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Such a waste. 16m could transform the infrastructure on that mountain, rather than throwing more good after bad on that train.
This should be investigated as a criminal case the way they’ve wasted money on that flippin’ white purple elephant. And the cure? Throw more money at it. It really does boil my wee wee this one.
It's shocking isn't it. One of the things I'd love to do if I won the lottery is to pursue a private prosecution against whoever was responsible for that shitfest.
What I do not get is funiculars are proven tech used all over the world. No reason why it should have been such a useless mess up. Not spending enough in the first place? wrong design?
Again they talk about a year round attraction but no talk of opening up mtb tracks which would generate ££££
This should be investigated as a criminal case the way they’ve wasted money on that flippin’ white purple elephant. And the cure? Throw more money at it. It really does boil my wee wee this one.
Meanwhile we can't persuade a couple of million from Scottish government to protect outdoor centres for the future - introducing thousands of children to nature, adventure and Scotland as a 'place' in a positive and sustained way. Not as a tourist tat shopping experience with a view.
Ridiculous.
Repairs due to start this week
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-54792988
My money is on the coldest most precipitous winter in years.
And Cairngorm have withdrawn from the reciprocal discount scheme where season-pass holders at one of the 5 ski areas are given a 30% discount off a day ticket purchased at any of the other 4 areas.
It seems at along with not wanting their own customers, the don't want anyone else's either, not even for the day...
Meet the new masterplan, more of the same!
For instance, some people hold strong views both for and against changes to visitor management at the plateau and on the potential for mountain biking within the estate.
“Any future plans that might be brought forward on these subjects would need to be thought through very carefully and, of course, be subject to the regulatory planning process.
Once again the lack of plans for Coire na Ciste – a popular area with intermediate and advanced skiers and snowboarders - is conspicious by its absence.
Action:
HIE/CMSL
• Work with the operating company and
other stakeholders to develop strategies
to diversity activities and attract visitors
throughout the year.
• Review options for future ownership and
operating models.
There's an awful lot of not very much in the strategy document 🙁
"We need a plan, who is going to write it"
"go on then, I'll do it"
some months later......
"How did you get on with the plan"
"it's done"
"and?"
"my plan is........someone needs to write a plan"
Groundhog Day
I think it is time to write to some MSP's over this one...
Look at the stuff on Parkswatch. The mismanagement and seemingly wilful incompetence is endemic at all levels, all stages and all teams involved. This goes back a long time and the blinkers (with added delusion filters for the parts they could see) have been handed down to the next "Management" teams over the last 30 years.
Anyone in the hierarchy who claims they didn't know is just exposing their own staggering lack of oversight and failure to adequately discharge their responsibilities. A National 5 Travel and Tourism class could have done a better job.
I skied on the last day the Mountain was open before construction started - or was scheduled to start, but couldn't as there was too much snow, but it closed anyway whilst they sat and watched the snow slowly melt, season-pass holders and day-trippers unable to access the snow to ski on. I was pissed off then and time hasn't tempered it.
It's an absolute joke, it really is.
£26m fail: Scot gov agency sues creators of shut Cairngorm railway for £14.5m
Headline in the Herald. article is behind a paywall bar this
" A LEADING Scottish Government economic development agency is suing the constructors and designers of the UK's highest railway which closed three years ago due to structural problems for £14.5m.
The Highland and Islands Enterprise action against the company that owns Morrisons Construction has come as it has emerged that ministers had to refund part of an EU grant for the original Cairngorm funicular because of discrepancies in the way it tendered for the work as costs spiralled from £14.8m to £26.75m. "
You'll be telling me next that there's a link between HIE and Morrison Construction 🙄
Kinda good news overall but....
The Scottish government agency said trains could be fully operational early next year.
But it added that project costs had risen from about £16m to £25m due to the impacts of Covid, Brexit and blizzards in spring hampering repairs.
The Scottish government had provided a £16m funding package towards the costs.
HIE said it had reallocated uncommitted funds from its wider Cairngorm snowsports centre masterplan capital investment package to meet the additional costs.
