Go-ahead for Scots mountain railway

A NEW mountain railway is to be driven through the UK's largest area of unspoilt wild land after two of Britain's most powerful conservation groups failed in their attempt to stop it yesterday.

A judge in Edinburgh's Court of Session threw out the application by the World Wide Fund for Nature and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds to halt the proposed new funicular railway in the Scottish Cairngorms, the highest mountain range in Britain.

The proposal has split opinion north of the border.

The two-kilometre railway, almost to the summit of 4084ft Cairn Gorm itself, is intended to replace the ageing chairlift which at present takes skiers up into the mountains. Its backers say it will be an important new tourist attraction which will not only provide for skiers, but in summer will take more than 200,000 visitors up into the hills.

But the two conservation groups believe the pounds 15m project will have a severely damaging impact on the fragile environment of the Cairngorm range.