Rail link campaigners get renewed hope from Borders success

The bid to reconnect St Andrews to the rail network is drawing inspiration from the success of another campaign.

The 45-year fight to restore services to the Borders proved successful and the service will resume next month.

St Andrews Rail Link (StARLink) has battled for more than 25 years for a railway linking the home of golf with the east coast main line.

It is now 46 years since British Rail axed the connection.

Even though the group’s calls have so far fallen on deaf ears, StARLink convener Jane Ann Liston said they have taken heart from the campaign for the Borders line, which is set to reopen on September 6.

Ms Liston hopes there will be a similar outcome for the StARLink campaign.

The group has led a 26-year fight for reinstatement of five miles of track between the east coast main line and St Andrews, and campaigners have pointed out the irony that it was closed on the same day as the Borders Waverley Route.

Ms Liston said: “The sheer dogged persistence of the campaigners in the Borders and their refusal to give up for nearly 50 years shows that tenacity pays off in the end.

“We in St Andrews salute their achievement and hope that it will pave the way for the reconnection to our town.

“(It is) an incredibly important destination and economic hub, through being a top tourist destination and the home of Scotland’s oldest university.

“Enabling direct rail services from the home of golf to Scotland’s capital, as well as to Dundee, would be a great boost for the whole area.”

Ms Liston revealed St Andrews campaigners are now working with the protagonists in the successful restoration of passenger services to Alloa.

She said: “Once the planned extension of Stirling-Alloa to Kincardine and Dunfermline takes place, St Andrews could be the eastern terminus of a new trans-Scotland service direct from Glasgow.”