The agency added that the Scottish government also allocated £7m additional funding in June 2022.
Putting in magic carpets (like the Lecht) too for learners. Mustve found some money down the back of the sofa
Basturds
Blizzards in the Cairngorms in spring? Who could have predicted that?
The “company” “running” the ski infrastructure wanted to build a dry slop on a place (IIRC) called Windy Ridge FFS. And have it kept snow free using antifreeze.
I remember watching a BBC news special on global warming interviewing the guy running the snowmaking machines, who without a hint or irony was complaining that people needed to change their habits as running an enormous refrigeration machine outside was getting expensive as the climate warmed.
NO *ING * SHERLOCK! IT'S MACHINES LIKE THAT THAT ARE GOING TO END UP WITH NORFOLK UNDERWATER.
Perhaps they could stick some giant heaters on the beaches of the western isles so they can pretend it's the Maldives too.
Blizzards in the Cairngorms in spring? Who could have predicted that?
Chance in a million!
All joking aside, the engineering and construction logistics involved must be horrific - delicate and fragile land, hostile weather, fairly crap access and a very public project. I wouldn't have wanted to be the PM overseeing that job!
I also can't fathom why they didn't originally just whack in a gondola from Rothemurcas / Loch Morlich area to the carpark area with a second stage heaving up to the summit area.
Buzzards in the Cairngorms in spring? Who could have predicted that?
FTFY
I also can’t fathom why they didn’t originally just whack in a gondola from Rothemurcas / Loch Morlich area
That would be on FLS (ex Forestry Commission) land, not the bit owned by HIE.
[edit] they really need to make it obvious that you've skimmed past the 'next page' bit and missed a year of replies (or just get rid of the reply box).
That would be on FLS (ex Forestry Commission) land, not the bit owned by HIE.
When dealing with 10's if not 100's of million ££ projects - leasing land for the carpark / pylon access would be a comparatively easy and common thing to overcome with the landowner.
At one point in the past FCS (pre FLS) owned the forest AND the land the ski centre is on. A shocking £9 Million price increase, and they STILL can't say whether it will run for the majority of this ski season...
leasing land for the carpark / pylon access would be a comparatively easy and common thing to overcome with the landowner.
There is nothing easy about working with FLS. Nothing at all.
And now borked again (well snagging works)
https://www.hie.co.uk/latest-news/2023/august/25/cairngorm-funicular-temporarily-out-of-service/
Maintenance and remedial works needs to be done. Would you rather they just kept it running till it failed again?
According to my Facebook feed, the opening date has been set back to 'end of the year or early in new year', with season tickets on sale...and rumor that it may be March before it really is open.
hmmm.
Preparing "Shocked Pikachu face"
According to my Facebook feed, the opening date has been set back to ‘end of the year or early in new year’, with season tickets on sale…and rumor that it may be March before it really is open.
hmmm.
Whilst using the webcams last Monday in a vain attempt to make myself feel better whilst everyone I know locally with a more flexible job than mine was heading for the hills for a ski tour, I looked at the sheer volume of scaffold still attached to the concrete piles. If most of the work was done you'd have got most of it down before the snow came in and made it more challenging. The 'snagging' doesn't look like it's going to be finished any time soon.
Some of the messages from their team on the early bird ticket socials posts dripped with frustration and very much sounded like they were as much out of the loop with when it might be actually open as the general public.
In other news....a very sad day locally on Saturday when we lost a local, properly competent, ski mountaineer. Puts griping about a crappy funicular into perspective.
The Parkwatch blog has covered this saga over the years. A sorry tale. Seems concrete was a poor choice for this structure in this environment and similar mountain railways all over the world mostly use steel beams.
Latest of many posts at
https://parkswatchscotland.co.uk/2024/11/11/concrete-and-its-use-on-the-funicular/
Some interesting points from what appear to be qualified people in the comments.
