Waverley Line

Waverley Line
Newbattle (or Lothianbridge) viaduct
Overview
Type	Urban rail proposal
System	National Rail
Status	Disused, scheduled for partial re-opening
Locale	Edinburgh, Midlothian & Borders, Scotland; Carlisle, England, UK
Termini	Edinburgh Waverley Carlisle
Operation
Opening	1849
Closed	1969 (under re-construction; partial re-opening 2015)
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Abellio ScotRail
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Route map

Waverley Route
Legend
Edinburgh Waverley ( St Andrew Square) Jock's Lodge Portobello East Coast Main Line Brunstane Edinburgh Suburban and Southside Junction Railway Newcraighall Millerhill Marshalling Yard Shawfair(new Borders Railway) East Coast Main Line Millerhill Edinburgh, Loanhead and Roslin Railway Sherriffhall Dalkeith Eskbank Macmerry Branch (NBR) Peebles Railway Newbattle/Lothianbridge Viaduct Newtongrange Gorebridge Fushiebridge Tynehead Heriot Fountainhall Lauder Light Railway Stow Bowland Peebles Railway Galashiels Selkirk Line Tweedbank(new Borders Railway) Melrose Newstead (1849-1852) to Duns St. Boswells Kelso Line to Tweedmouth and Jedburgh Charlesfield Halt (1942-1961) Belses Hassendean Hawick Shankend Viaduct Border Union Railway Caledonian Railway Main Line Caldew Junction Carlisle Lancaster and Carlisle Railway

The Waverley Line is an abandoned double track railway line in Great Britain that ran south from Edinburgh, through Midlothian and the Scottish Borders, to Carlisle. The line was built by the North British Railway Company; the stretch from Edinburgh to Hawick opened in 1849 and the remainder to Carlisle opened in 1862. The line was named after a series of novels by Sir Walter Scott.

Reconstruction work on the Edinburgh-Galashiels-Tweedbank section of the railway is under way; as of 2014 this part of the line is scheduled to reopen on 6 September 2015.^[1][2]

Line characteristics

From Edinburgh Waverley, the climb started on the city outskirts, continued for several miles at a gradient of 1 in 70, with a summit at Falahill loop. It then descended at typically 1 in 150 to Galashiels, Melrose and St Boswells before reaching Hawick and climbing for 12 mi (19 km) at 1 in 80 through Stobs and Shankend to Whitrope Summit—the highest point on the line. After passing through Whitrope Tunnel, the line descended at an unbroken 1 in 75 for over 8 mi (13 km) through Riccarton Junction and Steele Road to Newcastleton, after which came less-steep gradients into Carlisle.^[3][4]

Line closure and beyond

Cut off from Edinburgh to the north and Carlisle to the south, those lacking a car had no option but to travel by bus. As of 2014, the main bus service to Edinburgh takes more time than a Victorian steam train and double the time of a commuter train in 1968. Without the new Borders Railway, commuters can spend up to 90 minutes travelling between Galashiels and Edinburgh.^[5]

Heritage activities

Riccarton Junction railway station in 2007

At Whitrope Siding, just short of Whitrope Tunnel 12 miles (19 km) south of Hawick, track panels have been relaid by the Waverley Route Heritage Association (WRHA) as part of the Border Union Railway (Whitrope) heritage railway. ^[6] This has since been extended from Whitrope Tunnel for about 0.8 miles (1,300 m). ^[7] A heritage centre has been built at Whitrope as part of the WRHA activities. ^[8] The Heritage Centre had two open days in July 2010, when it was officially opened by local MP and the new Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore and veteran Borders rail campaigner Madge Elliot, who led the campaign to save the Waverley Route in the late 1960s. ^[9] WRHA has a small shunter and has included cab rides with passenger trains, which ran from 2012—the first traction to move on the line since its closure.^[10]

Line restoration

Site of Tynehead Station, 6 April 2013
Trees have been cut back as construction has started on the rebuilding of the Waverley Line. The station will not be reopened.

In June 2006, the Waverley Railway (Scotland) Act was passed by the Scottish Parliament by 114 votes to 1. It will reopen the line as far as Tweedbank, just south of Galashiels, and was given Royal Assent in July 2006.^[11] £115 million has been allocated for the proposed route and services, which will extend an existing Edinburgh suburban service^[12] from Newcraighall to Shawfair, Eskbank, Newtongrange, Gorebridge, Stow, Galashiels and Tweedbank.

