Thousands of journeys made on new Borders Railway

A total of 23,500 journeys were made on the new Borders Railway during its first 10 days, according to ScotRail.

The rail franchise said the level of interest in the new service linking Edinburgh and Tweedbank has been "remarkable".

Before the £294m line opened, forecasters predicted it would carry almost 650,000 passengers a year.

Former First Minister Alex Salmond said it could be used by one million travellers a year within five years.

The railway opened to paying customers on 6 September, before being officially opened by the Queen three days later.

ScotRail added extra carriages to some services after some passenger raised concerns about overcrowding.

A spokeswoman said that between its first day of service and "close of play" on 15 September, 23,500 journeys were recorded between the line's seven new stations.

He added: "Once more data is available and journey patterns have settled down, we will be able to release more information.

"An important element of our analysis will be to calculate how many of these journeys are genuinely new and made by people who did not previously travel to or from Newcraighall or Brunstane."