Hidden Borders Railway issues brought to light

by DOUGLAS SHEPHERD

Scottish Government ministers do not have powers to construct a cross-border train link by extending the Borders Railway from Tweedbank to Carlisle while the UK Department for Transport (DfT) doubts the extended route with its 'slow, un-electrified' trains would do much to reduce pressures on the West Coast Main Line (WCML).

These are two of the revelations to emerge following the Scottish Government's decision to release correspondence - some of it marked 'sensitive' - relating to discussions it has had with its Westminster counterparts about an extension to the Borders rail line to Hawick and eventually into England.

A Freedom of Information request to ScotGov asked for any correspondence and documentation between the UK Government and the Scottish Government regarding a feasibility study for the extension of the Borders Railway.

The collection of emails and documents include a so-called Transport Position Paper, dated September 2018 which includes the following: "  It should also be noted that Scottish Ministers do not have the powers to construct a cross-border railway line as they only have the powers to construct a railway which starts, ends and remains in Scotland.  Accordingly, the power to construct a railway line from Tweedbank to Carlisle in its entirety would rest with the UK Government."

Any new transport infrastructure to be developed locally will be closely associated with the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal partnership made up of five local authority areas, namely Cumbria County Council, Northumberland County Council and Carlisle City Council on the English side of the border, and Scottish Borders Council together with Dumfries & Galloway Council in Scotland.

The newly released papers show the partnership wrote in June 2018 to Hamza Yousaf, then Scottish Transport Minister regarding the Borders Railway extension.

According to that letter: "The Settle-Carlisle line shows the benefits of having alternative routes to support the resilience of the rail network. The line was threatened with closure in the 1980’s but following a successful campaign to keep it open the line was reprieved in 1989. Since then the line has played a key role for re-routed main line passenger services when the West Coast or East Coast Main Lines have been closed and for freight services between Scotland/Cumbria and the rest of England.

"The Borders Railway between Carlisle and Edinburgh could be equally successful in providing this vital role as an alternative route to the West and East Coast Main Lines for freight and passenger traffic and through this help maximise the growth of the Scottish and UK economy."

However, that suggestion appears to have received short shrift from the DfT. Feedback provided by the Department in July 2018 declares: "We are not convinced an extended Borders Railway would help with capacity issues on the WCML.

"Assuming any such extension would have similar characteristics to the existing line i.e. slow and un-electrified, it would not be attractive for re-routing any of the existing services using the WCML.  Diesel hauled trains not in a hurry already go via Dumfries so having another diversionary/alternative route would not add much."

There has been a long standing proposal that each of the governments would contribute £5 million to pay for feasibility studies of rail infrastructure options.

In April 2019 Borders MP John Lamont issued a press release announcing the UK Government's commitment to the studies.

Mr Lamont said at the time: "“We need to improve transport links across the whole of the Borders and extending the Borders Railway is part of this. A full feasibility study will look in detail at the costs and benefits of bringing the railway to Hawick, Newcastleton and on to Carlisle.

"I’d expect this to look at things like impact on businesses, jobs and tourism as well as the implications of getting freight off our roads. “With the UK Government now publicly backing the study, the ball is now very much in the SNP’s court."

However, the latest FOI releases suggest the UK Government at least had reservations over £10 million worth of expenditure for the feasibility study.

One of the documents contains this comment from UK officials: "Under the “Rail Network Enhancements Pipeline“ the focus of activity at the Determine Stage is to establish the case for an intervention, which means identifying both the outcomes sought for customers and considering the range of potential interventions which could deliver those benefits. This places emphasis on establishing a strategic case and £10m sounds a lot of money for the production of what amounts to a Strategic Outline Business Case."