Designed to keep to the railway running safely and reliably, the six-month, £3 million project will run until March 2025.

The Rannoch Road bridge carries traffic across the Highland Main Line at Killiecrankie, just north of Pitlochry, the popular tourist and holiday town. It is a 128-year-old single-span structure.

Network Rail will run a community drop-in event at Killiecrankie Village Hall on Tuesday 20 August, from 4pm to 7pm. They invite residents and businesses in the area to come and ask questions about the work.

Aiming to safeguard and enhance Scotland’s Railway, the project is part of an extensive bridge modernisation initiative, with a substantial investment of over £1.95 billion to improve reliability and performance. It comes straight after a major £34 million project to restore 50 damaged rail bridges in Scotland.

Principal contractor AmcoGiffen will make alterations to the bridge abutments to accommodate the new concrete arch deck. But they will install a temporary bridge before removing the existing one.

This is to maintain all-vehicle access throughout the course of the project (except for two consecutive weekends later this year).

Over those two weekends, (from 30 November to 2 December, and from 7 December to 9 December) there will be no trains running and there will be traffic management measures in place, including an all-vehicle diversion route.

For the latest information and updates on progress, follow on Twitter @NetworkRailScot or visit www.scotlandsrailway.com.

Renewal work such as this is essential in allowing Network Rail to maintain and improve our assets across Scotland’s Railway.

This is a significant piece of engineering and not without its challenges. Not only are we replacing the bridge deck, we’re also installing a temporary structure next to it and within a tight space. However, this allows vehicle access to be maintained for the community during delivery of much of the works.

Replacing the128-year-old bridge will ensure that work on this scale will not be required for at least another 120-years. We do appreciate the impact our activity will have on Killiecrankie village, particularly those living closest to the bridge and we will do all we can to minimise this where possible.

We are grateful to the community for their patience while we complete this vital work

Susan Menmuir, scheme project manager, Network Rail