A contractor has been appointed to carry out expansion work at Oban Ferry Terminal which will allow future development to take place.
The project will also help to alleviate traffic congestion in the town during the busy summer season.
Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) has appointed Story Contracting to carry out the job, expected to cost around £800,000.
The contractor will focus on the expansion of the existing marshalling area at the ferry terminal, including the relocation of a railway siding line, and all associated operational railway equipment.
The Network Rail boundary will be moved, along with surface water drainage, road construction, road markings, road signage and kerbing being installed to extend the current marshalling area.
Story Contracting Ltd arrived on site this week, with work being carried out during night shifts. Story plans to undertake any potentially noisy works at the start of the shift and will always endeavour to minimise the disruption.
CMAL senior civil engineer, Ruairidh Campbell, said: “This project is the result of a two-year collaboration between Transport Scotland, Network Rail and CMAL.
“This particular project will help facilitate the replacement linkspan project taking place on site early in 2019 by providing a work space for our contractor. Additionally, it will help alleviate queuing on the public highway during busy summer periods and benefit future projects at Oban ferry terminal.
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“We’d like to assure the community that site staff will work with the upmost consideration for local residents.”
Work at Oban ferry terminal is part of CMAL’s ongoing programme of harbour upgrades and modifications across the network to provide safe and efficient lifeline ferry services to communities around Scotland.
The current project will allow Oban’s new linkspan to be installed in February next year by creating working space.
Oban’s original ferry linkspan, predominantly used by the Mull ferry service, has reached the end of its serviceable life and needs to be replaced. The existing support structures will also be strengthened as part of the project to replace it.
Work will take place in February and March next year. It will use cutting-edge building information modelling (BIM), an intelligent 3D model process that supports construction projects with tools and insights to assist planning, design and engineering decisions.
The berth will be closed during the works. Ferry operator CalMac will work to minimise any disruption during this period by running an amended timetable for the duration of the contract, operating from berth number two.
