Enthusiasm For The Borders Railway In Carlisle
This article in the Carlisle Express And Star is entitled New Rail Link To Carlisle Could Be ‘Catalyst’ For Job Creation.
It is discussing the report of the Campaign for a Borders Railway, which recommends rebuilding the line.
This is said in the newspaper.
The summary said: “A new rail link to Edinburgh via the Borders could be a catalyst for the development of new employment uses on the former MOD land at Longtown and in the Kingstown area on the northern fringe of Carlisle.
“Park and ride stations in these areas would provide congestion relief and improve access to the city.
I think that as the only major City on the route, apart from Edinburgh, Carlisle must be a major beneficiary of a reinstated Borders Railway.
Carlisle scores high in the Location, Location, Location stakes, as not only is it just off the M5 between England and Glasgow, but Carlisle Citadel station is a major rail interchange. Incidentally, these romantic Victorian names are dropped far too readily.
This map from Wikipedia, shows the railways around the City.
Note Longtown station on the Waverley Route to Edinburgh and the MOD Depot or Defence Munitions Centre Longtown, between the two rail routes, to the North of the map.
This Google Map shows the DMC.
Note the West Coast Main Line with its connection to the Centre and the Glasgow South Western Line branching off to Gretna Green station and all the way to Glasgow.
Longtown is in the North East corner of the map and you can just pick out the track-bed of the Waverley Route, linking the town to Carlisle.
Conclusions
The CBR report, recommends a Park-and-Ride at Longtown and I wonder, if developments there might be the key to rebuilding the Waverley Route on a more economic basis.
A lot would depend on whether the Defence Munitions Centreat Longtown continues to be used, but the following could be built in the area.
- The proposed Park-and-Ride.
- A Strategic Rail Freight Interchange.
- Distribution warehouses.
- Factories that need lots of space and good rail and road access.
A lot would depend on what the locals want and whether Scotland became independent, for which the site must be ideally placed.
If the track-bed of the old Waverley Route is still present and can be used to Carlisle, this route could be developed as a rail route, which might have advantages.
- It has its own route to Carlisle station with a separate bridge over the River Eden.
- The West Coast Main Line bridge over the River Eden appears to be only double-track.
- Would it improves timings to and from Glasgow on the West Coast Main Line?
- Could it be used as a diversion route for freight trains on the West Coast Main Line through Carlisle?
- Extra stations could be opened on the route, that could improve connectivity in the City
- There is probably few paths on the West Coast Main Lines for extra trains from Longtown and/or a reinstated Waverley Route to Edimburgh.
But would the extra cost be justified?
Done properly, as the CBR report says, improving the railways between Carlisle and a new Park-and-Ride at Longtown, would surely improve the Carlisle economy.
Yprkshire Gets Excited About The Borders Railway
The headline of Rail study looks at linking Leeds to Edinburgh along historic line in this article in the Craven Herald says it all.
After all England has its spectacular line in the shape of the Settle to Carlisle Line and linking it to Edinburgh would only be restoring its original purpose, when the route was built by the Midland Railway.
How Times Change
Several hundred years ago, those living in the North of England, would have waited with fear and trepidation at the thought of invasion from those living across the Border.
But not anymore!
According to this article in the Cumbria Crack, which is entitled Settle-Carlisle groups welcome Scottish rail study.
This is said.
Putting this into historical context, Mark Rand, Joint Vice Chairman of the 3500-member Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line said: “People often ask why did the Victorians build a railway line from tiny Settle to the border city of Carlisle. It was part of a much greater whole – the Midland Railway’s main route from London St Pancras to Scotland via Leeds and Carlisle, from where what is today called the Borders Railway continued to Edinburgh. What opportunities the full Edinburgh-Carlisle re-opening would enable! The Friends of the Settle-Carlisle Line welcomes this study with open arms.”
Further, the full re-opening would give a railway offering world-class scenery for much of the 211 miles from Leeds to Edinburgh, attracting huge numbers of international tourists, as happens in countries such as Norway and Switzerland, an industry so vital to the UK economy.
Unlike many railway projects, this project only needs the railway to be built, as the trains that would be ideal for Leeds to Edinburgh via Caelisle, were built forty years ago.
