Borders Railway

Borders Railway
Class 158 at Galashiels, August 2015
Overview
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Edinburgh Midlothian Scottish Borders
Termini	Edinburgh Waverley Tweedbank
Stations	9
Website	bordersrailway.co.uk
Service
Type	Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	ScotRail
Depot(s)	Tweedbank, Edinburgh Craigentinny
Rolling stock	Class 158 Class 170
Ridership	2,016,186 (2019)[1]
History
Opened	6 September 2015 (2015-09-06)
Technical
Line length	35 miles 25 chains (56.8 km)
Number of tracks	Single track (three passing loops)
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) standard gauge
Electrification	OHLE Waverley to Newcraighall, unelectrified Newcraighall to Tweedbank
Operating speed	90 mph (145 km/h) max.
Highest elevation	880 ft (270 m)
Route map

v t e Borders Railway
Legend
to Aberdeen, Glasgow Queen Street, Inverness Edinburgh Waverley East Coast Main Line Brunstane Edinburgh Suburban and Southside Junction Railway Newcraighall Millerhill Marshalling Yard Shawfair Eskbank Newtongrange Gorebridge Stow Galashiels Tweedbank Waverley Route
Detailed View to Carlisle, Glasgow Queen Street, Aberdeen and Inverness. Edinburgh Waverley Calton Tunnels Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway Abbeyhill to Leith Central St Margaret's Piershill Jock's Lodge Craigentinny TMC South Leith Branch Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway Portobello (NBR) Portobello Junction NBR Lothian Lines to Niddrie East Coast Main Line Joppa Brunstane Edinburgh Suburban and Southside Junction Railway to ECML Niddrie Newcraighall Millerhill Marshalling Yard Shawfair to ECML Millerhill Edinburgh, Loanhead and Roslin Railway A720 Edinburgh Bypass Sheriffhall Glenesk Viaduct Dalkeith Burgh Dalkeith Glenesk Lasswade Road Eskbank and Dalkeith to Smeaton Peebles Railway Eskbank Hardengreen Viaduct Dalhousie Newbattle Viaduct Newtongrange (1st) Newtongrange Gorebridge Fushiebridge Tynehead Heriot Fountainhall Lauder Light Railway Stow Bowshank Tunnel Bowland Torwoodlee North Viaduct Torwoodlee Tunnel Galashiels, Innerleithen and Peebles Railway Torwoodlee South Viaduct Gala Water Galashiels Galashiels (1st) Gala Water Selkirk and Galashiels Railway Redbridge Viaduct Tweedbank River Tweed Waverley Route

The Borders Railway connects the city of Edinburgh with Galashiels and Tweedbank in the Scottish Borders. The railway follows most of the alignment of the northern part of the Waverley Route, a former double-track line in southern Scotland and northern England that ran between Edinburgh and Carlisle. That line was controversially closed in 1969, as part of the Beeching cuts, leaving the Borders region without any access to the National Rail network. Following the closure, a campaign to revive the Waverley Route emerged. Discussion on reopening the northern part of the line came to a head during the early 2000s. Following deliberations in the Scottish Parliament, the Waverley Railway (Scotland) Act 2006 received royal assent in June 2006. The project was renamed the "Borders Railway" in August 2008, and building works began in November 2012. Passenger service on the line began on 6 September 2015, whilst an official opening by Queen Elizabeth II took place on 9 September.

The railway was rebuilt as a non-electrified, largely single-track line. Several surviving Waverley Route structures, including viaducts and tunnels, were rehabilitated and reused for the reopened railway. Passenger services run half-hourly on weekdays until 20:00, and hourly until 23:54 and on Sundays. The timetable also allows charter train promoters to run special excursion services, and for the weeks following the line opening scheduled steam trains were run.