Pay £100 to climb up the Forth Bridge? That’s a little steep!
Plans for £10m Sydney Harbour-style skywalk at 330ft
‘Wonder of the industrial age’
TOWERING more than 330ft above the Firth of Forth, the iconic red bridge has been famous worldwide since being built almost 130 years ago.
Throughout that time, specially trained painters and engineers have scaled its dizzy heights.
But now brave members of the public are to get the chance to climb to the top of the Forth Bridge.
Rail bosses are to submit plans for a £10million ‘bridge walk’ that would include a viewing platform at the top.
Ticket prices have yet to be finalised but visitors will pay between £60 and £100 to walk up, attached by harnesses.
Groups of up to 15 people will get to climb up by 2020 – the 130th anniversary of the bridge’s opening – and spend 90 minutes on the structure.
Bridge operator Network Rail wants the Forth Bridge Experience to become a world-class tourist attraction to rival the Sydney Harbour Bridge Walk and Grand Canyon Skywalk.
The move comes after the state-owned firm shelved ambitious plans for a large heritage centre at North Queensferry, on the north bank of the firth.
The bridge walk is the central part of the company’s plan for the Unesco World Heritage Site, and work is set to start next year.
David Dickson, Network Rail’s infrastructure director, said: ‘The access gantry we are proposing will be almost invisible from the shore and fully reversible should we wish to remove it in future. What we’re proposing will allow us to invite visitors to learn about the history and wonder of a structure that, in the past, has only ever been accessible by a lucky few railway workers. This proposal will help people appreciate this wonder of the industrial age and help spark a renewed worldwide interest in the history and heritage of Scottish engineering.’
Visitors will be led from the South Queensferry side of the estuary on to the upper beams. A viewing platform at the top will offer sweeping views of the 1964 road bridge and the new £1.35billion Queensferry crossing, out to the Central Scotland mountains beyond.
Network Rail anticipates that the bridge walk will attract more than 80,000 visitors a year and it has teamed up with Wire Sky, the urban aerial adventure company that developed the walk to the top of the O2 Arena in London. Network Rail spokesman Craig Bowman said: ‘There seems to be great appetite for this kind of aerial adventure. Just about everyone has seen the bridge or pictures of it and many have family connections to those who worked to build it. We know people around the world admire it.’
The company is also planning a smaller visitor hub underneath one of the approach arches.
The Forth Bridge, which links Edinburgh and Fife, carries more than 200 trains a day and was built by around 4,600 workers. It took seven years to finish and it is estimated at least 73 people died during construction.