Borders Railway - Now Open

[GRALISTAIR]

Also, why would a reopened Waverley route prove to be of any greater utility as a diversionary route than the Glasgow & South Western route is at present?

Genuinely curious to see others' thoughts with regard to these considerations.

That would be my approach too.

It would be more cost-effective to electrify the GSW (and double-track throughout) since it actually passes through several places where people actually want to go from/to.

Agreed - and the odd passing loop - or make certain stations 4 track -which amounts to the same thing.

Electrification throughout would make a difference, as would removing the single-track bottleneck. You are correct that a few loops wouldn't be a bad idea though.

Agreed

 

[Altfish]

The one advantage of the Waverley route as a diversion is for the Edinburgh trains.
The GSW route from Carlisle to Edinburgh is a bl--dy long way!

 

[HowardGWR]

In fairness, @NajaB's point about updating the GWSR was only in comparison with reinstating the Waverley route.

 

[deltic08]

The existing Borders line is pretty full already with its own trains, so to provide a proper substitute for the WCML would mean double tracking and electrifying throughout, an enormous cost, and, as above, the GSW is much closer to that condition now being as it functions from end to end already.

One possible argument for Hawick-Carlisle as a diversion first and foremost, and regardless of there being no local population to serve, would be that the rebuilt line could be guaranteed to better withstand weather incidents than the existing cross border routes. Given the wild landscape it passes through, I think that would be a difficult promise to make.

All one million tons of timber felled annually in Keilder Forest is transported out by roads inadequate for this many lorries.

The long proposed reinstatement from Riccarton Junction to Carlisle will have to come for this alone. Use as a diversion route is just a bonus.

Another route out of Carlisle was closed overnight due to a landslide near Hexham.

The G&SW is not a suitable diversion route for Carlisle-Edinburgh in my opinion. Journey time would be shorter via the Waverley route even single line with passing loops but this time passive provision must be made for easy conversion to double track if future traffic justifies it.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

There will never be a requirement for more than 2tph south of Gorebridge so no passive provision will have been made for double tracking at Galashiels.

If more capacity is needed it will be to run a 2tph semi fast to Tweedbank and 2tph stopper to Gorebridge.

That will need more double track and possibly a 3 platform station at Gorebridge.

The way it has been built it seems unlikely that Hardengreen or Lothianburn viaducts will have double track.

So the solution would likely be a 2nd track from Newtongrange to Gorebridge.

There would also likely need to be 2 tracks from Shawfair to Portobello with a redoubled junction layout. This bit may happen anyway as a capacity/reliability enhancement.

With those 2 bits redoubled I expect you could run a 4tph Gorebridge service without too much difficulty.

With growth building twice as fast than expected, 4tph should be introduced asap as far as Gorebridge so that Tweedbank trains can run non-stop from Gorebridge to Edinburgh reducing overall journey time to 40-50 minutes. Times from Hawick could eventually be around an hour which is very attractive for commuting this distance compared to road.

I have read that a reinstated Hawick-Carlisle railway could be engineered for less than an hour journey time even without electrification. This would be very competitive with Carlisle-Carstairs-Edinburgh journey times for stations north of Hawick.

Splitting/joining the Lowland sleeper at Carlisle instead of remote Carstairs and routing via the Waverley route could also serve Hawick, St Boswells and Galashiels.

 

[LeylandLen]

Surely the line of any proposed extension of the Waverly line from Tweedbank to Carlisle has to be protected anyway just in case future generations want to reopen the line ? Obviously there is a lot of open land in the Borders to accommodate more houses and maybe even a new town or a larger Hawick?
The present Carlisle Carstairs line might only be used for HS2 Trains and a new line might be needed for 'standard' gauge and rolling stock ?

 

[najaB]

The present Carlisle Carstairs line might only be used for HS2 Trains and a new line might be needed for 'standard' gauge and rolling stock ?

If anything it would be the other way around - upgrading the existing line to UIC standard and then building a new 'traditional' line would be more expensive then just building a new line to UIC standards.

 

[HSTEd]

All one million tons of timber felled annually in Keilder Forest is transported out by roads inadequate for this many lorries.

The long proposed reinstatement from Riccarton Junction to Carlisle will have to come for this alone. Use as a diversion route is just a bonus.

