DRIVERS have begun training in readiness for the opening of the Borders Railway's first passengers in half a century.
Some 64 drivers and 64 conductors are being schooled on the route from Newcraighall in south east Edinburgh to Tweedbank in the Borders.
Twelve of the drivers were specifically recruited to work on the new railway which is due to take its first passengers on the 30-mile route on September 6.
Scotrail's Class 158 trains are being used for the training.
On an average day, four return journeys will be completed at Tweedbank and Newcraighall.
A spokeswoman for ScotRail said: "The driver training getting under way marks another important milestone in the new Borders Railway.
"Like all of our drivers, those who will be trained on the route have already proved that they have the essential mix of experience, concentration skills and good attitude required to be successful train drivers.
"Twelve of the trainees are from the Borders themselves and understand how the return of rail services to the area will transform the local communities.
"This significant landmark brings us one step closer to the opening of the new line, something which is greatly anticipated by our staff and customers alike."
ScotRail has reportedly confirmed that just one train in its Borders Railway fleet will be upgraded in time for the re-opening.
A proving train ran on the Borders Railway on Sunday to measure stepping distances to the platform. It stopped at all the stations along the route.
The exercise was completed prior to the driver training, to give managers additional route knowledge.
Track has been laid and tested for the £294 million project which also includes the creation of a new station at Shawfair being created on a brownfield site that was originally part of a colliery.
The train services are expected to run half-hourly six days a week and hourly on Sundays.
The longest new domestic railway built in Britain in more than a century, the Scottish Government's project will re-establish passenger services for the first time in more than 45 years on a key part of the former Waverley Route which closed in 1969.
The line was one of the most notorious Beeching cuts and although the full length stretched to Carlisle, only the northern third has been resurrected.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article