Ministers in crunch talks to ensure Borders line is on time

Talks are being held to ensure that the crisis-ridden Borders Railway is completed on time, Scotland’s minister in charge of major capital investments projects has said.

Alex Neil, the Cabinet secretary for infrastructure and capital investment, told MSPs yesterday that the Scottish Government wanted to complete the project by the end of 2014.

Mr Neil described the railway line, which will run from Edinburgh to Tweedbank, as an “essential part of the jigsaw” for the economic future of the region.

The minister’s intervention came after the SNP government scrapped a competition for the construction of the £295 million line and handed control to Network Rail, after two of the three bidders pulled-out.

A spokesman for Network Rail said that the publicly owned firm, which is in charge of the UK’s rail infrastructure, would “try its best” to deliver the rail link between the Scottish capital and the Borders in just over three years’ time.

Mr Neil was challenged at yesterday’s meeting of the Holyrood’s infrastructure and capital investment committee to say whether the scheme would be delivered in time for the deadline of December 2014.

Edinburgh North and Leith Labour MSP Malcolm Chisholm asked the minister: “Are you confident about the delivery date of 2014-15?”

Mr Neil told him: “Our target date is to complete this by the end of 2014.

“There’s detailed negotiations with Network Rail about how they reach the milestones and try to finalise in more detail the position of how we do that and achieve that target.”

The minister yesterday insisted that the SNP administration remained “very committed” to the scheme going ahead, after it was previously revealed that MSPs were privately told that the main construction work would not start until next summer rather than by the end of this year. A total of £60m has been spent on preliminary work for the rail link, which will re- establish passenger railway services on the 30-mile route through Midlothian for the first time since 1969.

The Scottish Government has already said the project will create between 200 and 400 jobs during the construction phase.

It will now be funded using the regulatory asset (RA) method, with Network Rail borrowing the money and the government making payments to the body once the line is up and running.

Mr Neil, speaking at yesterday’s Holyrood committee, said: “Once we determined the pros and cons of that, it became very clear to us that the sensible way forward in terms of funding of this particular project was to use the RA mechanism and, therefore, Network Rail will be responsible for the project.”

Network Rail said it wanted to complete the line as “quickly as possible”, but would not guarantee that it would be finished by the end of 2014.

A Network Rail spokesman said: “Negotiations are ongoing and we are committed to delivering the project as quickly as possible. We note the government’s target date for completion and will do our best to achieve this.”