FORTH BRIDGE, UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE

That this House notes, with great pleasure, the listing of that triumph of Victorian design, the Forth Bridge, also known as the Forth Rail Bridge, as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the fifth such site of special cultural or physical significance in Scotland, and the 28th in these islands; welcomes this acknowledgement of our social, historical and engineering heritage, and of the importance of preserving it for future generations; further notes that it has been an active rail bridge for 125 years and remains the second longest single cantilever bridge in the world, after being the longest such structure until 1917; notes that its starkly exposed structural components, showing off 60,000 tonnes of Scottish steel, have stood as a proud landmark, demonstrating beauty in form subordinate to function, while also remaining an important working part of the transport infrastructure linking North and South Queensferry via Inchgarvie; notes that the 8,296 foot length serves hundreds of trains daily, and so is a working monument to the great architectural infrastructure set up by our rail heritage; and hopes that its painting may never end.