". It appears that at the most there are only three pillars in the 90 odd pillars which are fixed to bedrock, the rest essentially ‘float’ within the glacial till within Coire Cas,"
"Significantly, very little geotechnical investigations were conducted before the funicular was built in 2001, which in my book is negligence on behalf of the designer and constructor"
This crack was “observed for the first time” in the 2016 inspection when it was described as being a few cms. long. By the 2017 inspection it had increased to almost 9m! That is more than a crack, it is the top layer of concrete above the reinforcing rebars inside the beam delaminating. Was this caused by water ingress and rusting of the rebar at the insitu joint?
When water gets into a crack and then freezes it will cause damage at that point. The subsequent freeze thaw process, which in a mountain environment could happen several times a day, will gradually weaken and destroy the concrete joint. Eventually the water will work its way through a joint and when reaching the steel rebar will cause corrosion and then potentially delamination along the length of the rebar. Vibration caused by the train will exacerbate the situation.
What structural engineering genius thought that was an appropriate solution for the north of Scotland? Probably based in a posh office in Greenwich, instead of Greenock…
I’m in no way any sort of engineering expert, but even I can see the issues, the same sort that have plagued structures like the Westway carrying the M4 through Hammersmith.
Although that could be cavities caused by dead bodies dumped into the structure decomposing over the years…
What structural engineering genius thought that was an appropriate solution for the north of Scotland? Probably based in a posh office in Greenwich, instead of Greenock…
I believe, neither of those locations. Inverness (AF Cruden)
The Construction company mentioned is Edinburgh based.
Is the concrete in question the same kind as the stuff that made the news earlier this year - the stuff that resembles an inedible aero chocolate bar?
I’m in no way any sort of engineering expert, but even I can see the issues, the same sort that have plagued structures like the Westway carrying the M4 through Hammersmith.
Oh dear: The Westway does not “carry the M4 through Hammersmith”. I suspect you are confusing the Westway A40 through Notting Hill, the Hammersmith FlyoverA4 through Hammersmith, and the M4 elevated section around Brentford.
I only mention it because of your slightly sneering comment about structural engineers based in England being to blame for the funicular problems in Scotland - which ironically was also wrong.
Is the concrete in question the same kind as the stuff that made the news earlier this year – the stuff that resembles an inedible aero chocolate bar?
No, RAAC was a material/product developed to make panels that could be used in roofs, floors, walls etc. The problem with RAAC is most reinforced concrete relies on the steel being dry inside and protected from moisture, RAAC being aerated doesn't provide that protection so relied on some other external waterproofing.
There were other issues as well, like it being poorly made and the reinforcement not extending to the edges, which is a problem for a material designed to be supported only on the edges.
Or jus that it was a bit crap and it's not 60 years into it's 30 year design life.
I’m in no way any sort of engineering expert, but even I can see the issues, the same sort that have plagued structures like the Westway carrying the M4 through Hammersmith.
Reading that parkwatch report it sounds like the joints between the I-beams is/has failed, and that then causes the sections to sag as the train passes. Think about as the difference in stiffness of a slackline Vs a tightrope, the more you tension it the stiffer it is, remove that tension and you're left with just the stiffness of the material itself (marginally better if it's a concrete beam than a rope, but nowhere near as good a it should have been).
The problem in Hammersmith (and Genoa) was to do with jus the age of the structure. As water inevitably got in it caused the reinforcing cables to rust.
Looks like it is about to be closed again for more work.
https://news.stv.tv/highlands-islands/uks-highest-railway-to-close-again-two-months-after-reopening
🤣
scrap it, you’d get something for selling the parts to some Bulgarian ski resort or something
Looks like it is about to be closed again for more work.
They say that they're just bringing forward the annual maintenance from November but, even if that's the case, the optics are appalling.
They say that they're just bringing forward the annual maintenance from November but, even if that's the case, the optics are appalling.
Yup - bearing in mind it's only been open a fraction of the last 12 months (it opened 66 days ago), to have much to do for an annual service is a bit baffling.
I just don't think they can say 'snagging' again and keep a straight face.