Borders Railway extension business case due by late 2027

An outline business case for extending the Borders Railway to Carlisle should be delivered by late next year.

Funding for a feasibility study into taking the line past its current Tweedbank terminus was confirmed more than a year ago and campaigners have voiced frustration at the amount of time the process is taking.

A report to Scottish Borders Council (SBC) said it was hoped that consultants could be appointed by early next month.

It said the business case process would take about 18 months to complete although it said it would be working with everyone involved to see if timescales could be reduced.

The Borders Railway between Edinburgh Waverley and Tweedbank was officially opened in September 2015.

There have been repeated calls since then to extend it on to Carlisle.

Both the Scottish and UK governments agreed to share the cost of a £10m feasibility study in 2021 as part of the Borderlands Growth Deal.

Turner and Townsend were appointed as senior project manager in March last year.

Consultancy work to support the strategic outline business case (SOBC) is currently out to tender with appointments expected next month.

That work has been estimated to cost about £1m to complete in order to deliver an "extremely robust" case.

A report will be brought back to the council to confirm the appointment of consultants and a dedicated web page is under development on the council website to provide regular updates on progress.