The Waverley Project aims to re-establish a passenger rail link between Edinburgh Waverley, the capital's main railway station, through Midlothian to Tweedbank in the Scottish borders.
The single-track route is a distance of approximately 35 miles (56km) and incorporates 11 stations, 4 existing and 7 new stations. The existing stations are Edinburgh Waverley, Edinburgh Haymarket, Brunstane, and Newcraighall. The 7 new stations planned are Shawfair, Eskbank, Newtongrange and Gorebridge in Midlothian, Stow, Galashiels and Tweedbank in the Scottish Borders.
There will be half hourly services with a 55 minute journey time from the centre of Edinburgh to Tweedbank.
The route runs through the original Waverley corridor, which was closed in January 1969 on recommendations of the Beeching Report. Some four decades on, much of the original infrastructure still remains intact, including bridges and lengths of track bed, although far from serviceable.
Background
The original Waverley Railway line between Edinburgh and Carlisle opened between 1849 and 1862.
The Waverley Railway (Scotland) Bill was passed by the Scottish Parliament by 114 votes to one with one abstention on 14 June 2006.
The initial cost for the Waverley Rail Project was projected to be £174.45 million at 2011 prices. On 5 March 2008, the SNP government announced that, following a due diligence exercise, the project's completion date would have to be pushed back two years to 2013 and the projected cost had risen to between £235 and £295 million.