Off the rails

The news that a further £2 million of consultancy expense is about to be incurred on the Borders railway, after a similar write-off from last year’s aborted tender exercise, adds yet more concern that ministers have no control of this runaway train.

The brakes can be applied by looking at the live and actual figures now available for new-build stations in Scotland.

The Airdrie-Bathgate line (opened 2011) serves a cluster of mid-Scotland towns with a total census population of around 15,000, about the same as the direct catchment of Galashiels/Tweedbank – the target of the last 25 miles of the £295m Borders Railway. These new stations generated 200,000 single trips in the first year of operation.

The promoters of the Borders line have projected that target catchment to throw up about 330,000 trips. Based on the Airdrie-Bathgate line’s experience, this cannot be achieved; it is more likely we will have 200-seater trains with average occupancy in the low teens for much of the day on the Borders route.

It is a colossal waste of public money and not even environmentally sound at these loadings. The operating deficits, if it is ever built, will be a running sore for decades to come.

Peter Smaill

Borthwick

Gorebridge, Midlothian