Apart from the giant gap in the middle.
And it would be reinstated as a long, slow and cheap siding if it was done at all.
Since a millino tonnes a year is only ~3,000 tonnes a day which is two or three round trips only.

And if your primary goal is to haul wood out of the Kielder forest than the Border Counties Railway might be competitive. If nothing else it avoids the Carlisle choke point.

 

[oldman]

A major destination for timber from Kielder is the massive Eggar plant at Hexham (on the wrong side of the Tyne). How much long-distance haulage would there be?

 

[TheKnightWho]

Apart from the giant gap in the middle.
And it would be reinstated as a long, slow and cheap siding if it was done at all.
Since a millino tonnes a year is only ~3,000 tonnes a day which is two or three round trips only.

And if your primary goal is to haul wood out of the Kielder forest than the Border Counties Railway might be competitive. If nothing else it avoids the Carlisle choke point.

A very large quantity of that wood goes south to Hexham. It would have to be a through route.

 

[HSTEd]

A very large quantity of that wood goes south to Hexham. It would have to be a through route.

Why would it have to be a through route?
If you are connecting south to Hexham then you would just put a spur on the Border Counties Railway or extend north from Carlisle.

There is no need to join up to the Borders Railway section at all.

 

[TheKnightWho]

Why would it have to be a through route?
If you are connecting south to Hexham then you would just put a spur on the Border Counties Railway or extend north from Carlisle.

There is no need to join up to the Borders Railway section at all.

Because Kielder wood goes both north and south, was the point. (Also I have a bias in thinking that north Northumberland has been chronically neglected just like the Borders traditionally have been, and would do well with better connections both north and south.)

 

[edwin_m]

Kielder Water blocks the formation of the Border Counties railway for a couple of miles, so a through route from north of there down to Hexham would require a huge diversion.

 

[HSTEd]

In reality if the wood follows multiple routes it most likely that road widening would easily be the most economic option.
That or some sort of aerial tramway.

 

[TheKnightWho]

Kielder Water blocks the formation of the Border Counties railway for a couple of miles, so a through route from north of there down to Hexham would require a huge diversion.

Yes, but the railway could follow the edge of the reservoir quite easily, with only two bridges of any note (one at ~100m, the other ~250m). There would be no substantial diversion from the old route.

The biggest problem you'd run into is that Kielder Forest has a protected dark sky. Whilst logging trains could easily be timetabled to run in the daytime, getting dispensation to run later passenger trains (even up to 9pm) in the winter would be a pain.

 

[reb0118]

Kielder Water blocks the formation of the Border Counties railway for a couple of miles, so a through route from north of there down to Hexham would require a huge diversion.

Not necessarily, a proper integrated train-ferry could work in this situation. It would be a massive tourist draw in its own right as well.

Sorted.

 

[deltic08]

Apart from the giant gap in the middle.
And it would be reinstated as a long, slow and cheap siding if it was done at all.
Since a millino tonnes a year is only ~3,000 tonnes a day which is two or three round trips only.

And if your primary goal is to haul wood out of the Kielder forest than the Border Counties Railway might be competitive. If nothing else it avoids the Carlisle choke point.

But Carlisle is where it goes by road to be put on a train for Chirk or taken to the plant at Workington, both on the west side of the country. Only a 1,000 tonnes a day would remove 25-30 lorries a day everyday on Borders roads. All traffic into the sawmill at Lockerbie is lorry based even though adjacent to the WCML.

Since when has Carlisle become a choke point?

If biomass is to be a serious replacement for coal in power generation, then yes Borders Counties would be very useful but would there be capacity on the ECML? Biomass is easier to handle and transport than cut logs. The north end from Keilder to Riccarton Junction was part of the proposal to relay the Waverley route for timber traffic by Borders Futures.

The main problem facing Borders Futures was removing timber from the point of felling to the railhead as once on a lorry it was more convenient to keep it on a lorry than double handling onto a train for a short haul to Carlisle. Chipping onsite was one solution using containerisation and transfer trailers.

 

[TheKnightWho]

But Carlisle is where it goes by road to be put on a train for Chirk or taken to the plant at Workington, both on the west side of the country. Only a 1,000 tonnes a day would remove 25-30 lorries a day everyday on Borders roads. All traffic into the sawmill at Lockerbie is lorry based even though adjacent to the WCML.