On 27 March 2007, Transport Minister Nicol Stephen formally initiated preparatory works. Vegetation clearance took place for construction to begin in 2009 with the first trains due to run in 2011.^[13][14] In August 2008, the opening was delayed. Tendering was scheduled to start in 2009 and continue until 2010, groundwork would begin in early 2011 and trains would be running by early 2013.^[15][16] In November 2009, it was announced that the reopening would be delayed for another year.^[17] On 3 March 2010, Transport Minister Stewart Stevenson turned the project's first sod in Galashiels. This and the beginning of ancillary works marked the official start of restoration, activated the Waverley Rail Act that allows the scheme to be built, and formally triggered a clause in the Act committing the Scottish Government to complete the scheme within five years.^[18][19]

On 27 March 2010, it was announced that tendering was underway; three bids were received in June 2010.^[20] The winning bids were to be announced in September 2011. The final cost was estimated at between £235 million and £295 million.^[21] The tender process was scrapped on 29 September 2011 and the line will now be built by Network Rail.^[22] Network Rail began work on the Edinburgh-Tweedbank section on 6 November 2012.^[23] In 2012, the line was scheduled to reopen to passenger traffic in 2015.^[24] In December 2012, BAM Nuttall, a subsidiary of the Dutch Royal BAM Group, was appointed to build the 30-mile (50 km) stretch of track from Edinburgh to Tweedbank. The budget has risen from £295 million to £348 million and up to 500 jobs are expected to be created.^[25]

In 2011, a survey of Bowshanks tunnel north of Galashiels found that the site had become used as a temporary roost by Soprano pipistrelle and Mouse-eared bats. After agreement with and subsequent licensing from Scottish Natural Heritage, new wooden roosts were installed in trees either side of the tunnel and one-way flaps were installed inside the tunnel to allow the bats to leave before renovation work began.^[26] In 2013, concerns that the project was no longer economically viable were raised because of the failure of a local property boom, which meant a large drop in projected passenger numbers. A business case by consultants Ernst & Young said the economic spin-off would amount to half of the return on the current estimated outlay of £350 million. Scottish Government agency Transport Scotland said the project remained on course to generate benefits of up to 30% greater than its costs.^[27]

In April 2014, Alex Salmond said the Scottish government would consider reopening the entire length of the Waverley Line to Carlisle; he said, "the success of the 30-mile stretch to just south of Galashiels would 'calibrate' a feasibility study into rebuilding the remaining 70 miles".^[28] Concerns about the feasibility of an extension have recently been raised by campaigners, who have criticised Transport Scotland for failing to 'future-proof' the route.^[29] Track laying began in October 2014, with the final piece of relaid track being clipped into place at Tweedbank Station on 12 February 2015. The line is expected to reopen on 6 September 2015.^[30]

References and notes

External links

External video

Network Rail - Borders Railway Construction

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Waverley Route.

• Borders Railway - Network Rail site
• Campaign for Borders Rail
• Borders Railway Project
• Waverley Route Heritage Association
• Last Day of the Waverley Route

Transport in Edinburgh Bus Present Lothian Buses First Edinburgh Past Edinburgh Corporation Transport Lothian Regional Transport Eastern Scottish SMT Scottish Omnibuses Rail Present Stations Brunstane Curriehill Dalmeny Edinburgh Park Haymarket Kingsknowe Newcraighall Slateford South Gyle Waverley Wester Hailes Lines Edinburgh Crossrail Edinburgh to Aberdeen Edinburgh to Dunblane Fife Circle Forth Bridge North Berwick North Clyde Shotts Operations ScotRail Caledonian Sleeper Haymarket TMD Past Stations Abbeyhill Balerno Balgreen Halt Blackford Hill Craiglockhart Duddingston & Craigmillar Edinburgh Princes Street Gorgie East Leith Central Meadowbank Stadium Merchiston Morningside Road Newington Piershill Portobello (E&DR) Portobello (NBR) Scotland Street St Leonards Lines Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway Edinburgh Suburban and Southside Junction Railway Edinburgh and Dalkeith Railway Operations Caledonian Railway Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway North British Railway LNER Scottish Region of British Railways ScotRail Future Edinburgh Airport Rail Link Waverley Line Edinburgh Gateway Tram Present Edinburgh Trams Past Edinburgh Corporation Tramways Roads Motorways M8 M9 A roads A1 European route E15 A68 A7 A772 A71 A702 A701 A8 A89 A800 A90 Edinburgh City Bypass Forth Road Bridge Queensferry Crossing Streets Chambers Street Constitution Street Cowgate Drummond Street Ferry Road George IV Bridge George Street Great Junction Street Leith Walk Mayfield Road The Mound Pleasance Princes Street Regent Terrace Rose Street Royal Mile South Bridge West Port Other Air Edinburgh Airport Edinburgh Airport Rail Link Water Forth Estuary Transport Authority Firth of Forth hovercraft (proposed) Union Canal Cycling National Cycle Route 1 National Cycle Route 75 National Cycle Route 76 Transport for Edinburgh Transport in Scotland