HIE Settles Legal Battle On Funicular Railway Out Of Court

17th August 2023

Parties involved in legal cases relating to the original design and construction of the Cairngorm funicular railway in the 1990s and early 2000s and guarantees in place with the previous operator have reached an out-of-court settlement.

This means the cases will not proceed to a court proof hearing, which had been scheduled to begin in August.

Highland and Islands Enterprise, which owns Cairngorm Estate and commissioned the funicular, had been pursuing legal action in the Court of Session against construction company Galliford Try Infrastructure Limited and designer A.F. Cruden Associates Limited.

HIE was also seeking payment relating to guarantees issued by Natural Assets Investments Ltd (NAIL), which was the parent company of previous operator CairnGorm Mountain Ltd (CML), and from NAIL's main shareholder.

Under the terms of the settlement, HIE is receiving a total sum of £11m.

Highland and Islands Enterprise had been pursuing a £14.5m claim against the company that owns Morrisons Construction and the civil and structural engineers for the scheme.

Built at a cost of £19.5m, Scotland's only funicular railway opened in 2001. Construction was publicly funded through HIE, with support from the European Regional Development Fund.

The service was withdrawn in September 2018 by then-operator CML, after an inspection raised safety concerns.

In December 2018, HIE took over operations through a new subsidiary, Cairngorm Mountain (Scotland) Ltd, which continues to manage the resort at present.

The funicular returned to service in January this year, following a four-year programme of inspection, design and engineering works at a cost of around £25m.

Stuart Black, chief executive of HIE, said, "We are pleased to have reached this settlement, which enables us to recover a significant amount of public funding and brings closure to these long-standing matters."

As of the end of last year the cost to the taxpayer of funicular had risen to nearly £52m due to the high cos of repairs. The cost of the repairs rose from £16.16m to £25m.