Overcrowded, of ten late, it’s the Borders Fail-way

ITS opening was a shiny triumph attended by the Queen, with dignitaries, special guests and even goodie bags for passengers.

But a week after the official launch of the Borders Railway, commuters are lucky to get a seat – or even a train, in some timetable-defying cases.

Delays and overcrowding have plagued the Borders Railway’s first week, deterring new passengers, campaigners say.

Passengers on the Tweedbank to Edinburgh route have expressed anger at trains being so full they have been unable to get on, while others have suffered delays or cancellations.

Many trains have operated with only t wo carriages, despite ScotRail’s pledge to meet demand. The Campaign for Borders Rail (CBR) claimed that, since the line opened, a ‘significant proportion’ of trains had been more than ten minutes late, with some up to 17 minutes late over the one-hour journey.

CBR chairman Simon Walton said services had been ‘ l ess than perfect’.

He added: ‘We expected ScotRail to honour pledges to lengthen all trains in the early weeks to cope with demand but that hasn’t been the case, with many running in the very minimum two-car formations and consequent overcrowding on some services.’

More than half of the 35-mile, £350million route is single track and operated largely by ScotRail’s diesel trains, most of which are awaiting refurbishment. Robert Drysdale, an Edinburgh planning consultant who has travelled on the line several times, said: ‘It is frustrating. We were assured there would be more carriages during the first week when a lot of people would be trying the train.

‘It was particularly important to get first impressions right but I suspect there has been a lot of alienation.’

Rail consultant David Spaven, author of Waverley Route: The Battle for the Borders Railway, said: ‘There have been too many late trains, compounded by too many being just two coaches long – even during peak hours. Astonishingly, there have been no special managerial measures put in place by ScotRail to oversee the critical first few weeks of operation.

‘This is the crucial period when passengers new to rail decide whether or not to stick with the train. Too many will now have been put off by their first underwhelming experiences.’

ScotRail said disruption had been caused by incidents including a train breaking down, si gnal problems and high passenger numbers.

A spokesman said: ‘Thousands of people have flocked to use the new line, and despite extra carriages being added to many trains, it has been particularly busy on board some services, as expected.

‘At times this has caused delays while these unusually large numbers of customers board and alight. In addition, there has been other disruption at times and we apologise to anyone whose journey has been delayed this week.’

The train operator said it was ‘working hard’ to fix the problem that had prevented passengers buying Borders line tickets from machines at Edinburgh’s Waverley Station.

The Borders Railway, which includes seven new stations, is the longest domestic line built in the UK since the Fort William-Mallaig route in 1901.

The original Waverley Route, which ran from Edinburgh to Carl i sle through Midlothian, was opened in 1862 but closed in 1969 during the Beeching cuts.

Thirty years later, the Campaign for Borders Rail was set up and 17,000 people petitioned the Scottish parliament to reopen the line. Work finally began in 2012.

‘Underwhelming experience’