HIE said it had reallocated uncommitted funds from the wider investment package of the Cairngorm ski resort masterplan to cover the additional costs. The agency added that the Scottish Government has also made available £7m of additional funding in June 2022. Opened in 2001 at a cost of £26m, the cable car links a base station with a restaurant and ski area 1,097 meters (3,599 ft) up the Cairn Gorm mountain near Aviemore. Repairs to the railway began in April 2021. Trials on the cable car are expected to continue in December and will need safety certificates from the UK Department for Transport before it opens to visitors. Criticism is being heard over efforts to get the railway back into operation. Last year, mountaineer and author Cameron McNeish, who opposed plans for the cable car before it opened in 2001, said the railway should be “stripped” off the mountainside and the area allowed to return to wild nature.