What better route would there be to serve with refurbished examples of Terry Miller‘s masterpiece, the InterCity 125?
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!
Borders Railway Tourist Impact Revealed
The title of this post is the same as this article on the BBC web site.
This is said.
New data has shown a “significant improvement” in tourism levels after the opening of the Borders Railway.
The Scottish Tourism Economic Assessment Monitor (STEAM) statistics compared the first half of 2016 to the same period the year before.
It is the first time in 10 years that every category saw improvement.
The company which produces STEAM data said the most likely source for the rise in tourism activity in the Borders and Midlothian was the railway.
Perhaps now the Department of Transport and the Treasury will believe that funding well-designed schemes is very much worthwhile.
Do We Sometimes Misjudge The Consequence Of New Railways And Roads?
I ask this question after reading this article in the Hawick News, which is entitled Calls for extension of Borders Railway to Hawick building up fresh head of steam.
It was this phrase that worried me.
“Hawick businesses are feeling the impact of a one-way ticket that is seeing local shoppers travel from Tweedbank to all points north without any reciprocal arrangements.
It looks like building the Borders Railway has hurt businesses in Hawick. And what about other places in the area like Selkirk?
I think we’ve seen this before in other places.
Where I live near Dalston Junction station, has seen a massive uplift, since the creation of the East London Line. It was in some ways predictable, but I don’t think Transport for London expected the uplift that happened.
Our predictions, were never good in the past, but they don’t seem to be improving.
I wonder how far out predictions will be for Crossrail/Thameslink?
Consider.
- Crossrail and Thameslink working together will make a lot more journeys single change.
- Crossrail has good connections with the East London Line.
- Crossrail gives much improved access to the Bakerloo and Northern City Lines.
- Crossrail/Thameslink gives much improved access to Canary Wharf, the City of London, Gatwick Airport, Heathrow Airport, Luton Airport and Oxford Street in the centre of the cap[ital.
One consequence I see, is that those with Freedom Passes like me, will use the new free railways to advantage.
Roll on 2018 and 2019!
Has Scotrail Got The Wrong Sort Of Heat?
This article on Rail Magazine is entitled Train failures and crew shortages hit Borders operation.
This is said.
ScotRail Operations Director Perry Ramsey says the company has identified a fleet-wide issue with the Class 158s that affects them particularly badly during hot weather.
Under heavy load, such as accelerating on steep gradients, the engines can overheat and shut down, leading to disruption.
So has ScotRail got the wrong sort of heat?
Carlisle Station Gets A Makeover
In If Manchester Victoria And Birmingham New Street Were The First Two Courses, Is Carlisle The Third?, I wrote how Carlisle station was going to get a £14.7 million upgrade including a new ETFE roof.
These pictures show the progress.
Note.
- There are two through lines in the station for freight and other trains that don’t stop.
- The four bay platforms at Carlisle are all electrified to some extent and it wouldn’t be the biggest task to make the station fully-electrified.
- It looked to me like a lot of the magnificent station building, isn’t being used to its full potential.
- The welcoming square outside the station needs an upgrade to become a real gateway to Carlisle.
I think that after the makeover, it will be a second very high-class station to mark the border between England and Scotland.
Carlisle could be in a unique position in a few years.
- It is already the best connected city in the Borderlands.
- Published plans mean that electric express trains will serve Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Manchester Airport, at least once an hour, with some places getting at least double.
- As I wrote in Arriva Rail North’s New Trains, new CAF Civity trains will be arriving, in both electric and diesel variants.
- After the current landslide at Armathwaite is cleared up on the Settle-Carlisle Line, these new trains will surely be running at least an hourly service to Leeds.
- The new trains will be providing an improvement in comfort, speed and possibly frequency on the hourly service to Newcastle, on the Tyne Valley Line.
- The new trains, would surely work their magic on the Cumbrian Coast Line around the Lake District.
- Scotrail is getting new trains too, and will some be used to provide a better service to Glasgow via Dumfries and Kilmarnock, using the Glasgow South Western Line.
If this doesn’t increase the numbers of tourists taking a rail-based exploration holiday of the Borderlands and the Lake District, I would be extremely surprised.
