SINCE the opening of the Borders Railway two years ago more than 1,000 trains have been either cancelled or partially cancelled.

And that number grew again this morning with the 6.28am, 7.26am and 8.28am trains between Tweedbank and Edinburgh all being cancelled due to a signalling fault.

Local Conservative politicians have gained figures which date from the line's opening in September 6, 2015.

And they show that 1,182 of the 40,176 trains which run up to August 14 were either fully or partially cancelled.

A further 4,099 were delayed by more than five minutes of their scheduled arrival time.

Rachael Hamilton MSP said: "Since its reopening the Borders Railway has become an important, valued and much loved mode of transport. Overall it has been a success.

"However, over 1000 trains being cancelled and over 4000 arriving late since it reopened is a little disappointing and there is definitely room for improvement.

"I think everyone who uses it regularly has experienced a late or even a cancelled train, and that is frustrating for both passengers and Borders Rail.

"I want to see these incidences of cancelled and delayed trains become less frequent and for the Borders line to become a constant highlight of people’s visit or commute to and from the Borders."

This morning's signalling fault led to rail bosses reducing services to hourly and cancelling at least three morning trains from Tweedbank to Edinburgh as well as three operating in the other direction..

A spokesperson for ScotRail told us: "We have a signalling fault on our Tweedbank line this morning, which means we are unable to operate a full train service, we have therefore reduced the frequency to hourly.

"To supplement the train service we have now implemented our bus ticket acceptance."