Option for Borders extensions to Carlisle and Berwick

Extending the Borders Railway from Tweedbank to Hawick and Carlisle, and reconnecting Berwick-uponTweed to the route, are among proposals to be considered by the Scottish Government.

Transport Scotland published the Borders Transport Corridors - Pre-Appraisal Executive Summary on March 5. Twenty-one options are listed, covering all modes of transport.

Those specifically for railways include:

Development of the forestry route network in the Borders that could include rail freight and ‘lowtech’ pick-up facilities.

Enhancing rail services through better frequency, more services and more capacity. New rail stations. Extending Borders rail services to the Fife Circle to enable interchanges at Edinburgh Gateway (with consideration also given to services to Glasgow).

The study was commissioned by Transport Scotland last year, and carried out by Jacobs. It used Scottish Transport Appraisal Guidance (STAG), which supports the “focus Government and public services on creating a more successful country, with opportunities for all of Scotland to flourish, through increasing sustainable economic growth” strategy, by providing a clear framework to assess evidencebased transport problems, challenges and opportunities - including objective-led analysis that can be consistently applied in all transport appraisal contexts.

It showed that Borders has much lower public transport usage figures than elsewhere in Scotland, with 5% using bus or rail in the region against a national figure of 14%.

The next stage of the process is to carry out initial appraisals of the recommended options. This would look at the likely impacts, feasibility and affordability.

Cabinet Secretary for Transport, Infrastructure and Connectivity Michael Matheson said: “The Borders Transport Corridors Study fulfils our commitment to consider the future transport needs of the area.

“We have already committed to rail stations at East Linton and Reston, and these will be delivered as part of work to improve capacity to Edinburgh. We will now go on to consider a further 21 options as part of the Strategic Transport Projects Review (STPR2), which is being taken forward during the lifetime of this Parliament.”

The Borders Railway was controversially closed between Edinburgh and Carlisle in January 1969, but reopened as far south as Tweedbank in September 2015.