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"Great Ideas and Initiatives for the Borders Railway"
(558 posts)-
Posted 9 years ago #
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That's the launch timetable. I believe the South Gyle plans are from the December timetable revision.
Posted 9 years ago # -
It's so complicated...!
Posted 9 years ago # -
just saw an advert for the steam trains on this line in the Sunday Herald. Checked out the link to discover there are already sold out :(
Posted 9 years ago # -
You can still won a ticket for a steam train excursion via the Blue Coo Bistrot treasure hunt
Posted 9 years ago # -
Posted 9 years ago #
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ScotRail to spend £14m on carriage upgrades
Seats look quite comfy, hope they are actually replacing the foam rather than just recovering what is already there. Have to say I prefer seats without the headrest, makes the carriage feel more open and airy and a standard headrest height suits a number of people but not the rest who don't conform to the average.
Note to ScotRail; try ironing your table cloths after taking them out the packet before using them in a photoshoot to make it look like you're offering some sort of silver service (out of a cardboard box) catering.
Posted 9 years ago # -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-south-scotland-34115857
"The Borders Railway has yet to have an impact on the housing market along its route, according to new figures from Registers of Scotland (RoS).
In the last three years, the volume of residential sales within five miles of the new stops has risen.
However, the increase is less than that in the wider local authority areas of Midlothian and the Scottish Borders.
House prices have also risen along the route since 2006 but again the council-wide figure has been higher."- Does that mean that the railway has actually had a negative effect on house prices, or am I reading too much into statistics?
Posted 9 years ago # -
Does that mean that the railway has actually had a negative effect on house prices, or am I reading too much into statistics?
Looking at the numbers provided, I think there's more too it than just the railway. There's areas which seem to have had prices slump significantly (Pathhead, Rosewell, Roslin, Walkerburn, Lauder) and others where the opposite has happened, and none of this appears linked to the Railway. It could be more that the effects of the housing bubble in 2006/7 are still re-adjusting themselves. A lot of the prices that have had big increases are also from a very low base, so again these may be increasing in price due to their relative affordability.
I don't think there's any evidence provided that the railway has been holding back house prices.
Posted 9 years ago # -
"A lot of the prices that have had big increases are also from a very low base"
Quite likely because of a new estate which means a) a 'large' number of house sales b) prices that may be higher than the (previous) local average.
But overall not enough for reliable stats.
Posted 9 years ago # -
By which I meant, if there's been a £10-20k average house price increase across the area, it shows up as a bigger percentage increase from an area with a £100k average starting point than a £150k average starting point.
Posted 9 years ago # -
Yes -
"b) prices that may be higher than the (previous) local average"
Posted 9 years ago # -
"we now have additional seats available on these [steam] services."
Posted 9 years ago # -
Private Eye -
"
SIGNAL FAILURES
Border folly
THE SNP will presumably congratulate itself when a 34-mile Scottish railway opens this month, rather than apologize for its fumbled handling of the scheme.
The new Borders railway between Tweedbank and Edinburgh's outskirts will restore trains to aregion bereft since 1969, when the Edinburgh-Carlisle mainline closed. In 2006 the Scottish parliament voted to reinstate the track to Tweedbank in a scheme expected to cost £155m and finish in 2011.
Then the SNP won the 2007 Scottish election. Instead of letting Network Rail (NR) press on
with the scheme, as local councils wanted, the Scottish government sought a 30-year private finance initiative-style deal. After four years of fruitless negotiation, the job went to... Network
Rail. lt had already restored another long-closed Scottish railway without significant delay or cost overruns, which suggests the Borders railway would have opened years ago had NR not been cold-shouldered for four years.Now the scheme is quoted as costing £300m - despite cuts in its scope. Whereas almost half the route was to have two tracks (where trains in opposite directions would pass each other), that was shrunk to less than a third. Worse still, to save minuscule cash, several new road bridges over the rail route were built too small for the second track to be added in the future (eg if the railway through to Carlisle were ever reinstated as an alternative mainline). Rebuilding a bridge where the railway and road are open to traffic takes complex planning and construction, hence lots of dosh.
