BY ROSEMARY GORING

Not since the Hogwart’s Express puffed across Glenfinnan viaduct has there been such excitement over a railway in Scotland, and this time it is reality, not fantasy. Passenger numbers on the newly reopened Waverley Line suggest that from the moment the carriages opened their doors, in September 2015, users leapt aboard more like sardines into a tin than casual sightseers or locals keen to do a bit of shopping in the capital. So enthusiastic has been the uptake that I picture the trains like those leaving Mumbai Central at rush hour, where commuters who can’t squeeze aboard cling like barnacles to the outside, defying death as the train hurtles along, so badly do they need to go where it can take them.

The announcement that in its first three months 350,000 people used the Edinburgh to Tweedbank line is more than double expert predictions and has confounded those who said the route was far too expensive to be worth it. In Holyrood and at Transport Scotland HQ, however, they must be thinking that rarely has £350m been better spent. As, no doubt, will the managers of attractions such as Sir Walter Scott’s mansion Abbotsford, near Tweedbank, which has seen a 63% surge in visitors. This good luck story is echoed along the railway, for businesses in places such as Galashiels and Melrose, for some of whom Christmas came early, and shows no sign of ending. Indeed, it is hinted that within a few weeks’ time, half a million people will have used the line.

Life, it seems, is finally returning to the frostbitten toes of Scotland, one of the most alluring but unsung parts of the country. Delight at the success of a mere 30-mile route indicates two things. Most obvious is that those petitioners and politicians who made it happen were absolutely right to press ahead, regardless of the considerable opposition and scepticism they faced. Less edifying and more disturbing is the underlying truth that the Borders has been almost criminally ignored and neglected for the past 50 years, as if it didn’t exist. As towns such as Hawick, Galashiels and Selkirk slumped into economic stagnation and decline, successive governments turned their backs, blaming global economic forces and changing fashions for the demise of indigenous industries that once made these towns hum like beehives to the sound of textile machines and tractors.

I wonder how those panjandrums feel today, witnessing the Lazarus effect this train route has already had on the land they chose to forget? If they have any sense, they will be like panhandlers, realising the great rewards that might come from yet further investment in an area whose potential, in recent times, has barely been tapped.

High among the priorities is to extend the Borders Railway to Carlisle, bring it to other towns on the old Waverley line, such as Langholm, and widen the track to reduce delays. While one understands the contractors’ desire to keep within budget, the corner cutting on a project of such national significance is symptomatic of a wider culture of doing things on the cheap, of meeting obligations, but rarely daring to exceed them. In a word, an engrained habit of short-sighted parsimony and risk aversion that in the long run can be costly.

The Edinburgh trams are another example. Critics decried the ballooning costs of this eco-friendly line, creating an atmosphere of derision and disbelief. Yet it too has proved a success, despite its truncated route. Now the tracks should be extended, and not just within the city, but country-wide. Not until Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and others have embraced the tram will we have entered the 21st century, with its necessary and urgent emphasis on cleaner modes of travel. Almost all our cities are blighted by levels of pollution so high in places that they pose a toxic and illegal health hazard.

There are two issues, then, that our leaders must address with speed, imagination and resolve. As the Waverley Line has shown, there is a crying need for public transport that brings so-called outlying locations within easy reach of the central belt, outlay that can be offset against the long-term economic benefits this will bring. A more far-reaching and sophisticated network of buses, trains and trams will obviously help achieve this.

It will also address the pressing environmental challenge of encouraging people to leave their vehicles at home. Such is our attachment to the car, however, that additional inducements – or penalties – might have to be considered. The cost of parking in Edinburgh and Glasgow, for instance, is already prohibitive, but a fairer system would be to charge all but electric cars to enter cities and major towns. For anyone not on foot or bike, a new mantra could be useful: four wheels bad, eight wheels good, rail way better than all.