Reason for Cairngorm funicular delay is seen at first hand by Highlands MSP
A HIGHLANDS MSP has said conversations will need to be had with ‘culpable parties’ over the delayed return of the Cairngorm funicular.
Edward Mountain (Scottish Conservative) visited Cairngorm Mountain yesterday to get his own update on the stalled reopening.
It follows last week’s announcement that the funicular would not reopen in time for the start of the snowsports season on December 20.
He said he was ‘very interested’ to see how works were progressing on the mountain funicular at first hand.
On the visit, he said, he witnessed the failure of the grouting around the plates on the railway, and also saw how the tensioning of the joints was defective resulting in the delay.
Last week, Mr Mountain was heavily critical of owners Highlands and Islands Enterprises who he said had assured him just three weeks earlier that mountain railway would be open before Christmas.
Mr Mountain also highlighted how damaging the funicular’s continual closure is as the railway plays a key role in the local economy of the strath.
The government-owned funicular has not been functioning for nearly all of the past six years despite the huge cost of repairs - now around £25m - to the taxpayer.
Mr Mountain said: “Having followed this project for over six years, I was very interested to visit the railway yesterday to see what progress had been made on the funicular especially in light of last week’s announcement.
“The local economy relies on the railway being open to encourage visitors to come and enjoy the area; its role in generating income for local businesses cannot be understated.
“Whilst it's right that everyone is concentrating on reopening the railway at the end of the month, there will have to be realistic and difficult conversations with the contractor to ensure that the taxpayer is not affected.
“There will also need to be conversations with culpable parties to make sure that losses that businesses have incurred are properly compensated.
“We also need to start a proper dialogue on how the management of the mountain is going to be taken forward, because it is clear that the current system is not working.”
