WHEN the only railway through the Scottish Borders was closed in 1969, it provoked sabotage attacks and night-time blockades by angry locals.

Now nearly 50 years on, track laying on the new 30-mile Borders Railway is finally nearing completion.

The installation on the Edinburgh to Tweedale route is expected to reach an end on Thursday and is due to be marked in a more placid way with Keith Brown, the infrastructure secretary conducting a special ceremony. He will clip the final length of track into place at Tweedbank station.

It marks the final phase of works laying tracks on the last five miles of the route from Ferniehurst to Tweedbank.

The closure of the Waverley Route on January 6, 1969 was considered by some experts as the worst of all the cuts inspired by Dr Richard Beeching's report on British Railways.

It left the Borders as the only region of the UK without a rail link, cutting it off from Edinburgh to the north and Carlisle to the south.

Now Network Rail say the new £350 million Borders to Edinburgh route is on course to be completed in June, with passenger trains due to start running on September 6.

It is thought to be be the longest section of railway closed by Beeching that has been rebuilt in Britain.

All seven stations, four in Midlothian and three in the Scottish Borders will be equipped with wifi and the platform at Galashiels station will accommodate longer tourist trains.

There will also be a new footpath at Newtongrange Station to enable direct access for users of regular rail services to the award-winning Scottish Mining Museum.

Transport Scotland says that including supplier personnel directly employed by the project, the total number of project jobs is in excess of 1,100 with local people and suppliers the main beneficiary.