Final track section of Borders Railway complete

A section of the Borders Railway. Picture: Network Rail

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A HISTORIC milestone for the 30-mile Borders Railway is expected to be reached on Friday when track-laying reaches the end of the line at Tweedbank, Network Rail revealed today.

It is due to be marked by infrastructure secretary Keith Brown performing a ceremony at the station next week.

The firm said the £350 million route was on course to be completed in June, with passenger trains due to start on 6 September.

The return of rails to Tweedbank, south of Galashiels, comes nearly 46 years after the Waverley line between Edinburgh and Carlisle was closed as one of the most infamous Beeching cuts.

Re-opening of the line has been delayed by several years and will cost tens of millions of pounds more than estimated, as The Scotsman has revealed.

However, the £294m construction contract has largely gone to plan since it started in 2013, although work was suspended for nearly a week last November after a worker was seriously injured when a concrete sleeper hit his leg.

Network Rail said further rail installation would still be required after this week.

ScotRail will train drivers on the line before it can carry passengers.

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