Following Alan Brattey’s post The Cairn Gorm Funicular: Repair or Remove?, on Thursday Highlands and Islands Enterprise revealed at a meeting organised by the Aviemore and Glenmore Community Trust (see above) that they intend to repair the funicular as:
“We have an indicative cost of repairs, which is less than the costs of removing the funicular”.
This post takes a critical look at HIE’s claim.
The basis for HIE’s claim is completely secret. They have produced no costs for the removal of the funicular and have not up till now said they were looking at this as an option. If HIE have done work on this, why not tell the public who has done the work and the basis of the estimated cost? This is important because there is no one basis for estimating the costs of removal which could vary significantly depending on whether, for example, all infrastructure (tunnel, pillar bases etc) was removed or whether HIE followed the approach they took in Coire na Ciste in 2017 when they removed the lifts there. There, the bases for the lift pillars, for example, were removed to just 200mm below ground level – instead of being removed completely – and the total cost of the removal was just £267k (see here).
While Parkswatch has argued the standards applied to Coire na Ciste were unacceptably low and inappropriate for Cairn Gorm, were HIE to adopt a similar minimalist approach for Coire Cas the funicular could probably be removed for £1-2m. Leaving aside the question of standards, the repair costs for the funicular are likely to be far far more than that with HIE now admitting that the repairs needed are “very extensive”.
Incidentally its worth noting that the cost to the public purse of removing the lift infrastructure might have been even less if HIE had recovered the cost of the scrap metal. However, as the Save the Ciste Group has uncovered through FOI requests (see Strathy article above) HIE decided the value of the scrap metal should be donated to local charities. HIE’s incompetence at managing contracts is such that two years later this money has still not been handed over to the charities. Perhaps the police should be investigating whether anyone has profited from this failure?
On the other side of the equation, as the costs of repair are still being worked on and will be determined by a tender process, its hard to understand how can HIE KNOW these will be less than whatever the cost might be for removing the funicular. The key question here is how will HIE guarantee that the costs of repair won’t spiral out of control as they have done with the last two major procurement exercises they have conducted at Cairn Gorm?
HIE’s procurement record at Cairn Gorm
While the total cost of the Natural Retreats procurement debacle is still unknown (see here) – parkswatch is still on the case but the full truth is only likely to emerge if there is an investigation by the Scottish Parliament – we do know from the investigation by the Public Accounts Committee in 2010 that the original estimated costs for constructing the funicular, £14.8m, had almost doubled to £26.749m by the time it had been completed. Moreover, HIE’s contribution did double from an estimated £9.39m to £19.417.
As a consequences, the Public Accounts Committee in 2010 slammed HIE for failing to produce a proper business case finding that “the project was pushed forward without proper regard to the risk to the public purse”. The same appears to be happening all over again, with HIE having apparently decided to repair the funicular without any public business case or consideration of other options.
The short term costs of repairing the funicular, even if HIE claim these will include the cost of replacing parts which were due for renewal in two years time, are not the same at all as the long-term investment needed to maintain it. For example, how can the public be assured that further extensive repairs won’t be needed in 10 years time? (To assess that, HIE needs to make public what has caused the problems in the first place). That too needs to be included in the cost equation.
The Scottish Parliament’s Public Audit and Post Leglislative Scrutiny Committee, which has replaced the Public Accounts Committee, needs to look at HIE’s mismanagement at Cairn Gorm and their proposals to repair the funicular BEFORE any more public money is wasted, not afterwards.
The case against repairing the funicular
Various posts on parkswatch have explained how the Cairn Gorm funicular has a number of built in inefficiencies that will not be removed by repairing it. These include the tunnel that gets blocked by snow in winter and needs to be cleared by hand, a mid-station that is not at mid point and therefore requires the funicular to stop twice and the inability of the funicular to operate at full speed due to design flaws. As a consequence it provides a very poor way of getting skiers up the mountain and there is no room to carry mountain bikers, which might have allowed creation of downhill mountain bike tracks from the midstation.
