Borders Railway - Now Open

[Pinza-C55]

Alloa is an interesting one. The modelling predicted a certain level of demand for travel to Glasgow and Edinburgh which I believe was not far off reality (though still a little underestimated).

I believe however that most of the discrepancy was in Alloa - Stirling demand which modelling predicted would mostly stay on buses but a combination of competitive pricing and worsening road congestion has helped rail to gain a much bigger share of this than expected by the modelling.

The equivalent in the Borders will be if we start seeing demand for Gorebridge - Eskbank demand for shopping, College etc on top of the Edinburgh commuting demand.

I suspect that hyper local traffic will be trickier for rail to gain here as Lothian Buses is both more frequent and more competitively priced than other bus companies.

I expect there may well still be some Borders - Midlothian demand that may well not have been captured by the modelling.

I know little about feasibility studies admittedly but how can they possibly estimate the traffic levels for people travelling from other areas to the reopened line/station ?
I have an old 1970's booklet by the Railway Invigoration Society where they said that it was commonly thought that when railways were closed in the 60s that people who formerly used connecting services from a main line station would simply use the "replacement bus service" to reach their destination. However they said it had been found that in most cases people either a) Drove all the way or b) got a bus all the way or c) Did not travel there. In other words the destination, once it disappeared from the railway map, was perceived as no longer being reachable by public transport.
If you think of a trip from London to Sunderland until 1964 it was simply a matter of main line train to Durham then into a DMU to Sunderland. After 1964 that would involve alighting at Durham then a long walk down the very steep hill to the bus station for a slow bus ride to Sunderland, so effectively it was a non starter.
Now several new destinations have been added to the rail map and I doubt the ability of feasibility studies to take account of this. For anyone about 55 years old living alongside the Waverley Line they can have no experience of having a local station in the area so again I doubt you can predict what they will do.

 

[iain-j]

I always find it fascinating that one of the assumptions of the Beeching Report was that it was assumed that people would drive from their home town (that had a rail connection on a branch line) to the station at the junction where their branch line meet the main line and would park there. Then they would then journey on by train to where they were going but in reality drove all the way. Probably down to the non existent station at the other end of their journey as well.

It seems as if the concept of park and ride was being created at that time but was implemented in a way that differs from today where ideally someone travelling by train shouldn't get in their car or at the least drive out of their town. If this had have been the case then would the branch lines have survived?
Obviously traffic levels were far less back then so the reason people travel by train now has changed from then but it does make you wonder.
As Pinza-C55 said I agree that travelling to a place with a rail station is far easier and convenient if you don't have to switch mode of transport one or more times whereas as changing trains is less arduous.

 

[coppercapped]

I always find it fascinating that one of the assumptions of the Beeching Report was that it was assumed that people would drive from their home town (that had a rail connection on a branch line) to the station at the junction where their branch line meet the main line and would park there. Then they would then journey on by train to where they were going but in reality drove all the way. Probably down to the non existent station at the other end of their journey as well.

No, there was no such assumption in the Beeching report. Page 17 of the report states

These figures serve to show that the revenue earned from up to 6,000 passengers per week is unlikely to be sufficient to cover movement costs alone. This means that money would be saved by discontinuing such a service, even if the route continued to be maintained at its full level of cost for the sake of other traffic.

It goes on to say, page 19:

The savings expected to result from these withdrawals are £33 million per annum and the loss of revenue is expected to be £15 million per annum (£12 million in earnings on the services themselves and £3 million in contributory revenue), yielding a net improvement of £18 million per annum excluding track and signalling.

The point is that by 1961 there were only a very small number of passengers on branch line trains, and only a proportion of these made connections to the main line (the 'contributory revenue' referred to by Beeching). It was better for the finances of the railway as a whole to forgo the contributory revenue as long as it meant that the branch service could be abandoned.

 

[edwin_m]

I know little about feasibility studies admittedly but how can they possibly estimate the traffic levels for people travelling from other areas to the reopened line/station ?

There are several techniqes. For incremental changes to existing services the MOIRA model gives good results based on many years experience of analysing passenger responses to changes of journey time, frequency and fare. But this is no use when predicting demand for a service that doesn't exist.

