More experts needed in the future to keep up with railway maintenance
Engineer Gareth Dennis believes we are seeing more disruptions on North East railways with resources for repairs and upkeep stretched.
We are hearing this morning that railways in Scotland require more experts and trained personnel to be able to cope with maintenance backlogs.
The railway line between Stonehaven and Montrose is to remain closed until the 22nd of this month as network rail complete repairs on a bridge and it's damaged wall.
This is the same stretch of line where a train derailed last year after striking a landslip, leading to the death of three men.
Northsound has been speaking to railway engineer and expert Gareth Dennis about the future of our lines and if we have to get used to long closures as climate change impacts the infrastructure and groundwork.
Dennis said:
"We have a unique challenge in Great Britain of the age of our infrastructure, particularly in relation to earth works, so the piles of mud that support the railway or the banks at the side of the railway."
"Those are quite old and built before engineers had a really good understanding of how that materials behave."
"The challenges in other parts of the world are to do with heat"
"Given we are stuck out in the Atlantic our issues relate to water but also wind."
These challenges are typically what has caused issues in the North East over the past year.
But the other challenge is finding the personnel to complete the work.
Dennis explains that while it would be ideal to use the current low traffic due to Covid restrictions to shut the line for longer and catch up with required work, it's not that simple.
He said:
"The challenge you have with big infrastructure programs is you can't magic them up like that"
"They have to be designed, they have to be signed off and you have to get the right people and equipment in the right place."
"Particularly the people and the equipment there is a long waiting list."
"We plan rail projects 2-3 years in advance."
Watch the full interview:
Hear all the latest news from the North East of Scotland on Northsound 1. Listen on FM, via our Rayo app, DAB, or smart speaker.