It is owned by the Highlands and Islands Enterprise and was operated by Cairngorm Mountain Limited until July 2014, when Natural Retreats UK took over the lease. Since 2018, it has been run by Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) Limited.
The railway closed in October 2018 due to structural issues; it reopened in January 2023, then shut down again in August 2023.[1]
History
Construction
Construction of the Cairngorm Mountain Railway started in 1999 and it opened on 24 December 2001 (forty years after the opening of the White Lady Chairlift, which it replaced). The construction was initiated because the chairlift was too sensitive to the strong winds in the area. The track is a broad gauge of 2,000mm (6ft6+3⁄4in). The maximum operating speed is 10m/s (36km/h; 22mph) during the ski season and 5m/s (18km/h; 11mph) the rest of the year. At these speeds, the trip takes about four minutes in winter and nine minutes during the summer (calculated without middle station stops). The single track line has a passing loop just above the middle station. During ascent, the maximum gradient is 23° (1 in 2.5, or 40-per cent inclination). The railway starts at the Base Station in the Coire Cas area, where there is a restaurant, shop, ticket office, hire shop, rangers' office and Disability Sport UK office. The Scottish Ski Club has a building close to the middle station.
At peak times there can be 150,000–160,000 non-winter sports visitors, combined with a further 50,000–120,000 annual sports visitors during the winter.[2][3] CML can expect to cater to 1,000 visitors per day in the summer months.[4]
The railway is 13km (8mi) from Aviemore and can be reached travelling along the B970 and C38 roads to Glenmore. From Glenmore, a route is taken through the snow gates[clarification needed] and via a one-way system past Coire na Ciste for approximately 3km (1.9mi). The Base Station is at an altitude of approximately 635m (2,083ft) above sea level, the middle station is at approximately 765m (2,510ft) and the top Ptarmigan Station is at approximately 1,097m (3,599ft).
The total length of the funicular railway track is 1,970m (6,460ft), during which the route rises by 462m (1,516ft). Most of the route is single track, with a short passing loop near half way. Up to 120 standing passengers can be carried in each of the system's two carriages.[5] The train is fully accessible for wheelchair users and both the Base Station and Ptarmigan Station have lift access to all levels.
Depending on wind direction, wind speed trend and weather forecast, the trains can operate in winds of 100 to 120km/h (60 to 75mph). As the train approaches the top station it enters a 250m (820ft) long cut-and-cover tunnel taking it up to the top platform hidden in the hillside.
The funicular railway operates by 'hauling' up one carriage using electric motors to pull the haul rope as the other carriage descends at the same time. The system is powered by two stationary in series 500kW electric motors, a gear box and a 'soft start-soft stop' control system which can increase the electrical frequency and vary the current and voltage to control the carriage speeds as they approach or leave a station. A hydraulically operated 'counter' rope is connected to both carriages to maintain haul rope tension. The two carriages are permanently connected by the haul rope and the counter rope and can never operate independently.
The funicular railway system is normally operated from a staffed control room within the Ptarmigan building, but can also be operated from the Base station control room or from each railway carriage. There are dedicated sophisticated computer control, instrumentation, communication and safety systems for the railway which have a range of back up systems and there are also standby generators and manual back up systems for moving the carriages.
During the ski season, skiers are asked to stay within the designated ski area [vague] and climbers and hill walkers are not allowed to use the railway to travel uphill. The railway operators have agreed, in conjunction with Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), to operate a formal visitor management plan to protect fragile areas of the mountain environment. This means that for conservation reasons, the public is not allowed to access the mountains during the summer season from Ptarmigan building. However, walkers who have climbed the hill themselves may purchase a downhill ticket at the Ptarmigan building for travelling back down to Base. There are no middle station stops or exits during the summer.
On 29 November 2018, it was announced that the railway had been placed into administration. Blair Milne, one of the administrators, cited that the company had become "unsustainably loss-making" after an extended closure in October 2018. Natural Retreats, the previous owners since 2013, released a press statement saying the firm still had "potential".[6] That hope did not come to fruition and the company owed £2m.[7]
Closure
The closure of the Cairngorm Mountain Railway funicular was "due to health and safety concerns", or "structural problems" according to reports in summer 2019. At the time, an engineering investigation was still underway to determine whether modifications would be "achievable and affordable", according to its then-owner, the Scottish government's Highlands and Islands Enterprise which also owns Cairngorm Mountain ski centre.[8][9][10] The final findings of the consultants, SE Group, were released in July 2019, but a decision on how to proceed had not yet been made at that time.[11]
Reinstatement and closure
On 14 October 2020, the Scottish Government announced more than £16m would be spent on the reinstatement of the funicular railway as part of a £20m project.[12] The programme of engineering works commenced in early November 2020.[13] The works were completed late in 2022 and the railway resumed on 26 January 2023. It then shut down again in August 2023.
A funicular is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages permanently attached to opposite ends of a haulage cable, which is looped over a pulley at the upper end of the track. The result of such a configuration is that the two carriages move synchronously: as one ascends, the other descends at an equal speed. This feature distinguishes funiculars from inclined elevators, which have a single car that is hauled uphill.
An aerial tramway, aerial tram, sky tram, aerial cablecar, aerial cableway, telepherique, or seilbahn is a type of aerial lift which uses one or two stationary ropes for support while a third moving rope provides propulsion. With this form of lift, the grip of an aerial tramway cabin is fixed onto the propulsion rope and cannot be decoupled from it during operations. In comparison to gondola lifts, aerial tramways generally provide lower line capacities and higher wait times.
