West Highland Line reopening delayed

The West Highland, twice voted the World’s Best Train Journey, has been closed for a week after it was hit by four avalanches from Beinn Odhar piling up across a single section of the track.

Shortly before this, as the snow fell, Network Rail had sent a locomotive north to check the line, It managed to get through but when it turned south to come back, it met the snow heaped on the line by the avalanches that, fortunately, had fallen after its earlier passage.

As we reported, helicopter inspections of the snow remaining above the line on Beinn Odhar were carried out on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Obviously Network Rail cannot consider sending machinery in to move the snow on the mountain until they have been assured that such an operation will be safe.

They are gathering evidence from the helicopter reconnaissances, the Police, the Mountain Rescue services and the Met office.

Network Rail has had men up in the area for the past two days. It had hoped, depending on weather conditions and on the necessary reassurances, to send in machinery – including snowblowers, over the weekend, to move the remaining build up of snow above the line.

The aim was to get the line reopened early next week. How early that would have been depended, of course, upon the weather and snow conditions obtaining.

Normally with the West Highland Line, snow gathers on the cuttings the track runs through. This is relatively simple to deal with. An engineering train with a snowplough is run through the line . On this occasion, however, the snow was on the mountain above the line – in much greater volume and with more room to accelerate.

The latest news, at the time of publication of this article, is that the volume of snow above the line is still giving concern, with the threat that more could come down.

While they will continue to monitor the situation over the weekend, Network Rail will clearly be unable to make the progress they had hoped over the weekend, towards reopening the line for traffic. They cannot take machinery into the specific area while the threat of further movement remains possible.

A Network Rail spokesman says: ‘We are continuing to monitor the level of snow above the railway line at the avalanche site and will be unable to begin works to clear the line until the risk of further avalanches has reduced.

‘We are doing some work around the site, but are unable to bring in heavy plant or engineering trains due to the large volumes of snow on the slope above the railway.

‘We will continue to monitor the situation over the weekend, but are unlikely to be able to work on the site until later in the week’.