Forth Rail Bridge Viewing Platform Being Planned

Submitted by edg on Mon, 23 Jan '12 8.34am

Network Rail are apparently planning to put a 300 foot high viewing platform on the Forth Rail Bridge.

Last month, Network Rail - the custodians of the bridge - announced that the the 10-year, £130m programme to repaint and refurbish the bridge had been completed, and the huge structure will not need a paint job for another 20 years.

At the busiest times, up to 400 people were working on the bridge at the same time.

A Network Rail spokesperson said that they are looking at taking the existing lifts that had been built into the bridge's three main towers and the platforms built to complete the painting work on the bridge, and making something more permanent, as "an option".

It's still at early stages, but already comparisons are being made with the Eiffel Tower visitor experience. Network Rail are also supporting a bid to secure World Heritage site status for the bridge.

The Forth Rail Bridge is steeped in stories and mythologies (including the one about it being the paint job that never ends). It was memorably captured on film in a tense scene in Alfred Hitchcock's atmospheric spy thriller The 39 Steps.

Around four passenger trains run every hour from Edinburgh Waverley and Haymarket across the bridge to North Queensferry (a cheap day return is around a fiver).

The journey takes about 20 minutes and the bridge crossing offers sweeping views, through the latticed girders, of the Firth of Forth below.