THE Campaign for Borders Rail is holding its AGM on November 27, when there will be renewed calls for the Borders Railway to be extended 17 miles from its planned terminus at Tweedbank through Melrose and St Boswells to Hawick.
A year after Scottish transport minister Keith Brown gave the green light for the reinstatement of the Waverley line, campaigners will argue that Hawick suffered more than any other town in the Borders from the loss of its railway in 1969 and needs a return of trains to reverse decades of economic difficulties and population decline.
Speaking ahead of the AGM and public meeting in Hawick, CBR chair Simon Walton, said: “The Borders Railway project will give the region a tremendous boost, but for the Borders’ economy to realise its full potential the line needs to extend to Hawick, and then on to Carlisle. We want the Scottish Government, together with Scottish Borders Council and local authorities from Carlisle and Cumbria to commission a new and broad-based feasibility study, properly taking account of both the strategic and local benefits that reinstatement would bring.”
Starting at 6.30pm, official business will be followed at 7pm by a series of short presentations from speakers representing business, tourism, political and campaigning interests, with a particular focus on bringing the railway back to Hawick, plus a q&a session.