Opinion off-track

Published on Sunday 8 November 2009 21:12

YOUR leader (Opinion, 3 November) demonstrates the pitfalls of an Edinburgh-centric view of Scottish affairs. It's dismissal of the economic case for the Waverley line may misinform your readers.

First, the economic case is based on far more than a prospective boost to house building in the Borders. It is also predicated on wider economic activity, including labour market benefits from efficient movement of people in to and out of the Scottish Borders, and potential economic growth in terms of inward investment, tourism expenditure, commercial property and other infrastructure development.

Second, you completely misunderstand the purpose of the single-track line with passing loops, which is most suited to the half-hourly service without over-engineering the line and will not necessarily "limit capacity" as you put it.

Finally, as anyone who travels the tortuous A7 between Galashiels and Gorebridge can see, the trackbed is there ready and waiting on this section and the engineering solutions to take the train through Galashiels are in place with a new road layout and bridge completed last year.

Scotland is not Edinburgh and your myopia leads you to assume passengers will only travel into Edinburgh. Here in the Borders we have paid our taxes for 40 years to help subsidise rail services in every other part of the UK. It is surely not asking too much for us, finally, to be reconnected to the rest of Scotland and beyond.

VICKY DAVIDSON

Executive member for economic development Scottish Borders Council