Since when has Carlisle become a choke point?

If biomass is to be a serious replacement for coal in power generation, then yes Borders Counties would be very useful but would there be capacity on the ECML? Biomass is easier to handle and transport than cut logs. The north end from Keilder to Riccarton Junction was part of the proposal to relay the Waverley route for timber traffic by Borders Futures.

The main problem facing Borders Futures was removing timber from the point of felling to the railhead as once on a lorry it was more convenient to keep it on a lorry than double handling onto a train for a short haul to Carlisle. Chipping onsite was one solution using containerisation and transfer trailers.

You will struggle to industrialise anything in the Kielder area, for the reasons outlined above as well as the fact that it's in a national park.

 

[Altnabreac]

500,000 passengers now. Seems to still be well ahead of schedule.
http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk...-half-million-passengers#sthash.E42qXmd1.dpuf

We had 125,000 a month in the first month:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-34456616

I seem to recall a local radio interview at start of December (the 3 months had been reached) where passenger journeys were quoted as 385,000

If this was correct then it seems to suggest something like:

• September 125,000pm
• October / November 130,000pm
• December / January 100,000pm

(viewing January as half a month as figures run only from 6-23 Jan).

Hard to tell whether that is a slight levelling off of demand or just because of the natural reduction in journeys over Christmas? Certainly looks like usage of over 100,000 a month is going to be consistent going forwards.

Borders Railway welcomes half a million passengers

The Borders Railway has welcomed its 500,000th passenger in a little over four months of service.

This puts the popular service over 20% ahead of forecast, with passenger numbers expected to continue to exceed expectations throughout the rest of the year.

The £353 million railway, which reopened in September 2015, connects the Borders and Midlothian with the Scottish rail network.

Derek Mackay MSP, Minister for Transport and Islands and Phil Verster, Managing Director of the ScotRail Alliance celebrated the landmark with awarding the 500,000th passenger, Sarah Eno, with a season ticket.

Phil Verster commented:

“We are less than five months into delivering the new Borders services and it’s clear that the Borders Railway is a huge success story for Scotland and for the rail industry. We had a sense in September that Borders was going to be popular but no-one expected us to reach 500,000 passengers so quickly.

“We had a huge surge of interest during September and October and, since then, passenger numbers have stabilised. Demand is still high – consistently over 20,000 journeys per week – but we are in a better position now to understand our peaks and troughs and when we need to add extra carriages to our services.

“This year, our focus is on further establishing the service and helping the communities of Midlothian and the Scottish Borders to make the most of this huge economic opportunity. We expect to see a big uplift in tourists during Easter and summer and during the big events such as the Melrose 7s, the Borders book festival and the Common Ridings. We look forward to welcoming everyone on board.”

Mr Mackay said:

“The Scottish Government has a commitment to provide reliable and affordable public transport links, to boost economic growth. The Borders Railway is a key example of how this translates into tangible benefits to our regions.

“The popularity of the Borders Railway is evident in the groundswell of interest there has been since the opening and by the continuing popularity of the services as we reach half a million passengers well ahead of schedule.

“In addition to strong passenger demand, local businesses are reporting increased footfall and extended trading hours since September, which is testament to the positive differences that the £353 million investment is making to the economy of the local area.

“The Scottish Government is also taking forward a comprehensive plan to capitalise on the benefits that the railway has brought to the region with additional facilities such as the rollout of fibre optic high speed broadband currently being delivered.”

Dominic Booth, Managing Director of Abellio UK said:

“Back in 2013 when we were bidding for ScotRail we were asked by numerous people about the Borders Rail Project and my reply was, and will always be, that we will make this incredible railway work for everyone. For us this is not just about travelling customers. It’s about the revival of the region.”

“These growing numbers are a testimony of the investment return when the Scottish Government took the bold decision to commit the public funding for this project. There’s still a lot to do and we can’t be complacent. My team will work closely with those in the ScotRail Alliance to ensure that we successfully address the challenges of the high customer demand.”

Exact figures between 6 September and Saturday 23 January 2016 were 537,327.

The Transport Scotland Business Case for Borders Railway, published in November 2012, predicted first year annual return passenger numbers of 647,136.

 

[HowardGWR]

Note the quote from Phil Verster.

