Borders Railway’s ‘fragile, inconsistent and unsatisfactory’ performance condemned as campaigners call for action
Campaigners have called for urgent improvements to the Borders Railway after its first five years were blighted by "fragile, inconsistent and unsatisfactory" performance
They want work started on more double-track sections of the largely single track route between Edinburgh and Tweedbank so trains can more easily pass each other.
The supporters of the line, who lobbied for years for its re - opening, have also urged planned electrification of the line to get underway. Borders Rail Monitor said :" While much media attention has focused on aspirations to extend the Borders Railway, a pre-requisite of any such plan must be to enhance the capability of the existing railway.
"This should be a key objective, irrespective of whether the line is extended or not.”
The group said S cot Rail’ s trains had been cancelled almost every week since 2015 and in some cases several days a week.
Founder Bill Jamie son, who played a key par t in the 20 -year campaign to restore the line, said: “The inadequate infrastructure specification ordered by Transp or t S cotland, with double track cut back to just 9½ miles out of 30½ miles of new railway, has dealt S cotr ail and Net work Rail a very poor hand.
"The Borders Railway train service can only perform adequately with the most intense management scrutiny and/ or high levels of performance by east coast main line trains [such as L NE Rand CrossCountry] with which Borders trains share tracks between Waverley station and Por tobello junction [in Edinburgh].
"Lead times are long for rail upgrading, and it is now over five years since the railway opened – sufficient time to have reached robust conclusions about the strengths and weaknesses of the Borders Railway.
"Planning the remedial actions needed – both including, and in addition to, electrification – must start now.
"This has even more urgency as a result of the response to coronavirus, with the rail industry facing the challenging task of rebuilding passenger patronage as a key element of the Scottish Government’s decarbonisation plan.
Mr Jamie son said double tracks should be extended north wards through Gorebridge.