We are now just two weeks away from seeing towns of the Scottish Borders and Midlothian reconnected to the rail network for the first time in almost half a century.

The Borders Railway is one of our biggest infrastructure investments and supports one of the Scottish Government’s core strategic objectives of ensuring transport connections are strengthened and improved to maximise opportunities for employment, business, tourism, leisure and wider communities including our town centres.

It’s an exciting development for the rail industry and has become a symbol of the renaissance of our railways in Scotland.

But it has always first and foremost been about connecting communities.

When the old Waverley line was shut down in the infamous Dr Beeching closures of the 1960s, it was a huge blow to the towns of the Scottish Borders and Midlothian.

Local people, including proud Borderer Madge Elliot, fought hard to have the decision turned around and, when that failed, they fought on to have the line reinstated.

That grassroots campaign continued for decades – and it is now hard to see any logic in the decision to close the route.

Throughout those decades, the case to rebuild the line continued to grow and we now know that the benefits of the new line will be assured and numerous.

This not only reconnects these towns and villages to each other, but it reconnects the areas to a map that includes the rest of the country – a map they have been missing from
for 46 years.

The agreed timetables will even link these towns to London within a matter of hours, as well as all of Scotland’s own seven cities.

New businesses will be encouraged to set up in Midlothian thanks to the renewed connectivity and more visitors will be drawn to the outstanding scenery and tourism offering of the Borders. There will also be real tangible benefits for Edinburgh as more city dwellers are attracted to the suburban and country lifestyle that the new commuting opportunity will allow, therefore helping reduce the pressure on the housing market in the capital.

This new railway will expose existing enterprises in all three local authority areas to a bigger marketplace than ever before.

It will carry commuters to new jobs and recruitment opportunities, it will open up more options for students, increase footfall in our town centres and bring tourists to the Borders.

And the opening of the Borders Railways early next month will help deliver a tourism and investment boost for the whole of the rest of Scotland.

We took the decision to invest in this massive project because we know the value of the railways. We are overseeing a period that has been widely reported as a renaissance of the golden age of rail in Scotland, with passenger numbers going up every year and unparalleled investment.

The Borders Railway is a project that is clearly of huge value. That goes well beyond the pound-for-pound return and into the heart of what it means to connect communities.