“This year, our focus is on further establishing the service and helping the communities of Midlothian and the Scottish Borders to make the most of this huge economic opportunity. We expect to see a big uplift in tourists during Easter and summer and during the big events such as the Melrose 7s, the Borders book festival and the Common Ridings. We look forward to welcoming everyone on board.”

What I notice is the 'we' -good to read. Phil is an NR employee and I think that with Scottish Rail under one management (as SWT area was under Shoveller from SWT) is the way forward. The nonsense I quoted this morning about SE pax moaning about something SE can do nothing about (power supply failures) convinces me that one management per area or route, must be the way forward.

 

[Altnabreac]

Note the quote from Phil Verster.


What I notice is the 'we' -good to read. Phil is an NR employee and I think that with Scottish Rail under one management (as SWT area was under Shoveller from SWT) is the way forward. The nonsense I quoted this morning about SE pax moaning about something SE can do nothing about (power supply failures) convinces me that one management per area or route, must be the way forward.

I've heard some rumblings that Network Rail Scotland staff say they'll believe the one management talk once they get free travel on Scotrail implemented. Seems a no brainer to me but apparently Abellio are resisting it for reasons unknown?

Unless anyone's heard that the impasse has been resolved?

 

[dcsprior]

500,000 passengers now. Seems to still be well ahead of schedule.
http://www.transportscotland.gov.uk...-half-million-passengers#sthash.E42qXmd1.dpuf

We had 125,000 a month in the first month:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-34456616



If this was correct then it seems to suggest something like:

• September 125,000pm
• October / November 130,000pm
• December / January 100,000pm

(viewing January as half a month as figures run only from 6-23 Jan).

Hard to tell whether that is a slight levelling off of demand or just because of the natural reduction in journeys over Christmas? Certainly looks like usage of over 100,000 a month is going to be consistent going forwards.

Will the January figures have been adjusted to try and remove any distortion caused by large quantities of £1 tickets being sold?

 

[380101]

I've heard some rumblings that Network Rail Scotland staff say they'll believe the one management talk once they get free travel on Scotrail implemented. Seems a no brainer to me but apparently Abellio are resisting it for reasons unknown?

Unless anyone's heard that the impasse has been resolved?

Not heard of this, but it seems a fair and sensible idea. After all it won't really cost them much. Scotrail will probably lose more in a week through fare dodgers than it would cost to give NR Scotland staff free travel for 10 years!

 

[fegguk]

Nicola Sturgeon has committed the Scottish Government to funding a feasibility study to extend the line to Hawick if (when) re-elected.

http://www.itv.com/news/border/upda...rders-railway-feasibility-study-if-reelected/

 

[najaB]

Commitment to a feasibility study - about as non-committal as it gets!

 

[HowardGWR]

Commitment to a feasibility study - about as non-committal as it gets!

I beg to differ. Not so committing would a lesser commitment surely?

 

[najaB]

I beg to differ. Not so committing would a lesser commitment surely?

Yeah, but 'Minister does nothing' isn't going to make the papers, even on a slow news day.

 

[PaulLothian]

Commitment to a feasibility study - about as non-committal as it gets!

At least, as non-committal as any politician would wish to be one month before an election!

 

[edwin_m]

Perhaps a better phrase would be "doing the absolute minimum to be able to say she is doing something"?

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Nicola Sturgeon has committed the Scottish Government to funding a feasibility study to extend the line to Hawick if (when) re-elected.

http://www.itv.com/news/border/upda...rders-railway-feasibility-study-if-reelected/

Commitment to a feasibility study - about as non-committal as it gets!

I beg to differ. Not so committing would a lesser commitment surely?

Yeah, but 'Minister does nothing' isn't going to make the papers, even on a slow news day.

At least, as non-committal as any politician would wish to be one month before an election!

Perhaps a better phrase would be "doing the absolute minimum to be able to say she is doing something"?

Very cynical people - I bet within 10 years it happens. I am the eternal optimist.

 

[fegguk]

In the mean time we will need to content ourselves with a new station at Reston. Which we are told is on its way once some new trains arrive.

https://youtu.be/PrW8UkUN-V4

Also if interested, now that its been open for a while a couple of videos that feature locations I didn't manage to film earlier

https://youtu.be/MLbRtjfT6JY
https://youtu.be/BgFPvZnavns