{"id":21214,"date":"2024-03-20T04:37:04","date_gmt":"2024-03-19T18:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=21214"},"modified":"2024-03-20T04:37:04","modified_gmt":"2024-03-19T18:37:04","slug":"east-west-rails-potential-perfectly-illustrated-by-huge-success-of-reopened-scottish-railway-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=21214","title":{"rendered":"East West Rail\u2019s potential \u2018perfectly illustrated\u2019 by huge success of reopened Scottish railway"},"content":{"rendered":"

A railway which has attracted almost three times as many passengers than originally forecast \u2018perfectly illustrates the huge potential of East West Rail\u2019<\/a>, EWR<\/a> Co CEO Beth West has said.<\/p>\n

Borders Railway, which connects Edinburgh and Tweedbank in the Scottish Borders, provides the blueprint for Ea<\/a>st West Rail<\/a> in terms of the regeneration it has delivered, including business investment, more jobs, increased footfall and a boost in tourism which is reaping rewards locally.<\/p>\n

At 35 miles, it is a similar length to East West Rail\u2019s<\/a> proposed new section of railway linking Bedford and Cambridge, which is 38 miles. The former Varsity line and the Borders Railway (which was then known as the Waverley line) were both closed in the 1960s. Through services from Oxford to Cambridge ended in 1966 and the Borders Railway closed in 1969.<\/p>\n

Leader of the Scottish Borders Council,<\/a> Cllr Euan Jardine, said the project has massively exceeded expectations, providing a \u201cboom\u201d to overcome initial opposition to the railway.<\/p>\n

He said that initially it was thought Borders Railway would carry around 600,000 passengers a year but by 2018\/19 that figure has risen to 1,789,467. Such high demand led to Scotrail<\/a> introducing more carriages and a more frequent service. It has been so successful that a \u00a310 million feasibility study has now been commissioned to look at extending the line from its current terminus.<\/p>\n

Cllr Jardine said the town of Galashiels, which is served by Borders Rail, used to be a struggling, run-down high street before the railway\u2019s arrival, but is now a rejuvenated town centre today.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cThere was a whole political party set up to stop the railway being put into place because they felt it was going to be detrimental to the countryside. They felt there wouldn\u2019t be any economic case for it, it was going to be a waste of money, but that has absolutely been forgotten about now because of the boom.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s revolutionised Galashiels. We\u2019ve got a lot of things happening. The streets used to have quite a few empty shops, but now, the shops are getting filled and people are coming in. Businesses have also started to invest in the Borders, businesses and law firms, which is very, very important for the local economy. But it\u2019s also bringing people here to get them working.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Transport Committee session examining East West Rail<\/a> heard earlier this month how Borders Rail has been \u201cextraordinarily popular\u201d, has generated \u201clots of economic development\u201d and that \u201ctourism has increased massively\u201d as a result of the railway.*<\/p>\n

Beth West, CEO, East West Railway Company,<\/a> said: \u201cBorders Railway is an outstanding example of how a railway can be transformational for local economies and communities, helping places flourish and become more dynamic and desirable to visit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe positive turnaround that has happened in Galashiels as a direct result of Borders Railway perfectly illustrates the huge potential of East West Rail<\/a> to transform Bedford in particular, as well as to deliver real long-term benefits along the entire route from Oxford to Cambridge via Milton Keynes.<\/p>\n

\u201cSuccessful case studies like Borders Rail provide an encouraging and inspiring blueprint for East West Rail<\/a> to deliver a huge, positive legacy for residents, business and economies across the route.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

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A railway which has attracted almost three times as many passengers than originally forecast \u2018perfectly illustrates the huge potential of East West Rail\u2019, EWR Co […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":21173,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,47,488],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-opinion","category-rail-news","category-railway-stations"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21214","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21214\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21173"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}