Highland rail disruption on Far North Line in recent weeks caused by broken points that rendered Rogart passing loop inoperative; Network Rail Scotland vows repairs will be completed ‘soon’
Weeks of delays to rail services on a key Highland line may soon be at an end after engineers promised that an ongoing fault will be fixed “soon”.
Regular passengers on the Far North Line have experienced weeks of minor delays to services on the route caused by unspecified “signalling issues”.
Although the delays have usually been fairly minor - typically running no more than around five to 15 minutes in length - the line’s single track layout and limited number of passing loops means that one delayed train can lead to knock on delays for another, and then another, and so on in a domino effect.
The end result has occasionally resulted in services running as late as 67 minutes owing to the cascade of delays adding up until delayed trains are forced to wait even longer for incoming traffic to pass so they don’t make them late too.
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It has now emerged that the “signalling issues”, which stem back to July, have been caused by a fault with points at Rogart that have rendered that station’s passing loop inoperative - reducing the Far North Line’s already limited number of passing places further.
While it has been out of action it has meant there have been no passing loops for oncoming trains to pass each other between Lairg and Brora.
However, Network Rail Scotland has now confirmed that much-needed repairs to the Rogart points are “scheduled to complete soon”.
Although they did not specify a date when approached by this newspaper, a spokesperson for Network Rail Scotland said: “The Rogart passing loop on the Far North Line has been temporarily out of use due to damaged point operating equipment. This has reduced flexibility on the single-track route, resulting in minor delays.
“Repairs are scheduled to complete soon, with the loop returning to full operational use. We’re grateful to passengers for their patience and apologise for any inconvenience caused.”
They added that the fault at Rogart was an isolated one and that no other wider signalling faults have been reported on the route.