End is in sight for the 'never-ending paint job' as Forth bridge gets a long-lasting coating

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Engineering firm Balfour Beatty has announced it will have finished applying a new long-lasting paint to the crossing in six years' time.

The coating is intended to last for around 30 years, and will mark the end of the reputedly interminable task in which workers have to start repainting as soon as they finish the previous coat.

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Never-ending paint job: Painting on the 1.5-mile long Forth bridge has been accelerated and should be complete by 2012

Balfour Beatty has been restoring the 8,300ft bridge, which was completed in 1890, for four years.

The task involves blasting off the existing layers of paint and stripping the 51,000 tons of steelwork back to bare metal.

Any necessary repairs are done before the new paint, which is used on oil rigs, is applied in three layers.

The restoration work has already seen the bridge closed for the longest period in its history - eight days in 2005 when engineers needed access near the tracks to blast away the old paint.

The bridge carries up to 200 trains a day on the East Coast Main line across the Forth Estuary between North and South Queensferry.

Balfour Beatty's chief executive, Ian Tyler, said: "Working on this iconic railway structure presents a number of unique challenges.

"However, by 2012 the bridge will be fully restored to its original condition.'