Room at the top for Cairn Gorm walkers on funicular railway

Published on Tuesday 24 July 2007 00:31

AN OUTRIGHT ban on walkers using the Cairn Gorm funicular is to be lifted in a trial planned by the operators of the mountain railway.

Ramblers who have walked to the top of the mountain will now be allowed to buy a single ticket to return to the base station on the funicular.

However, the reverse journey - taking the train up and walking down - will still be prohibited, in order to protect the mountain plateau.

At present, the operator of the funicular, CairnGorm Mountain Ltd (CML), limits visitors using the railway, in order to prevent any damage to the sensitive environment.

Skiers may use the railway to access the slopes during the season, but non-skiers are banned from leaving the top station, situated at nearly 4,000ft. Instead, to satisfy objections from environmental groups, they must make do with a viewing platform at the restaurant.

Bob Kinnaird, chief executive of CML, said allowing visitors to take the train up and then walk down would generate too much foot traffic.

Mr Kinnaird said: "That would not only be contrary with the overall philosophy on visitor management but would also be very difficult to manage."

But he added: "The possibility of walking up and taking the train down is not diluting in any way our commitment to protecting this precious mountain environment as contained in the visitor-management plan, but it does give a degree of choice to use the facilities at the top to those already walking on the mountain."

Helen Todd, the access campaigns officer for Ramblers Scotland, said: "We are concerned that if people start taking the funicular down, they are going to ask why they can't take it up as well. Pressure will then build to change things more."

RSPB Scotland, which owns much of the Cairn Gorm plateau, took objections to the original funicular plan to the Court of Session.

Stuart Housden, the organisation's director, said he welcomed CML's commitment to monitoring the number of walkers during the trial.

He said: "We will be monitoring the site ourselves for any signs of damage during and after the trial. If such damage occurs, and we hope it does not, we would expect the visitor management plan to be re-adapted to ensure this important area is looked after and that the commitments made in the past to the EU are honoured."

A survey launched in 2005 shows 1 per cent of users ignore the ban.