Borders rail line project is way off track

Published on Monday 2 November 2009 23:27

JOHN Swinney was yesterday trying to put a positive gloss on his announcement that, a year behind schedule, the process of appointing a contractor to build the Borders rail link will get under way before the new year.

The finance minister maintained that completing the new Waverley line, at a cost of some 300 million, would provide "a significant catalyst for economic growth" in the Borders.

While accepting that compared, say, with the Highlands this part of Scotland is often overlooked when it comes to consideration of state investment for development, Mr Swinney's case is flimsy.

First, the economics of the line depend on an assumption that it would boost house-building in the Borders. With the housing market in Edinburgh hit by the recession, the knock-on effect in the Borders will stifle any potential demand.

Second, even if this demand did exist, the fact that at least half of the line will be single track, with only two trains per hour running each way, will limit capacity should such an optimistic assumption be proved correct.

This was a project conceived out of a pork-barrel deal between the Liberal Democrats and Labour, and continued by the SNP.

There is an economic case – in terms of housing and public transport gains – for the line to be built to Gorebridge, Midlothian, but that should be the end of the Waverley line.