On Saturday 6th September 2025, the Borders Railway will celebrate a decade of operating from Tweedbank to Edinburgh, with the line opening to passengers on 6th September 2015, and official opening by the late Queen Elizabeth II a few days later on 9th September that year. Well done to all involved in that campaign to get it built, and the success of which proved the potential for other, similarly successful reopenings such as the Northumberland Line between Ashington and Newcastle-Upon-Tyne.
Edinburgh to Tweedbank, for now…
This railway was once a through route between Edinburgh and Carlisle, formerly referred to as ‘The Waverley Route’, and which the Campaign for Borders Rail has long been championing the rebuilding of the route fully to reconnect Edinburgh and Carlisle once again by rail via Hawick.
If you can, please give the campaign any support you are able to!
The Northumberland Coast Loop; ready to go?
In comparison to the Borders Railway, which needs many miles of track relaid beyond the current terminus at Tweedbank towards Carlisle; the Northumberland Coast Loop could be able to offer a Newcastle-Upon-Tyne to Edinburgh via Blyth connection, by using the existing, direct link between Bedlington and Pegswood, as shown on the map below.
This would give areas in SE Northumberland a much better range of connections northwards, much as a fully extended Borders Railway would offer a better range connections to and from Carlisle and the south more broadly.
Do both is the answer here; using rail as a backbone of public transport for long distances, and get more direct connections between places established, making them quicker and as convenient as possible.
The Borders Railway is one that I would love to see once again reconnect Edinburgh and Carlisle, but the Northumberland Coast Loop could also form a new connection, using a line that has never fully closed, to offer new connections between Newcastle and Edinburgh, and could potentially do so very quickly.
The Northumberland Coast Loop 