UPDATE: Flooding closes two Highland rail lines as multiple other services are cancelled
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Both the Highland Main Line and Kyle of Lochalsh Line will remain closed due to flooding today as Scotrail warns against travel as it will not be providing replacement bus services.
As well as services south and west, Scotrail have closed three lines “due to the imminent risk of the Spey River bursting its banks and flooding the railway” including Inverness to Elgin.
Network Rail Scotland also confirmed there had been flooding on the lines in several places including Kingussie, Achnasheen and further south including high waters on the Tay
It said: “Yesterday, our team at Dalguise had to leave the area as floodwaters rose, cutting off access. This is the Gynack burn at Kingussie today. Water now above the track – it’s not safe to run trains on the Highland Mainline.”
Flooding did not just directly hit the rail line but also roads, impeding work done by Network Rail to ensure the tracks are safe for trains to run like this one (pictured below between Dunblane and Perth.
Network Rail said: “High water levels at the Earn viaduct. We’ll need to inspect it before reopening, but our team can’t get near it right now as all roads to and from are flooded too.”
Last night SEPA issued its highest level of alert – a rare Severe Flood Warning – last night for an area between Aviemore and Grantown along with its second Flood Warnings for 17 other parts of the Highlands.
And LNER which runs services from Inverness and Aberdeen to London say that due to the weather they will not run services north if Edinburgh today.
The Met Office issued a further amber warning which is in place for the central Highlands, Great Glen, Inverness, Moray and the Grampians until 14.00 today.
A wider yellow warning encompassing all of the north except north west Sutherland and Caithness is in force until 15.00 today – while another one will come into effect on Tuesday for Wester Ross and the Great Glen.
