04.02.16
Call for Borders Railway extension as it hits half a million journeys
Campaigners who successfully managed to get the Borders Railway built after years of pressure are now calling for its length to be tripled, after it carried 500,000 passengers during its first four months of operation.
The 30-mile line from Edinburgh to Tweedbank opened in September with a goal of carrying 650,000 passengers in its first year, but it celebrated passing 500,000 on 28 January when Sarah Eno and David Swales from Selkirk were told they were the milestone passengers.
The £294m project, the longest new domestic railway built in the UK for over a century, was brought about by grassroots group Campaign for Borders Rail (CBR), who now hope to see the line extended 60 miles further south to Carlisle.
CBR spokesman Simon Walton told RTM: “The Borders Railway has carried its 500,000th passenger and the campaign are delighted to see so many people using it.
“The campaign did expect the railway to be successful. The fact that it has carried so many passengers doesn’t come as a surprise for us.
“Our ultimate goal is to see the line built the rest of the way.”
Walton called for a feasibility study to look into extending the line, saying that he believed it was “only a matter of time” before plans to expand it were launched.
CBR was launched at a Burns Night supper in Melrose station restaurant in 1999.
It presented a 17,000 signature petition to the Scottish Parliament Public Petitions Committee and gave evidence to the Petitions Committee and the Waverley Railway Bill Committee. Its campaigning led to the Waverley Railway (Scotland) Act being passed by the Scottish Parliament in 2006.
However, the project initially ran into difficulties. Network Rail had to take it over after several private consortia dropped out, and it was criticised for being delayed and over-budget.
But BAM Nuttall secured a £220m contract to build the railway in December 2012 and the railway was opened in September 2015 by the Queen, on the day she became Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.
Derek Mackay MSP, minister for transport and the islands in the Scottish government, told the Scottish Herald: “We knew it would be a success and a wise investment but it's even more popular than we thought.
“I think it's been vindicated and is making a difference. Rail requires huge infrastructure support, and it has that.
“Rail in Scotland is very popular at the moment. This service works because it is reconnecting communities between Edinburgh, Midlothian and the Borders and is creating economic opportunities as well as a commuter link.”