Thus the Borders railway will be limited to two trains an hour which will take nearly an hour from Tweedbank to Edinburgh (39 miles), all stopping at a string of stations in Midlothian and east Edinburgh. The infrastructure is too meagre for a mix of express and local trains. One late train on the single track could delay the next in the opposite direction, which could then delay other trains. To curb delays, some trains may be cancelled or turned back short of Tweedbank.
The line will be short of capacity even in its first week. Excursion trains, the first of which runs on 10 September, will bring extra tourists into the Borders region each year, but excursions
cant be shoehorned in without cancelling regular trains.PS: The Borders railway should be a warning to those reviewing NR after the delays and rising costs on its upgrade plan south of the border. NR has generally aimed to anticipate future growth in demand and do a thorough job so newly upgraded lines arena closed by storms wrecking electricity cables or by major repairs on structures like bridges and drains. Cutting upgrades to the bare minimum would save time and a few bob now, but passengers would have worse services and the savings could turn out to be a false economy.
'Dr B Ching
"
Posted 9 years ago # -
Does anyone (i.e. Morningsier, Tulyar) know why it was deemed necessary to try and put the Borders Railway out to tender but the Airdrie to Bathgate link was apparently given directly yo Network Rail to get on with?
Posted 9 years ago # -
I wonder what the bike provision will be on the steam service, guards van?
Posted 9 years ago # -
kaputik - yes. It was a simple political decision in 2008, by the then minority SNP administration, to pursue a privately financed option. Details:
Unsurprisingly, it turns out that Network Rail could deliver the scheme for less than the private sector - which had been distinctly cool on the project, with two of three bidders withdrawing from the convoluted tendering process. Details:
Posted 9 years ago # -
"
The new Borders Railway has yet to have an impact on the housing market in Midlothian, according to new figures.
But property experts believe that is all about to change, with house sales expected to accelerate rapidly when the line reopens on Sunday after almost half a century.
"
Posted 9 years ago # -
""Great Ideas and Initiatives ..."
"
PavilionBingoClub (@BorderBingoClub)
03/09/2015 13:03
We will give a £5 discount to all Bingo Players who come to the Pavillion Bingo in Sept just show us your train ticket. @BordersRailway"
Posted 9 years ago # -
It needs a curry train !
Posted 9 years ago # -
Posted 9 years ago # -
"
Mark Smith, who runs rail website The Man In Seat 61, said the project showed how Britain does things differently from its continental neighbours.
"
http://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/new-borders-railway-lacks-ambition-says-expert-1-3877103
Posted 9 years ago # -
Interesting but useless trivia fact: the Man in Seat 61 is the cousin in law of David Hembrow of A View from the Cycle Path fame.
Posted 9 years ago # -
"
line will be officially opened by the Queen on Wednesday, who will travel in a steam train on the day she become’s Britain’s longest-reigning monarch.
"
Posted 9 years ago # -
"
Nairn Across Britain - 3.
From Leeds into Scotland
First transmitted in 1972,
Ian Nairn travels by rail to complete his series of journeys, as dramatic landscapes and deserted stations feature on the line to Edinburgh.
"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p01rwh55/Nairn_Across_Britain_From_Leeds_into_Scotland/
Posted 9 years ago # -
"
The Borders Railway cannot claim to be in the same league as routes such as the West Highland line between Glasgow and Mallaig, but it has its own, more modest beauty.
It certainly provides a new rural landscape to enjoy from the train – for those who haven’t experienced the route before its closure – unlike the largely nondescript new lines in the Central Belt like the one between Airdrie and Bathgate.
"
Posted 9 years ago # -
The bleakest and bestest bits of the Waverley Route sadly are (were) south of Galashiels. Maybe one day, eh?
Posted 9 years ago # -
Top of the list of things I hope to see from the train are herds of wildebeest on the Serengeti, the Great Barrier Reef, Mount Fuji and the Grand Canyon.
Posted 9 years ago #
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