The coming of the new Borders Railway offers plenty of opportunity for job seekers, finds Ken Mann

Employment heads a list of improvements to the business, tourism and leisure segments of the Scottish economy as chief drivers behind the new Borders Railway, opening in September.

Let's forget the IT glitch a few days ago that caused the first purchasers of online tickets to get up their own head of steam on social media. It shouldn't have happened - but it's fixed. If it's a portent of future performance, I'm certainly happy; I seem to remember the last major pre-launch ticketing problem involved the Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Despite the broad similarities in social and economic long-term legacy - attraction of families to new homes, construction-phase job creation and leisure opportunities - national pride is far less easy to stimulate around 30 miles of railway line compared with an international sporting event, even if it is the longest stretch to be built in Britain for a century.

Indeed the train is taking the strain but in an entirely different way - from a range of vocal detractors. I contend that those pondering why millions should be spent on what they regard as a white elephant belong to the pre-financial crash, short-term patch-over era of economic planning. Major public infrastructure doesn't come cheap. It's costing £293 million, according to the latest available 2012 prices, when site clearance work occupied the first half of that year. By its nature and time frame it could be more but certainly not in the realm of the miles-over-budget Scottish Parliament building.

Economic impact studies have been rolled out to tell us it will act as a catalyst for a £33 million injection of benefits. This is admittedly a rather bald figure but assume it to mean the likely annualised improvement in estimated tourism spend at one end of the spectrum, to enhanced journey times and the consequential savings in time and fuel for business people at the other.

However, to the communities involved, especially in Brunstane, Newcraighall, Shawfair, Eskbank, Newtongrange, Gorebridge, Stow, Galashiels and Tweedbank (current terminus), could it be that this will engender a new era of employment for Scottish Borders residents or even a few city dwellers?

Unfortunately, even some locals along the line are split in opinion on the benefits, particularly those disturbed by the path of the construction works. Might it attract yobs to hitherto quiet and relatively crime-free rural centres? Or maybe young people there will be priced out of the housing market as attractive rural areas become part of Edinburgh's already extensive commuter belt.

Evidence gleaned from other locations shows that increased affordable travel options over typical commuting distances, probably best enjoyed with a rail card in this instance, open up jobs markets. That means posts in and around Edinburgh once considered too awkward, too time-consuming or too expensive to get to become viable. What the naysayers need to do is adjust their focus for a more distant vision of what the railway can do to anchor existing and locate new jobs around Borders towns.

Certain types of small and medium businesses might now consider these communities for their lower cost profile and environment. Ultimately, this would allow these towns to share in Edinburgh's expanded city-region wealth by association. Not overnight, perhaps, but in time. Headcounts are lower in high-value and technology-intensive work. But areas well-connected via short distance links to city academic hubs - like Edinburgh - could become home to fresh high quality work in these investment intensive sectors. These businesses attract secondary investment and more footfall and spend locally, encouraging new job creation at other levels.

Extrapolating the value of jobs potentially created is at this stage and to all intents and purposes fruitless; that's like writing your first business plan: a crystal ball exercise. But the notion has legs; it's already been replicated in Oxfordshire and Cambridgeshire.

There are no plans to link to Carlisle via Hawick, though earlier this month Scottish Government Cabinet Secretary for Infrastructure, Investment & Cities Keith Brown admitted that officials had looked at commissioning a feasibility study.

Imagine the potential to increase return on investment and again broaden the employment envelope, if that proved prudent. Construction work has already created more than 300 jobs over the build phase. New housing, unspecified inward investment and public sector job relocation have been hinted at.

The Borders isn't new as a suitable location for both high-tech and technical service businesses. Just last week Qube GB, with headquarters in Galashiels, was in the news, celebrating increased employee numbers, rising from 257 in 2012, the same year as the railway construction started, to 537.

The company, which also runs a support centre in Hertfordshire, was formed just before the economic slowdown in 2007 with just three staff. It provides installation services to the telecommunications industry.

It's popular in Scotland to only look for near-term return on public investment. This railway surely represents a mixture of enterprise with speculation targeted at accumulation.

However, with solid economic demonstrators elsewhere providing evidence of long-term jobs growth potential on the back of a stimulated economy, I can't help thinking this is already headed down the right track.