The snow sport statistics support this analysis. As other lifts have been closed and snowsports enthusiasts have been more and more reliant on the funicular to get up the mountain, they have been leaving Cairn Gorm in droves:
Figures courtesy of Save the Ciste
The winter market share of the ski business at Cairn Gorm had collapsed prior to the funicular being taken out of service. Repairing it won’t bring these customers back.
In summer, tourist numbers using the funicular have always been much lower than the original forecasts, which has meant it has failed to pay for itself. Repairing it will not change those numbers either. That means HIE will, besides the cost of repair, also need to push ahead with the inappropriate Planning Application (see here) to extend the Ptarmigan at the cost of another £2.5m. Those costs should be added to those of repairing the funicular and included in any business case.
Alongside this, if a Mountain Coaster were to be built on the Fiacaill Ridge, as proposed in the SE Group (see here), that is likely to have a negative impact on funicular passenger numbers with some tourists deciding that the thrill of a trip in open air is a better option than a trip up into the clag in the enclosed funicular system. Its also likely that the newly opened tube slide, which incidentally cannot be used in wet weather and has already suffered two closures since it opened, will also negatively affect tourist numbers using the funicular.
The wider problem is that all these facilities are inappropriately located and on the many days of poor weather experienced at Cairn Gorm hold no attractions for the general tourist. Most of the money HIE is proposing to spend on Cairn Gorm on summer visitors could be much better spent elsewhere.
The fundamental choice facing Cairn Gorm
The money required to fix the funicular and extend the Ptarmigan is likely to be substantial and the experience of the last twenty years provides plenty of evidence that it will never be recouped. Spend money on that and its unlikely there will be any money to invest in new lift infrastructure. To put it bluntly, if the funicular is repaired, it appears likely that downhill skiing at Cairn Gorm will be finished.
The challenge facing HIE and other Public Authorities is that under the Section 50 legal agreement, if the funicular ceases to be used, it must be removed. Now in principle I believe this is right, we shouldn’t be leaving redundant infrastructure in place in our mountains, and certainly not in National Parks and places like Cairn Gorm. However, HIE left the Ciste lift towers in place for years – along with the option to re-open the lifts there in future – and there seems to me no reason why they could not do the same with the funicular and mothball it for the next few years. That would allow money to be invested in other things.
More specifically, mothballing the funicular would enable priority to be given to the mountain environment and to putting outdoor recreation at the heart of what happens at Cairn Gorm (snowsports, mountain biking lower down the mountain, wildife watching etc). There is no point in HIE spending a fortune on snowmaking equipment without improved lift infrastructure. That is necessary to save downhill skiing on the mountain and reverse the decline in market share which has done so much harm to the local tourist economy over the winter months.
Beyond this, repairing all the damage that has been done to the mountain environment at Cairn Gorm is likely to make a far greater and more sustainable contribution to the local economy than tourist “attractions” which would be better located lower down the mountain or elsewhere. Cairn Gorm, because of its accessibility, has real potential to allow a different type of tourism experience based on its natural beauty and enabling people to experience a series of ecological zones from Caledonian forest, up through a montane scrub zone to the high tops. For that to work, however, there needs to be some investment in environmental improvements – e.g addressing the car park eyesores, dilapidated buildings and poor visitor facilities (toilets, cafes etc) – and in ecological restoration.
That I believe, rather then repair of the funicular, would be in accord with the principles for future development at Cairn Gorm adopted by the Cairngorms National Park Authority earlier this year (see here).
4 Comments on “Why the Cairn Gorm funicular should be mothballed, not repaired”
Any cost for repairing the funicular should include the estimated future subsidy which will be required to keep it afloat for next 25 years. VMP means funiculars ability to attract repeat summer custom, such as hikers or bikers, is inherently limited. Therefore it will never make money.
If repair bill is £10 million (as rumored) then projects which might have better chance of being economically sustainable, such as a Glenmore gondola, should be considered.
