We are delighted to welcome the Tweed Valley Railway Campaign as Transform’s latest member. Below, we outline the campaign’s key objectives and their role in transforming transport in Scotland.
What?
The Tweed Valley Railway Campaign is a group with a singular mission: to restore rail services between St Boswells and Berwick-upon-Tweed.
Why?
The group believe the Tweed Valley Railway is central to the strategic growth and sustainable low-carbon future of the Scottish Borders and north Northumberland.
At the centre of the campaign and its call for the extension of the existing rail network, are the following six objectives:
1. Connection
- To provide strategic rail connection corridors north-south and east-west, improving journey times, both in region and cross-border, offering greater connection for residents and visitors.
2. Opportunity
- To ease road congestion and provide greater travel, business and tourist opportunities.
- To link world-class cycling facilities and the proposed walking trail within the Tweed Valley.
3. Sustainability
- To encourage rail travel as a viable alternative to private vehicles.
- To facilitate decarbonisation, improving health and wellbeing through less pollution.
4. Growth
- To support sustainable economic growth.
- To increase opportunities to live, work, study, and visit the Scottish borders and north Northumberland, with easy access to and from major cities.
5. Equality
- To address inequality and accessibility for those in the Scottish Borders and north Northumberland at risk of rural isolation without private vehicles by increasing access to public transport.
6. Resilience
- To increase safety and resilience by replacing car journeys with statistically safer rail journeys.
- To provide a second rail route between Northumberland and Edinburgh.
Find out more
Visit the campaign’s website here, where you can sign up to their newsletter for the latest news and updates. If you’d like to get involved and support the extension of the Tweed Valley route, you can become a supporter here.