The Cairngorms are a mountain range in the eastern Highlands of Scotland closely associated with the mountain Cairn Gorm. The Cairngorms became part of Scotland's second national park on 1 September 2003. Although the Cairngorms give their name to, and are at the heart of, the Cairngorms National Park, they only form one part of the national park, alongside other hill ranges such as the Angus Glens and the Monadhliath, and lower areas like Strathspey.
Cairngorms National Park is a national park in northeast Scotland, established in 2003. It was the second of two national parks established by the Scottish Parliament, after Loch Lomond and The Trossachs National Park, which was set up in 2002. The park covers the Cairngorms range of mountains, and surrounding hills. Already the largest national park in the United Kingdom, in 2010 it was expanded into Perth and Kinross.
Cairn Gorm is a mountain in the Scottish Highlands. It is part of the Cairngorms range and wider Grampian Mountains. With a summit elevation of 1,244.8 m (4,084 ft) above sea level, Cairn Gorm is classed as a Munro and is the sixth-highest mountain in the British Isles. The high, broad domed summit overlooking Strathspey is one of the most readily identifiable mountains from the nearby town and regional centre of Aviemore. Although it shares its name with the Cairngorm mountains, Ben Macdui is the highest mountain in the range.
Ben Macdui is the second-highest mountain in Scotland and all of the British Isles, after Ben Nevis, and the highest of the Cairngorm Mountains. The summit is 1,309 metres (4,295 ft) above sea level and it is classed as a Munro. Ben Macdui sits on the southwestern edge of the Cairngorm plateau, overlooking the Lairig Ghru pass to the west, and Loch Etchachan to the east. It lies on the boundary between the historic counties of Aberdeenshire and Banffshire.
The Lairig Ghru is one of the mountain passes through the Cairngorms of Scotland. The route and mountain pass partially lies on the Mar Lodge Estate.
Braeriach or Brae Riach is the third-highest mountain in Scotland and all of the British Isles, after Ben Nevis and Ben Macdui, rising 1,296 metres (4,252 ft) above sea level. It is in the Scottish Highlands and is the highest point in the western massif of the Cairngorms, separated from the central section by the Lairig Ghru pass. The summit is a crescent-shaped plateau, overlooking several corries.
Bynack More is a Scottish Mountain that is situated in the Cairngorms range, 16 kilometres east-south-east of the town of Aviemore in the Highland region.
Beinn a' Chaorainn is a Scottish mountain in the heart of the Cairngorms range. It is quite a remote hill, being located roughly 19 kilometres south east of Aviemore and 14 kilometres north west of Braemar. The mountain stands on the border of the Moray and Aberdeenshire council areas. The hill's name used to be spelt as Beinn a' Chaoruinn, but the spelling of the word caorunn was altered to caorann by the Gaelic Orthographic Convention's attempts to standardise spelling.
Derry Cairngorm is a Scottish mountain in the Cairngorms range, 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) north west of Braemar in the county of Aberdeenshire.
Cairngorm or Cairngorms may refer to:
Coire an t-Sneachda is a glacial cirque or corrie landform in the Cairngorm or Am Monadh Ruadh mountain range in the Grampian Mountains of the Scottish Highlands.
Aviemore is a town and tourist resort, situated within the Cairngorms National Park in the Highlands of Scotland. It is in the Badenoch and Strathspey committee area, within the Highland council area. The town is popular for skiing and other winter sports, and for hill-walking in the Cairngorm Mountains.
Long-lying snow patches in Scotland have been noted from at least the 18th century, with snow patches on Ben Nevis being observed well into summer and autumn. Indeed, the summit observatory, which operated from 1883 to 1904, reported that snow survived on the north-east cliffs through more years than it vanished.
Adam Watson, FRSE, FRSB, FINA, FRMS, FCEH was a Scottish biologist, ecologist and mountaineer. He was one of the most recognisable scientific figures in Scotland due to his many appearances on TV and radio. His large academic output and contributions to the understanding of the flora and fauna in Scotland and elsewhere have been internationally recognised. Dr Watson was widely acknowledged as Scotland's pre-eminent authority on the Cairngorms mountain range.
Beinn Bhreac is a twin-peaked Scottish mountain located above Glen Derry in the Cairngorm Mountains approximately 11 kilometres (7 mi) north-west of Braemar.
Loch Etchachan is a remote freshwater loch set deep within the central Cairngorms plateau, in the Cairngorms National Park, located in the eastern Highlands of Scotland. It is the highest waterbody of its size in the UK, the surface being 927 metres (3,041 ft) above sea level. However, the highest named bodies of water in the UK are Loch Coire an Lochain, which lies 6km to the west of Loch Etchachan on the opposite side of the Lairig Ghru, and Lochan Buidhe, which lies between Cairn Lochan and Ben Macdui.
The Cairngorm Plateau disaster, also known as the Feith Buidhe disaster, occurred in November 1971 when six fifteen-year-old Edinburgh school students and their two leaders were on a two-day navigational expedition in a remote area of the Cairngorms in the Scottish Highlands.
Beinn Mheadhoin or Beinn Meadhain is a mountain in the Highlands of Scotland. It is a Munro with a height of 1,182 metres (3,878 ft) and by some counts it is the twelfth-highest mountain of Great Britain. It lies in the very heart of the Cairngorm mountains, and is one of the most remote in the region. Beinn Mheadoin is surrounded by deep glens and mountain lakes, including Loch A'an, Loch Etchachan and the Dubh Lochan.
↑ Butcher, Louise (13 April 2010). "Railways: Cairngorm Funicular Railway"(PDF). Parliament Research Briefings. House of Commons Library. Retrieved 19 December 2023.
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