Borders Railway campaigners maintain Carlisle extension goal

A campaign group has renewed its calls for the extension of the Borders Railway line to Carlisle.

It comes with less than a year to go until the 50th anniversary of the closure of the old Waverley Line.

The Campaign for Borders Railway (CBR) said it remained "more active than ever" in efforts to see the line taken beyond its Tweedbank terminus.

A feasibility study is currently looking at the possibility of taking the tracks on into Cumbria.

CBR chairman Simon Walton said: "We are less than a year away from the 50th anniversary of the savage pruning that removed all of the Borders railways."

He said the organisation was "more influential than ever" despite the reopening of the Borders Railway in 2015.

"It's time for us to ask the question once again and argue the case for early extension through Hawick to Carlisle," he said.

Transport Scotland has appointed consultants to look at the project as part of a wider study of transport in the Borders.

A report is expected to be delivered by spring this year.