Responding to the new road plan proposed by Network Rail, CBR has made an official submission to Scottish Borders Council (see link below) advising that “Our position in relation to the latest proposals for Falahill is that we cannot offer our support unless the A7 road bridge is redesigned to provide double-track clearances.”
The planned railway will be single-track at Falahill, but CBR argues that as part of a sensible ‘future proofing’ strategy, the bridge must provide ‘passive provision’ for a future double-track railway at this key location, just a few miles from the southern end of the Fushiebridge-Tynehead loop.
The CBR submission warns SBC that “Our own research, based on Scottish Local Authorities’ asset valuation data, suggests that the costs of rebuilding over a ‘live’ railway may be ten times as much as the additional cost of building a wider bridge at the outset.”
Donald Rutherford says:
“Future proofing” seems like a very good idea to me.
David Parker says:
I agree it would be a saving in the long run if the railway is in the future from single track to double-track railway, for the increase traffic of having good trains running down the track to reduce the amount of lorries using the roads in area i.e. like the Tesco trains on the Inverness – Perth railway line.