In this situation the ultimate answer is to get as much data as possible from the census and probably also carry out surveys, to give a good understanding of people's current travel patterns. These can be put into a computer model which also contains all the existing public transport services and drive times. Once all that is done it is relatively easy to add a notional new transport link with assumed journey time, frequency and fare and the model will estimate how many people will use it. This is obviously a huge amount of work, but many local/regional authorities pay once to get the model and can then use it to test a range of possible transport improvements.

There are simpler, cheaper but less accurate approaches such as the gravity model (the number of passengers between A and B will be proportional to the two populations and inversely proportional to the square of the separation) and the trip rate approach (find somewhere similar and assume that people in your area will use the service about as often as they do in the similar area).

With these techniques it is possible to allow for known (or assumed) future changes in housing and employment, but much less easy to model the longer-term changes in people's behaviour. These are things such as a new railway encouraging people to move house or job or property developers to build houses or offices they wouldn't have built otherwise. There are also the more esoteric factors such as the agglomeration effect which occurs when new "clusters" of businesses are formed by creating better transport links between them.

 

[clc]

Travelled down to Tweedbank today from Bathgate. With rail cards we paid £8.50 each for a return, which was excellent value.

No problem getting a seat on the outward leg as the 4 carriage train had plenty of spare seats.

Scenery wise the first half of the journey was fairly unexceptional, only south of Gorebridge are the line's scenic credentials merited. It's quite pleasant, not WHL quality, but on a par with the Stranraer line I'd say.

We arrived at Tweedbank on time. We assumed there would be a bus to Melrose waiting at the terminus but discovered one had left a few minutes earlier. Definitely some work to be done to improve bus/train integration.

No facilities at Tweedbank and no shelter at the bus stop. Perhaps when the rains come you can hunker down in the bicycle shelter!

Two members of my group didn't fancy the walk to Melrose so we waited 20 minutes for the next bus. After we had boarded the bus we noticed that a Borders Tourism Ambassador had appeared, too late to be of any assistance to us and all the other passengers on our train who had by now dispersed.

The bus driver (no shrinking violet) gave a telling off to a taxi driver who had parked at the bus stop (he indicated this was a recurring problem). The bus also had difficulty negotiating the turning circle due to unoccupied cars parked on the roundabout itself. Some reversing on the roundabout was required which prompted the bus driver to instruct the Tourism Ambassador to contact the police about the selfishly parked vehicles. The tourism bod just looked embarrassed.

We returned on the 16.31, which departed 5 minutes late. This also had 4 carriages but was very busy by the time it left Galashiels (the new interchange looks impressive). After Gorebridge our carriage was full and there were a couple of young kids sitting in the luggage racks which, to my surprise in these H&S obsessed times, didn't result in a rebuke from the guard.

We arrived Waverley 5 minutes late. Maybe the lack of double tracking was a contributory factor in the failure to make up time?

Despite the minor criticisms I've made above I was on the whole happy with the experience. It's too soon to predict how successful the new line will be but the early signs look promising.

 

[Shinkansenfan]

The new line makes much use of concrete for bridges and both concrete and steel for stations, not really in keeping with the rural surroundings, where use of local building materials, to match the surviving station building at Stow, would have been preferable.

There are plenty of examples of safety over-kill, e.g. the huge concrete walls on the A7 at Falahill, which appear to be intended to withstand a nuclear attack, and the intrusive steel fencing 5 or 6 feet high, although post and wire fences have thankfully been used along the rural part of the line. The Tweed viaduct near Galashiels is now a shared railway/footpath, divided lengthwise by one of these unsightly high steel fences. For these reasons the line will not blend into the landscape as readily as older railways have done.

I too noticed the safety overkill and the heavy hand of galvanized steel everywhere near a station. For instance, Stow Station--a lovely setting--is a thicket of guardrails, galvanized railings and fencing. There are even multiple security cameras mounted on the same pole all seemingly facing the same direction-- gaving the impression of a maximum security prison instead of a welcoming station environment.

Still very much glad that at least one bit of the good Doctor Beeching's cuts has been undone.

 

[najaB]

No facilities at Tweedbank and no shelter at the bus stop. Perhaps when the rains come you can hunker down in the bicycle shelter!

Gala is where you get your bus, nice big interchange there for you. Tweedbank is a local station for local people.

 

[Pinza-C55]

Two members of my group didn't fancy the walk to Melrose so we waited 20 minutes for the next bus. After we had boarded the bus we noticed that a Borders Tourism Ambassador had appeared, too late to be of any assistance to us and all the other passengers on our train who had by now dispersed.

The bus driver (no shrinking violet) gave a telling off to a taxi driver who had parked at the bus stop (he indicated this was a recurring problem). The bus also had difficulty negotiating the turning circle due to unoccupied cars parked on the roundabout itself. Some reversing on the roundabout was required which prompted the bus driver to instruct the Tourism Ambassador to contact the police about the selfishly parked vehicles. The tourism bod just looked embarrassed.

Am I alone in finding the job title "Tourism Ambassador" fairly hilarious ?
Who thinks this nonsense up ?

 

[clc]

Gala is where you get your bus, nice big interchange there for you. Tweedbank is a local station for local people.

I imagine most of the tourists heading for Melrose will get off at Tweedbank as it's the closest station. A bus shelter isn't much to ask for.

 

[najaB]

I imagine most of the tourists heading for Melrose will get off at Tweedbank as it's the closest station. A bus shelter isn't much to ask for.

I agree, but apparently that's the way the line has been set up.

 

[railjock]

I agree, but apparently that's the way the line has been set up.

Perhaps an announcement to alight at Gala for onwards bus connections to Melrose etc.. would be helpful.

 

[clc]

Perhaps an announcement to alight at Gala for onwards bus connections to Melrose etc.. would be helpful.

Yes, I think that would be useful.

 

[me123]

Perhaps an announcement to alight at Gala for onwards bus connections to Melrose etc.. would be helpful.

Agreed. I walked to Melrose from Tweedbank which is certainly achievable, but it's not the best route and definitely not going to be widely used. I walked down the B6374.

Perhaps a shuttle bus from Melrose to Tweedbank via Borders General Hospital, designed specifically to connect with the train, would be an idea? Would work nicely with through-ticketing and guaranteed connections in the event of a delay (at least, as much as is possible without knocking reliability). It could potentially also reduce car usage (and therefore free up valuable parking spaces) if people are able to catch a bus to Tweedbank. Although perhaps that's too sensible an idea to actually come of fruition...

 

[route:oxford]

Am I alone in finding the job title "Tourism Ambassador" fairly hilarious ?
Who thinks this nonsense up ?

Not really. Although it would be handier if they arrived in time to meet and greet!

To be honest, if the best that Edinburgh can come up with is a rudimentary tram shelter at Edinburgh Park Railway station barely big enough to accommodate a small family going to the airport with luggage and you have to queue outside in the rain to buy a ticket...

You can't expect much at Tweedbank.

 

[fegguk]

Agreed. I walked to Melrose from Tweedbank which is certainly achievable, but it's not the best route and definitely not going to be widely used. I walked down the B6374.

Perhaps a shuttle bus from Melrose to Tweedbank via Borders General Hospital, designed specifically to connect with the train, would be an idea? Would work nicely with through-ticketing and guaranteed connections in the event of a delay (at least, as much as is possible without knocking reliability). It could potentially also reduce car usage (and therefore free up valuable parking spaces) if people are able to catch a bus to Tweedbank. Although perhaps that's too sensible an idea to actually come of fruition...

There is a path along the riverside to Melrose from Tweedbank. It may not be well signposted.

 

[oldman]

The Southern Upland Way used to use the rail alignment through Tweedbank but is now diverted by the bank of the Tweed so does not pass the station.

With the opening of the railway First revised their X62 service to fit it with the train (on paper), at least at times when tourists would be likely to use it, but they don't publicise the rail/bus possibilities. Scotrail provide no information about buses. VisitScotland are out of date with their information already (naturally). They ticked the box by producing a page for the new line and that's all that matters.

For all the talk about bringing in visitors, no one really wants to do anything practical about it. You simply need to look at it from a non-car using tourist's point of view, but I suspect that is beyond them.

A simple PlusBus ticket to include Melrose and Selkirk would be a start, especially as there are two bus operators from Gala to Melrose.

 

[clc]

With the opening of the railway First revised their X62 service to fit it with the train (on paper), at least at times when tourists would be likely to use it, but they don't publicise the rail/bus possibilities. Scotrail provide no information about buses. VisitScotland are out of date with their information already (naturally). They ticked the box by producing a page for the new line and that's all that matters.

For all the talk about bringing in visitors, no one really wants to do anything practical about it. You simply need to look at it from a non-car using tourist's point of view, but I suspect that is beyond them.

.

Our train on Saturday arrived Tweedbank on time at 1349. The X62 to Melrose had departed at 1346 (as timetabled) and the next one wasn't until 1416. Why the bus would be scheduled to depart 3 minutes before the train arrived is beyond me. We weren't the only tourists bemused by the lack of coordination.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Our train on Saturday arrived Tweedbank on time at 1349. The X62 to Melrose had departed at 1346 (as timetabled) and the next one wasn't until 1416. Why the bus would be scheduled to depart 3 minutes before the train arrived is beyond me. We weren't the only tourists bemused by the lack of coordination.

An arrival by rail at 1349 and a departure by bus at 1416 is nothing to worry about when you see what some rail and bus connections are like in other rural areas...:roll:

 

[Dunc108]

Our train on Saturday arrived Tweedbank on time at 1349. The X62 to Melrose had departed at 1346 (as timetabled) and the next one wasn't until 1416. Why the bus would be scheduled to depart 3 minutes before the train arrived is beyond me. We weren't the only tourists bemused by the lack of coordination.

Galasheils Interchange is perhaps best placed for bus/train transfer with hourly services forward to Carlisle - perhaps more than Tweedbank itself although I'm not sure how well they all connect with trains and also they stop everwhere. They could really do with a fast express coach service from Tweedbank to Carlisle timed to connect with trains, least until they can extend the line South.

 

[AngusH]

They could really do with a fast express coach service from Tweedbank to Carlisle timed to connect with trains, least until they can extend the line South.

An excellent idea.

A thought occurred to me though.
I seem to recall that the 95 bus is/was a "rail link" service.

As the original railway line it was replacing has been partly reopened, does it remain a rail link bus, or has that facility been abandoned?

 

[Altnabreac]

Galasheils Interchange is perhaps best placed for bus/train transfer with hourly services forward to Carlisle - perhaps more than Tweedbank itself although I'm not sure how well they all connect with trains and also they stop everwhere. They could really do with a fast express coach service from Tweedbank to Carlisle timed to connect with trains, least until they can extend the line South.

What purpose would this serve?

No one is going to use a bus from Carlisle - Gala and then get the train on to Midlothian or Edinburgh. You'd get the train instead. It will of course be useful as a connection from the Borders to Carlisle but it doesn't need to connect with rail to do that.

Good Bus connections to Hawick, Selkirk, Jedburgh and Kelso are all important for Borders Rail. Express coach connections less so.

Population density is very low indeed south of Hawick, so there is little intermediate travel market. A Carlisle - Gala bus is useful in as far as it provides a service to Selkirk and Hawick to connect with the train but as an express Coach service I don't see it having much of a market.

 

[Class 170101]

Has demand been boosted along parts of the Borders line by moving people off the ECML stations north of Berwick?

 

[oldman]

Our train on Saturday arrived Tweedbank on time at 1349. The X62 to Melrose had departed at 1346 (as timetabled) and the next one wasn't until 1416. Why the bus would be scheduled to depart 3 minutes before the train arrived is beyond me. We weren't the only tourists bemused by the lack of coordination.

Beg pardon, I was going by the Monday to Friday timetable when the X62 to Melrose would have been at 1352. For some reason it runs 5 minutes earlier on Saturdays, probably to annoy rail passengers. But changing at Gala is the thing to do, although it costs more.

First have just started, with council money, late night services from Gala to Jedburgh and Clovenfords, connecting with the train leaving Edinburgh just before 2300. They did not even mention this on their website when they announced the other changes. Trains, what trains?

