Giancarlo Rinaldi and David KnoxBBC Scotland News
Network Rail
The Borders Railway opened in September 2015
What do users think of the Tweedbank to Edinburgh line?
Scottish Borders Council
Dave Romanis was selected for a golden ticket and got a special trip on the Borders Railway
Dave Romanis was selected for a golden ticket and got a special trip on the Borders Railway a day ahead of other passengers in 2015.
His father worked on the old Waverley Line and he campaigned for it to be retained before it closed in 1969, so he was delighted to see it reopen.
“My dad would’ve loved it to bits,” he said. “It was a great feeling to go up the line again.”
He is a regular user of the line to this day but said overcrowding could be a problem and on one recent trip passengers could not get on after Galashiels.
“The rest of the stations people just had to walk away – and that’s a real shame,” he added.
Alan Lees said he recognised there had been criticisms of the service
Alan Lees, from Galashiels, uses the railway two to three times a week.
“It’s fantastic – I never take the car to Edinburgh now,” he said.
“There have been complaints about delays, but I find it fairly efficient and it’s even better now that they have taken away the peak fares.
“I think the Borders Railway has been a great success.”
Susie Pow hopes the Borders Railway can be extended to Hawick
Susie Pow is from further away from the line, in Hawick, and can remember the original railway in the Borders.
She said she hoped it would eventually be extended to her home town.
“It is brilliant – thank goodness the railway has returned to the Borders, and when it comes to Hawick even better,” she said.
“It has lived up to all expectations.”
Gaynor Rothwell said the route offered “lovely views” of the Borders
The route has also proved popular with people coming from outside the region.
Gaynor Rothwell, from Rosyth, said her first ever trip on the scenic railway had been a success.
“It is a nice and relaxing journey with lovely views,” she said.
“We’ve been meaning to come down to visit Abbotsford for some time and the railway was the best way of getting here.”
How many people use the Borders Railway?
Built at a cost of nearly £300m, the project saw 30 miles of new railway constructed along with seven stations – four in Midlothian (Shawfair, Eskbank, Newtongrange and Gorebridge) and three in the Borders (Stow, Galashiels and Tweedbank).
Early passenger numbers exceeded initial estimates and have recovered post-Covid to more than 1.7m per year.
Annual usage figures peaked at nearly 1.8m in 2018 but they returned to similar levels after the pandemic at more than 1.6m last year.
In total it means more than 13m journeys on the route.
What criticism has there been?
Getty Images
The late Queen officially opened the railway 10 years ago
Not everyone, of course, is a fan – particularly of its price tag.
There have also been concerns about whether its benefits have been felt across the Scottish Borders as a whole.
Among users, a common complaint has been the number of carriages and overcrowding of services.
One early report claimed it was beset by cancellations, delays and unreliable trains.
Could the Borders Railway be taken to Carlisle?
Marion Short chairs the Campaign for Borders Rail
Still, campaigners hope to see the line continued on past Tweedbank to Carlisle with stations, potentially, at Melrose, St Boswells, Hawick, Newcastleton and Longtown.
Funding is in place for a feasibility study to look at that option.
Marion Short of the Campaign for Borders Rail said they would keep fighting to see it happen.
“We’ve been at this for 26 years so we are definitely not going away – we are not giving up,” she said.
“The roads round here are notoriously bad so it is about time we had better transport connectivity.”
Network Rail
The Borders Railway cost nearly £300m to complete
Transport secretary Fiona Hyslop said the line had delivered “major economic and social development opportunities” along with a “fast and efficient railway”.
She said the recent announcement of investment in electrification of the line showed the Scottish government was not resting on its laurels.
Ms Hyslop added that they wanted to realise the “full economic benefits of the Borders Railway”.
Network Rail’s director of strategy and investment in Scotland, Catherine Hall, said the project had been a “phenomenal success in every sense”.
“It really has exceeded original expectations revolutionising the Scottish Borders economy, increasing business investment, driving footfall, boosting tourism and improving work and leisure opportunities,” she said.
How big a job would extending the line be?
Dr Mark Taylor said a “significant amount of work” to be done before any track could be put down to extend the line
Dr Mark Taylor, a lecturer in civil engineering at Edinburgh Napier University, said extending the line would be no easy task.
“It is a challenge but the railway engineers of the country I am sure will rise to that challenge and deliver this new route,” he said.
“We are going to need hundreds if not thousands of people to be involved.
“There’s a significant amount of work that has to happen before we even start to think about digging holes in the ground or laying railway tracks.”
Extension would let all of the Borders benefit
Greg Cuthbert
Greg Cuthbert said Newcastleton would love to have a station on the extended line
In the village of Newcastleton, where an extended line might have a station, Greg Cuthbert said they looked with “envy” at the railway.
“One can see the difference the line has made as you travel past Tweedbank, Gala, Stow and on into Edinburgh,” he said.
He said that ranged from “housing to business development and a confidence not found further south by those who lack that connectivity”.
“We applaud those who made it happen in 2015 and what it’s done for so many Borderers and hope one day to step out onto a platform in Newcastleton – only then will we all see a benefit of the Borders Railway,” he said.
