![Glenfinnan viaduct cost £18,904 to build, which is about £3m in today's money [Image: Alistair Gibson/Network Rail].](/assets/news_articles/2024/05/1715149700_glenfinnan-alistair-gibson-pic-cropped.jpg)
Network Rail has awarded AmcoGiffen a £3.4m contract to carry out repairs to the Glenfinnan viaduct in the Scottish Highlands.
Glenfinnan viaduct sits 30 metres above the River Finnan on the West Highland Line, 17 miles from Fort William. It is built from mass concrete and has 21 semicircular spans of 15 metres. At 380 metres, it is the longest concrete railway bridge in Scotland.
The maintenance works are expected to take just under 12 months to complete and will see rope-access engineers assessing the condition and strength of the viaduct and making improvements beneath the track to keep the stone ballast in place.
Network Rail project manager Laura Craig said: “The main works to the viaduct will be concrete repairs. We’ll also be doing some repairs to the pier that sits in the River Finnan. Years of planning have gone into this project.
“The work will not have a massive visual impact on the way the viaduct looks and that’s very deliberate, with it being grade A listed. We won’t be scaffolding the structure at all but in the coming weeks, you’ll start to see the rope access technicians on the viaduct as they begin work.”
The viaduct was built by Robert McAlpine & Sons of Glasgow, as the company was then called, and designed by Glasgow consulting engineer Simpson & Wilson. Construction took from July 1897 until October 1898 and cost £18,904, which is about £3m in today's money.
Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk
