Borders Railway Extension Prospects Studied
This is the title of a news item on the BBC web site.
This is the first two paragraphs.
A new study is to look at the possibility of extending the Borders Railway beyond Tweedbank to Carlisle.
Transport Scotland has announced it intends to award the contract to look at wider transport issues across the south of the country to Jacobs UK Ltd.
I have this belief, that it would be in everybody’s interest to see Carlisle developed as an interchange between all the lines meeting in the city.
In September 2015, I wrote If Manchester Victoria And Birmingham New Street Were The First Two Courses, Is Carlisle The Third?, which details how Network Rail are spending £14.7million to improve Carlisle station.
Rail Services From Carlisle
Carlisle has its fair share of touristic rail lines in addition to the West Coast Main Line between Glasgow and the South.
- Barrow-in-Furness via the Cumbrian Coast Line
- Glasgow via the Glasgow South Western Line.
- Leeds via the Settle to Carlisle
- Newcastle via the Tyne Valley Line
The Settle and Carlisle has recently been rebuilt and Northern are providing better services on all the English routes, they service.
What is missing is a connection to Edinburgh via the Borders Railway!
What would it do for Carlisle’s position as a tourist destination to have a connection to the Borders and the Scottish Capital?
HS2
In any discussion of rail services North of London, HS2 always makes an appearance. I reckon that the journey time from London to Carlisle will drop by at least thirty minutes, so will be under three hours.
Conclusion
I come to the conclusion, that extending the Borders Railway to Carlisle is not solely a Scottish project, but an English one as well!
The Anonymous Widower 
The basic problems with Carlisle to Edinburgh borders lines are that it is too thin (not enough punters), too windy and slow, been built over and for long distance travellers duplicates the route via Carstairs.
Comment by Mark Clayton | April 12, 2017 |
A lot of that was said about the line to Tweedbank.
But look what has happened to Galashield in terms of economic activity. Places like Hawick and Peebles want a share of the action and the line needs more trains.
I have friends in the Borders and they want the full route.
I also wouldn’t underestimate the HS2 effect. HS2 hubs at Nottingham, Crewe will start to fan out growth to the North of their locations.
In Phase 2B, Manchester, Leeds and Preston will have the same effect and then there’s Carlisle and Newcastle to come.
The Borders Railway will be a feeder to HS2, especially before |Edinburgh gets the link via Glasgow.
Comment by AnonW | April 12, 2017 |