrounding it from future flooding.
Jeremy Spence, Network Rail‘s programme manager for the work, said:
“Severe weather incidents present challenges to the railway across Britain. As an industry, we continue to come up with ways to help mitigate this for our passengers, freight users and the communities who live alongside the railway.
“When our programme of work at Lochailort completes in the summer, it will add further resilience to the Mallaig line against the risk of severe weather events.
“While the majority of this work is being carried out during the day, we appreciate that some activities may cause inconvenience to local residents and passengers and every effort is being made to minimise this as much as possible.”
A half road closure will be put in place on a section of the A830 from Monday the 8th of February through to Friday the 22nd of April and temporary traffic management will be in use during this time.
To find out about alterations made for the Glasgow to Fort William/Mallaig service over the three days of continuous work, please visit: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk
Responses
Reminds me of what happened at Haddiscoe, Norfolk where the tracks were subsiding on the Wherry Line (Lowestoft branch) because of the River Yare burst its bank some weeks ago.