 

[70014IronDuke]

Has demand been boosted along parts of the Borders line by moving people off the ECML stations north of Berwick?

I assume you mean people who drove to Berwick or Dunbar or the like have now abandoned that course, and drive to Tweedbank or one of the new stations?

I am not from the area, but if you look at a map, the geography and topography make it looks most unlikely. Even if the land were flat round about, the ECML is so far away (to the east, and north) that it would be shorter to drive to Edinburgh directly.

Any such abstraction would be insignificant, if it exists at all, I'd say.

 

[cjt0131]

I imagine most of the tourists heading for Melrose will get off at Tweedbank as it's the closest station. A bus shelter isn't much to ask for.

don't worry a bus shelter will come

david parker (council leader) lives in tweedbank and what tweedbank wants tweedbank gets

just look around gala in snowy times----tweedbank gets cleared quickly where other housing estates are left snow bound

 

[me123]

Has demand been boosted along parts of the Borders line by moving people off the ECML stations north of Berwick?

It's not as crazy as it sounds. Some Musselburgh punters already travel to Newcraighall Park & Ride, perhaps they'll be attracted back to their local station given the increased crowding on those trains? Alternatively, Eskbank is also in a good location to capture park and ride commuters. Further South though, I doubt it.

As has been said though, Dunbar and Berwick are most definitely not going to travel to Borders railway stations. Unless, of course, they drive to Newcraighall or Shawfair P&R.

 

[reb0118]

I seem to recall that the 95 bus is/was a "rail link" service.

As the original railway line it was replacing has been partly reopened, does it remain a rail link bus, or has that facility been abandoned?

Though fares are still in the data base for bus travel to Galashiels and other Borders towns via Edinburgh (X95), Carlisle (X95), & Berwick (60). What we don't have as yet are through fares to non rail served towns from Galashiels itself.

What purpose would this serve?

Probably none really.

No one is going to use a bus from Carlisle - Gala and then get the train on to Midlothian or Edinburgh. You'd get the train instead. It will of course be useful as a connection from the Borders to Carlisle but it doesn't need to connect with rail to do that.

The X95 was marketed as a direct rail replacement service and through fares were offered from both ends to Gala, Selkirk, & Hawick in the form of an add on to the rail fare to/from either Edinburgh or Carlisle, there was also a through fare to Langholm via Carlisle. AFAIAA there were no through fares to settlements north of Gala.

Good Bus connections to Hawick, Selkirk, Jedburgh and Kelso are all important for Borders Rail. Express coach connections less so.

Agreed, very true.

Population density is very low indeed south of Hawick, so there is little intermediate travel market. A Carlisle - Gala bus is useful in as far as it provides a service to Selkirk and Hawick to connect with the train but as an express Coach service I don't see it having much of a market.

The bus has always been "steady" rather than busy south of Hawick whenever I've been on it - there is a good service, almost hourly at times, too.

 

[chiltern trev]

First X95. http://www.firstgroup.com/ukbus/new...ch_1397292652_23241_95 X95 21 April 2014.pdf

Monday - Saturday. Hourly Carlisle <> Gala. Half hourly Gala <> Edinburgh.
First arrival in Carlisle is 0818(Fri) 0822(Sat) from Gala. First departure from Carlisle is 0905.
Last into Carlisle is about 1930 returns at 2105(Fri) or 2110(Sat) to Gala except Friday and Saturdays 2154(Fri) or 2143(Sat) returns at 2305(Fri) or 2300(Sat) to Gala.

Sundays - 4 roundtrips Carlisle <> Gala. Hourly Edinburgh <> Gala.

A through journey is about 3hr10mins - 3hr20mins, so as stated elsewhere re the Express bus, if you are going to Edinburgh from Carlisle you get the train - at least 1 per hour, 1h20mins or so and less than £20 return.

 

[railjock]

Now that there are two routes routinely using the east side platforms at waverley ( with another possible if a berwick stopping service starts ) is there any possibility of re-opening one of the East access doors from the ticket office?

 

[reb0118]

...s there any possibility of re-opening one of the East access doors from the ticket office?

Never say never but it is probably more likely that TVMs will be put in place once the fixed barriers are installed across the oriental platforms.