Snow causes travel chaos as weather map reveals five-day blizzard still to come

WINTRY conditions are causing travel chaos in Scotland with more flurries forecast for the coming days.

There are currently no services on two railway lines in the Highlands after heavy rain caused landslips and flooding.

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The Far North Line between Inverness and Wick is closed due to landslips at three sections of the route and flooding at Beauly.

In a statement, rail operator ScotRail said: “We’re dealing with three landslips, between Lairg-Rogart, at Bunchrew near Inverness, and at Beauly. Flooding at Beauly has also closed the line. We’ll share more information on the progress of repairs later.”

Rail replacement buses have been laid on, with ScotRail saying buses are due to depart Wick at 12.34pm and Inverness at 6.31pm.

The Highland Main Line also remains closed due to flooding caused by heavy rain in the Kingussie area, with engineers waiting for water levels in the Balavil Burn to fall to allow them to inspect a bridge.

Network Rail Scotland said on social media: “The Highland Main Line remains closed this morning.

“Water levels on the Balavil Burn in Kingussie remain too high for our engineers to inspect the structure for damage caused by the flooding.”

There are also warnings of difficult driving conditions throughout the country as a result of snow and ice, and the A939 between Cockbridge and Tomintoul in Aberdeenshire is closed due to snow.

The Met Office has issued further warnings of snow and ice for Scotland from 10am today to 9am on Monday, January 6.

Today and tomorrow, ice is expected to create difficult travel conditions in the west of the country.

There are also warnings of ice and snow in the far north, Orkney and Shetland on Thursday and Friday, with the Met Office saying 3-7cm of snow is likely in places, while up to 10cm could fall on higher ground.

Further wintry weather is then expected over the weekend, with a Met Office yellow weather warning for snow covering the south east of the country between January 4 and 6.