Deputy First Minister says Borders Railway has been a 'remarkable success'

Campaigners are welcoming the start of work on a study into the feasibility of completing the Borders Railway, as Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes hails the first ten years of operation "a remarkable success".

While the return of train services between Edinburgh and Tweedbank has transformed thousands of lives, it's hoped the report's findings will help unlock funding to reinstate the line further south to Hawick, Newcastleton and on to Carlisle.

Marion Short, from the Campaign for Borders Rail, has met a representative from consultancy firm Turner and Townsend, who have been appointed to manage the project, ahead of a series of events celebrating the anniversary of its opening.

And she revealed she hopes the work can be completed within two years - the same time it took to deliver the initial assessment which gave the green light for driving ahead with the first phase of the project.

"I am hopeful that the feasibility will indeed show that there is a requirement for a third cross-border railway," Marion told Greatest Hits Radio.

"Because, one of the catalysts to economic growth in this area is the introduction of more tourism, and we know that people come up the West and East coast lines to Glasgow and Edinburgh, and then go further north, and they're saturated with tourists.

"So we're saying: 'We've got a lot of offer here in the Scottish Borders, why don't people stop off?' But it's very difficult because then if they want to there's (a lack of) public transport.

"And, furthermore, we think it's important that people in the southern Scottish Borders are re-connected to the national network with the railway going all the way to Carlisle."

The business case for extending the line at least to Hawick received a boost after Center Parks announced plans to build a new 700-lodge holiday village near the site of the former Hassendean Station.

Both the UK and Scottish governments have committed a total of £10 million to the project.

But the cost of reinstating the former Waverley Route in its entirety has been estimated at more than £1 billion.

Marion, who chairs the Campaign for Borders Rail, said: "Once the feasibility study is completed, and undoubtedly will show that we need the line, then we do appreciate we've got to go cap in hand to both governments and ask for the money to build.

"And we're well aware that they could push us into a compromise situation and say: 'Well, in the first instance, we'll build just to Hawick'.

"Now that's only 17 miles, but even that in itself will have problems with (getting round) Darnick and Melrose.

"Conversely, from Newtown St Boswells to Hawick, a lot of the infrastructure is still there.

"Hugh Wark, who was the project director for the first phase of the railway, doesn't think the problems with the second phase are anything like the problems he had to face with engineering in the first phase, having to go under the Edinburgh city bypass.

"Ultimately, this feasibility study is to cover the whole route from Tweedbank to Carlisle and that would be our aim."

Scotland's Deputy First Minister Kate Forbes said her party, the SNP, is really proud to have invested in the Borders Railway.

And, although she has announced her intention to step down at next year's Holyrood elections, she isn't ruling out a study into the feasibility of extending it being completed within the next two years.

"I think, if there's a will, there's a way," the Highlands MSP said on a visit to Galashiels this week

"If you speak to anyone that uses the Borders Railway, they will all talk about how it has transformed commuting, (public) transport, and it's just been a huge success.

"There's obviously cross-party, cross-government support for this, so the key with a feasibility study is that you essentially put it into the hands of independent experts. But we're certainly keen to see the findings of that as soon as possible, with a view to making decisions about what comes next."

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