Visitors to the Forth Rail Bridge will soon be able to walking to the top of the impressive structure, after Edinburgh City Council approved plans for a walkway and viewing platform.
Visitors to the Forth Rail Bridge will soon be able to walking to the top of the impressive structure, after Edinburgh City Council approved plans for a walkway and viewing platform.
In January this year, a planning application was submitted to the local authority for the Forth Bridge Experience, which would include a 367-ft high viewing platform, a reception and a visitors centre at South Queensferry.
Edinburgh Live has now reported the council has given its go-ahead for the project, which is expected to cost £24 million and is being led by Network Rail, despite the support not being unanimous.
Plans for the experience state: “Existing access infrastructure on the bridge is to be utilised, and new sections added where required, in order to create a continuous safe access route to the top of the south cantilever.”
It added: “The new walkways required along the top member will be visually unobtrusive and will be largely contained within the line of the existing network.”
It is anticipated that more than 85,000 people will visit the site every year, travelling in groups of 12 to 15 up the UNESCO World Heritage Site to see impressive views of Edinburgh from the top. There will be four groups per hour, with each trip taking around two-and-a-half hours.
In addition to scaling the walkway, visitors will access a reception hub to be briefed on safety equipment.
Network Rail Scotland’s director of engineering and asset management Alan Ross stated this experience will “offer the public a unique chance to explore this world-famous structure”.
This comes after Network Rail has been busy refurbishing and repainting parts of the Forth Bridge. Work began on the North Queensferry approach in February 2021 and is expected to be completed over the next few months.
Find out more about bridge expansion joints here.