Weather: Road and rail chaos returns as gales and blizzards batter Scotland again

Snow caused massive travel disruption leading to delays and diversions after a number of roads and bridges were closed and rail services disrupted.

Winds gusting over 80mph forced the Tay Bridge to close to trains. The Tay Road Bridge was also closed to all vehicles.

The Kessock, Skye, Clackmannanshire and Forth road bridges were all closed to high-sided vehicles.

A seven-vehicle crash closed the main route through the Highlands. Three articulated lorries, three cars and a van were involved in the collision on the A9 at Dalwhinnie before 1pm. One person was taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Last night, hundreds of people were stuck on the road as no diversions were in place. The road reopened at about 8pm.

John Swinney was caught up in the gridlock. The finance secretary, who recently announced that the A9 will be upgraded, was being chaffeured in a ministerial car back to Edinburgh after a business trip to Inverness.

His car was understood to be near, but not involved in the collision.

A passenger on the 13:59 Inverness to Wick train was injured after it struck a fallen tree near Clachnaharry, outside Inverness.

A ScotRail spokeswoman said: “It is understood that the train struck a fallen tree and that one person suffered bruising. He has been taken to hospital as a precaution.”

Fallen trees led to further closures – blocking the A912 near to Bridge of Earn in Perthshire, closing the A921 between Kinghorn and Burtisland in Fife and closing the A828 at Benderloch in the Highlands.

ScotRail advised people to check their journeys before travelling, as winds reached more than 80mph in some parts of the country.

Particularly affected were the West Highlands and services north of Perth, where line speeds were restricted to 50mph by Network Rail.

Rail services between Inverness and Kyle and Inverness and Wick were suspended. Services were also suspended between Edinburgh and Dundee, Glasgow and Oban and Dumbarton and Helensburgh.

Some ferry services were badly hit, with many routes cancelled.

Severe weather conditions forced the closure of the A83 at the Rest And Be Thankful in Argyll at about 4:20pm yesterday – hours after it reopened following a landslide blocked it earlier this month.

Traffic Scotland said the road would remain closed until 8:30am today.

The A93 between Braemar and Blairgowrie remained closed after being shut to traffic about 11pm on Monday.

Snowploughs were out clearing the rail line between Perth and Inverness.

Yesterday afternoon, the Met Office upgraded its warnings from yellow (“be aware”) to amber advising people to “be prepared” for heavy snow in Lothian and Borders, south-west Scotland, Strathclyde, Central, Tayside and Fife.

Forecasters also warned of strong winds with gusts of up to 80mph possible across Argyll and Bute and winds of more than 60mph a possibility throughout the Central Belt.

Following a meeting of the Scottish Government’s resilience team, transport minister Keith Brown urged people to tune into local radio reports and the Traffic Scotland website.

Last Thursday, a storm – with a top wind speed of 165mph recorded on the summit of Cairn Gorm in the Highlands – battered the country, leaving thousands of homes without electricity and leading to widespread school closures.

Neil Greig, director of policy and research at the Institute of Advanced Motorists, said: “A lot of problems are very localised. There can be high winds and blizzards badly affecting one part a road and another part is fine.

“The key challenge is getting that information across.”