Breaking news: Highland Mainline closed by flooding
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Flooding has blocked the Highland Mainline near Kingussie, railway bosses have announced.
Network Rail Scotland and ScotRail both confirmed shortly before 8am that the key line linking Inverness to the central belt had been blocked by rising water.
It comes amid 12 separate Sepa flood warnings for parts of the Highlands – with several in force in the area around Kingussie, Newtonmore and Aviemore.
Confirming the closure of the line, Network Rail Scotland said: "Due to flooding of the route near Kingussie, the line between Inverness and Perth is currently closed.
"Our teams are on site and will work to reduce water levels before carrying out necessary safety inspections. More updates to follow. "
ScotRail, meanwhile, has advised that it is in the process of trying to source bus replacements for the affected trains, but added that "limited replacement" options meant people should consider alternative travel arrangements if possible.
A spokesperson for the rail company said: "We are looking to secure replacement transport and will update you once we have more details.
"Due to limited replacement transport being secured, where possible, customers should consider making alternative arrangements."
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They added that Citylink is accepting tickets from affected passengers between Inverness and Perth.
They also added that Stagecoach was doing likewise for services between Inverness, Wick and Thurso.
The latter comes amid warnings of possible cancellations or disruption at short notice on the Far North and Kyle lines.
At the time of writing ScotRail had not confirmed if those latter lines had also shut, but some passengers looking to travel at Beauly this morning were reporting that their trains were "off" and that there may be flooding on the track somewhere between Muir of Ord and Inverness.
We have reached out to ScotRail to confirm if this is the case, but have yet to hear back.
