Having stood testament since the early days of railway pioneers in the West Highlands, one of Scotland’s most famous and recognisable landmarks is due for repair.
Situated 17 miles from Fort William on the line to Mallaig, Glenfinnan Viaduct was built over a period of 15 months from July 1897 to October 1898, the viaduct was constructed by Robert McAlpine & Sons using mass concrete.
Once complete, it became the largest the concrete bridge in Scotland at a length of 1000 metres with 21 arches carrying the line 30 metres over the river Finnan below.
In recent times, it has gained worldwide fame thanks to its starring roles in many films, including the famous Harry Potter franchise.
Additionally, it has found utilisation and replication in several video games.
It continues to be popular with tourists and train travellers who visit in numbers to either photograph or travel over the viaduct in some cases by steam train.
Now having stood the test of the wild Scottish weather and carrying trains for 123 years, the viaduct is now the subject of a £3.4m refurbishment project to carry out repairs across the structure.
The work is to be undertaken by Network Rail and contractor AmcoGiffen.
Network Rail and contractor AmcoGiffen will undertake the work. They have created a temporary site below the viaduct to organise and conduct the works from.
The task at hand is to ensure the viaduct is still fit for use for many years to come.
“It’s a bucket list job for our team to work on and we’ll be sharing as much information and as many updates as we can throughout the project.”
Laura Craig, scheme project manager, Network Rail,
Rail services will continue to run while the works take place, engineers will be inspecting the viaduct and assessing its condition while making any improvements and carrying out repairs, they will also be making upgrades below rail height to ensure the ballast below the track remains in place.
“The main works to the viaduct will be concrete repairs. We’ll also be doing some repairs to the pier that sits in the River Finnan. Years of planning have gone into this project. The work will not have a massive visual impact on the way the viaduct looks and that’s very deliberate, with it being grade A listed. We won’t be scaffolding the structure at all but in the coming weeks, you’ll start to see the rope access technicians on the viaduct as they begin work.
We want to thank all who came to the drop-in event. It was great to catch up with locals to answer questions and chat about our plans. We know it’s a much-loved viaduct and is, of course, the longest concrete viaduct in Scotland, spanning 1000ft.”
Laura Craig, scheme project manager, Network Rail,
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