Viewing platform will allow visitors to climb atop Forth Bridge Visitors will be able to climb to the top of the Forth Bridge under plans to open the structure up to the public. Network Rail unveiled the proposals on Tuesday, detailing two visitors centres on each side of the iconic bridge. From North Queensferry people will be able to get a lift to a viewing platform on top of the bridge and from South Queensferry they will be able to take a guided walk to the top. On the Fife side, a building would be built under the northern tower with education and exhibition facilities as well as a cafe and shop. On the south side, a pod-style building would be created to organise the guided walks from. The visitor centre project would cost between £12m and £15m and would be open in 2015. David Simpson, from Network Rail, said: "After ten years spent restoring the bridge to its full glory, and in advance of the application for world heritage listing, these plans will offer the public the chance to visit the bridge and see it "close-up" for the first time. We are hugely excited by these proposals and believe that they have the potential to be developed into an important new visitor attraction for Scotland. View from the top of the Forth Bridge - STV. He continued: "While these plans are still at development stage, we believe that the options we have revealed today can be delivered without impacting the well loved view of the bridge. Any infrastructure on the bridge will be less visible than the existing scaffold platform and all buildings designs will be of premium quality. It's an ambitious target, but we'd love to see these plans at least partially realised by 2015 to coincide with the bridge's 125th anniversary. Any profits from the two facilities would be reinvested into the upkeep of the bridge. The bridge remains a key part of Scotland's railway infrastructure, linking Edinburgh with Fife and the north, and carrying over 200 trains per day. We are committed to working with communities, local authorities and relevant government bodies to develop plans that have a sustainable positive impact on the area. While we expect that visitor numbers will be high, we're committed to encouraging as many of those visitors as possible to travel by rail and we will develop plans alongside train operators to incentivise that option.