James Gibb of HIE said that it would be too costly to consider demolishing the Funicular. What he failed to point out was that when it comes to the end of its working life, if that is not to be now, what WILL be the cost of its demolition? It is certainly going to be a whole lot more than the current guesses, which is all they are. But of course that will probably not be his, or any other current senior members of HIE’s staff, problem. They will have all retired and passed the buck. REMOVE IT before anymore money is wasted!
chairlifts can be used by mountain bikers (downhill and otherwise), also by foot tourists. Modern chairlifts can operate in much higher winds that the older ones (see the Diable 6 man in Les 2 Alpes). If HIE want downhill skiing and snowboarding to continue on Cairngorm as I assume most locals do, then they must actually do some research, visit other resorts, and produce uplift that can be used by all, winter and summer, and which doesn’t require skiers to walk uphill in the snow! That is unnacceptable these days.
Doug Bryce is right to bring up the question of future subsidy. HIE, as owners, have responsibility for a number of items of hardware associated with the Funicular. Tenants have been subject to lease terms that are ‘full maintenance’ However, these full maintenance lease terms come with exceptions and these are all directly attributed to the longer term maintenance of the Funicular. There are 11 items in the exceptions list: 1. Haul rope [replaced in 2018 at a cost of circa 100k] 2 Counter Rope. 3 Rail. 4 Motor Invertors Control. 5 Electric motors [2 at 500kW each]. 6 Standby generators top. 7 Hydrostatic drive. 8 Gearbox. 9 Bogie including 3 track brakes. 10 Carriage replacement. 11 Train control computer. It’s clear that responsibility for all of the very high cost items remains with HIE as owner. It will be incumbent on the public purse, through HIE, to replace or repair anything on the exceptions list. That’s a subsidy which lays open to ridicule the statement made by Fergus Ewing MSP in December 2000 ” Claims that the Funicular railway is reliant on public money are totally absurd and without foundation”
Following Alan Brattey’s post The Cairn Gorm Funicular: Repair or Remove?, on Thursday Highlands and Islands Enterprise revealed at a meeting organised by the Aviemore and Glenmore Community Trust (see above) that they intend to repair the funicular as:
Any cost for repairing the funicular should include the estimated future subsidy which will be required to keep it afloat for next 25 years. VMP means funiculars ability to attract repeat summer custom, such as hikers or bikers, is inherently limited. Therefore it will never make money.
If repair bill is £10 million (as rumored) then projects which might have better chance of being economically sustainable, such as a Glenmore gondola, should be considered.
James Gibb of HIE said that it would be too costly to consider demolishing the Funicular. What he failed to point out was that when it comes to the end of its working life, if that is not to be now, what WILL be the cost of its demolition? It is certainly going to be a whole lot more than the current guesses, which is all they are. But of course that will probably not be his, or any other current senior members of HIE’s staff, problem. They will have all retired and passed the buck. REMOVE IT before anymore money is wasted!
chairlifts can be used by mountain bikers (downhill and otherwise), also by foot tourists. Modern chairlifts can operate in much higher winds that the older ones (see the Diable 6 man in Les 2 Alpes). If HIE want downhill skiing and snowboarding to continue on Cairngorm as I assume most locals do, then they must actually do some research, visit other resorts, and produce uplift that can be used by all, winter and summer, and which doesn’t require skiers to walk uphill in the snow! That is unnacceptable these days.
Doug Bryce is right to bring up the question of future subsidy. HIE, as owners, have responsibility for a number of items of hardware associated with the Funicular. Tenants have been subject to lease terms that are ‘full maintenance’ However, these full maintenance lease terms come with exceptions and these are all directly attributed to the longer term maintenance of the Funicular. There are 11 items in the exceptions list: 1. Haul rope [replaced in 2018 at a cost of circa 100k] 2 Counter Rope. 3 Rail. 4 Motor Invertors Control. 5 Electric motors [2 at 500kW each]. 6 Standby generators top. 7 Hydrostatic drive. 8 Gearbox. 9 Bogie including 3 track brakes. 10 Carriage replacement. 11 Train control computer. It’s clear that responsibility for all of the very high cost items remains with HIE as owner. It will be incumbent on the public purse, through HIE, to replace or repair anything on the exceptions list. That’s a subsidy which lays open to ridicule the statement made by Fergus Ewing MSP in December 2000 ” Claims that the Funicular railway is reliant on public money are totally absurd and without foundation”