I’m not the only person, who thinks this way, as in the July 2016 Edition of Modern Railways, Theo Steel discusses options for the increase in traffic on the Settle to Carlisle Line.
In addition, other developments may happen, that will also increase Carlisle’s importance to the Anglo-Scottish railway system.
- The events of this winter, where the West Coast Main Line was closed because of bad weather, could see the Glasgow South Western Line improved and electrified to provide a valuable diversion route for train services between England and Glasgow.
- There could be a need for more Anglo-Scottish freight trains, but the West Coast Main Line is very busy. So will this mean that freight trains will increasingly use secondary routes like Settle-Carlisle and the Glasgow South Western Line.
- Carstairs station sits between Carlisle, Edinburgh and Glasgow and I can’t believe that Scotrail won’t use their new trains to improve services through the town. As ever, the improvements in services around Carstairs, will probably be driven by the need for new housing and commuting to Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The big question though, is whether the Borders Railway will ever get to Carlisle. If it does, then Carlisle will be ready with a refurbished and electrified platform, alongside the one currently used for services on the Glasgow South Western Line.
Network Rail seem to deserve a few plaudits for their foresight in preparing Carlisle station for the future.
The Worst Value Project You Can Find?
Not my words but part of a quote from Dr. Richard Wellings of the Institute of Economic Affairs from 2013 about the Borders Railway, from this article on Rail News entitled Borders Railway Passenger Figures Ahead Of Target.
To be fair to Dr. Wellings, this is the original report with the full quote on the BBC, which is entitled Borders railway decision ‘insane’, says Institute of Economic Affairs. This is said.
Dr Richard Wellings of the IEA told BBC Scotland: “Even looking at the official figures, this is just about the worst value project you can find.
“The whole project’s insane. The average strategic road scheme has a benefit cost ratio of around five, which is ten times higher than the Borders railway, so this is a gross misallocation of resources, particularly when there are still huge problems on the road network in Scotland.”
These are the latest figures of usage from Transport Scotland and Scotrail published in the Rail News article.
- Tweedbank: forecast 18,978 — actual 183,918
- Galashiels: forecast 20,567 — actual 104,593
- Stow: forecast 5,129 — actual 24,365
- Gorebridge: forecast 79,014 — actual 39,400
- Newtongrange: forecast 46,449 — actual 50,480
- Eskbank: forecast 114,568 — actual 65,672
- Shawfair: forecast 54,298 — actual 9,398
- Brunstane/Newcraighall: forecast 865 — actual 11,344
- Edinburgh: forecast 228,156 — actual 205,203
This adds up to totals of forecast: 568,023 — actual 694,373.
Actual has exceeded the forecast by 22%, which certainly seem to be a bad case of London Overground Syndrome, that benign disease, where more passengers use a new railway than forecast.
Optimism For The Brders Railway To Hawick
This article in the Southern Reporter is entitled New Hope For Railway Extension.
It describes how politicians are getting together to extend the Borders Railway to Hawick. This was said.
In a speech in Edinburgh on Monday, Scottish Secretary David Mundell pledged to work with the Scottish Government on connecting the Borders with the national rail network to the south, saying it was a “realistic prospect”.
He said: “Scotland needs good transport links to thrive.”
It is my view, that the railway was not fully thought out in the first place.
The big thing that was missed was the Overground effect!
This was demonstrated so well here in London, when the transforming of the North and East London Lines from a set of travelling scrapyard-ready urinals into a modern railway, brought so many new passengers out of the woodwork, that trains soon became overcrowded and more and longer trains had to be ordered. Last week, it was announced that there will be more late trains, which I wrote about in The London Overground Grows Without Fuss.
The Overground just keeps on growing, so why won’t the Borders Railway?
My friends in the Borders tell me the trains don’t have enough capacity and there is not enough parking at Tweedbank. Anybody working on or living by the London Overground could have told the good people of the Borders this would happen.
The solution is probably to extend to a Galashiels-style transport interchange at Hawick, stop at Melrose and the Borders Hospital and procure some new four-car trains to work the line.
I also believe strongly, that Bombardier and Network Rail by the use of some intelligent design could enable the line to be served by Aventra IPEMUs, that would avoid the need to have electrification gantries marching all over the hills.
The Anonymous Widower 