The Borders Railway project is marking its one-year anniversary, with just over 12 months of construction left until completion of the project delivery phase in summer, 2015.
In the year since construction of the new Borders Railway began, 866 directly employed staff have worked 2.1 million hours, completing 44% of the work on the 30 mile long route.
Including supplier personnel indirectly employed by the project, the total number of project jobs is in excess of 1,100, with local people and suppliers the primary beneficiaries.
Among their achievements in the last year, those workers have moved 804,000 tonnes of earth; used 400 tonnes of grouting as part of mining remediation work; installed 25.6 km of drainage works; worked on 104 bridges including 12 footbridges, 39 overbridges and 53 underbridges and installed 22,800 m³ of gabion baskets to support embankments and cuttings.
Since the start of the project, Network Rail and principal contractor BAM have also actively engaged with over 3,000 members of the local communities along the line of the route at local events and community meetings.
They have also responded to 1,500 specific enquiries and reached over 140,000 unique visitors via the project website.
Keeping the project team fuelled has been a logistical challenge in itself and an estimated 25,000 bacon rolls from local caterers have helped to keep construction crews energised.
Transport Minister, Keith Brown, said: “It is almost hard to believe that only a year has passed since I marked the beginning of construction of the Borders Railway. “Network Rail and BAM should be applauded for the progress they have made to get us to this stage.”