THE cost of the long-delayed Borders Railway has increased to £350 million and it will not now be completed until 2015.
Transport minister Keith Brown confirmed both the increase in cost and the delay in the project today as a deal to build the line was finally agreed with Network Rail.
The news confirms an exclusive story last month by The Scotsman’s sister paper Scotland on Sunday that the ill-fated project would cost £50m more than its previous £295m budget and not be re-opened until a year later than previously planned.
Network Rail agreed today to build the 30-mile route between Edinburgh and Tweedbank, south of Galashiels, for £294m, which comes on top of at least £54m already spent on other aspects of the project, such as land purchase and preliminary work.
Mr Brown is expected to claim today that savings will be made by handing the main construction work to Network Rail.
However, this marks a U-turn by the SNP Scottish Government after its original plans for a novel private sector building method were abandoned following two of the three shortlisted bidders pulling out, as The Scotsman has revealed. The construction contract, originally estimated to be worth £230m, was due to have started a year ago. However, Mr Brown scrapped the original construction plans in September last year and Network Rail has been assessing the project since.