Highland Railway Enhancement

We were appointed as principal contractor and lead designer for enhancements to Aviemore and Pitlochry train stations, part of the Scottish Government’s ongoing investment in railway.

Phase one of the project, in 2012, increased the number of services from 9 to 11 trains per day in each direction. We were awarded £10.3m for Phase Two of the scheme.

The project allowed for an improved service at all stations along the Perth and Inverness route.

Including:

• Average journey times reduced by around 10 minutes
• The number of long-distance trains increasing by 40%
• 150,000 additional passenger journeys each year

Community Engagement

Both Pitlochry and Aviemore stations are at the heart of their communities. Throughout the 16-month project, we worked with local community rail partnerships, councils and other stakeholders to deliver the project with minimum disturbance, returning very low complaint numbers.

The majority of work was carried out between 10pm and 6am, with five disruptive possessions. We relocated the Pitlochry site compound out of the town centre to reduce community impact. After detailed consultations with local businesses, we altered the construction programme to avoid the peak summer tourism season. We sponsored Pitlochry’s popular Highland Games and gave a £1,000 cash prize for the UK tug o’ war contest.

Heritage

We approached the design and construction with the aim of retaining the historic character of both stations - a key part of their charm.

At Pitlochry, we restored the heritage-listed cast iron benches. We have also delicately removed the historic McFarlane Foundry cast-iron fountain, for full restoration. It was then reinstalled to its pride of place on the completed station platform.

Finding Efficiencies

BAM’s philosophy throughout the project was to use the most efficient methods to deliver their work, reducing costs, waste and environmental impact.

The project team worked collaboratively with Network Rail and Siemens to condense the work into five weekend blockades. We re-used plant material from the recent Aberdeen to Inverness (A2I) work. We installed a set of ‘In Bearer Clamp Lock’ (IBCL) points in Aviemore, requiring less maintenance than a standard combined points machine.

Safety

Over a 12-month period, we completed the project with zero safety incidents, environmental incidents or buried service strikes.

The project team directed a programme of mentorship where junior staff were fully involved in all aspects of the safety management. Staff were coached to:

• Focus on identifying safety trends through close call analysis
• Engage early with the workforce
• Run ‘predict and prevent’ sessions and safety conversations on site