Tram-trains to Kyle of Lochalsh?

Tram-trains might provide an answer to rockfalls that block a road between Ardnaff and Attadale on the banks of Loch Carron (near Kyle of Lochalsh).

The idea comes from Mott MacDonald Rail Director Scotland Ian Watson, who explained that there had been ten rock falls between 1990 and 2011, imposing 130-mile diversions on motorists. The A890 road runs close to the railway, which has been temporarily used for road vehicles after recent rockfalls.

Watson said Mott MacDonald had been examining the options, that include converting the road and railway into a shared route 6.5 metres wide, with a fourmetre path for walkers and cyclists bordered by a wall designed to catch falling rocks.

The shared route could be kept as a railway with road vehicles stopped to allow trains to pass, or operated with tram-trains running as trams on the shared part and trains elsewhere. Alternatively, the entire route from Dingwall to Kyle (64 miles) could be converted to a tramway. Passing places would provide space for vehicles as trams passed.

Watson admitted the scheme had many challenges, including the control and detection of road and rail vehicles, procedures for dealing with failed vehicles, and how to cope with what he called “rogue, impatient motorists”.

He considered it impractical to convert the line’s existing Class 158s, or other trains such as former London Underground D-Stock, to add track brakes to allow ‘line of sight’ operation. He recommended further work to look at providing new stock that met main line and tramway standards.