THE Campaign for Borders Rail (CBR) has urged campaigners lobbying for the re-opening of other rail lines in Scotland to learn the lessons of the 17-year Borders campaign culminating in the return of trains next month – which CBR describes as 'one of the greatest achievements of grassroots rail campaigning in British history’.

And acknowledgment of CBR’s pioneering work has come from two campaigns in Fife which are hoping to be the next to put new routes on the Scottish railway map.

CBR founder member and its first Chair from 1998 until 2002, Petra Biberbach, reflected: “For me the lessons are: first, campaign groups are not elected, so you have to seek a mandate and get the people on side, which means working in partnership with other groups who share your aims, and avoiding an attitude of 'them and us’; second, you need to be politically savvy and know when to work with the system, and when to challenge it; and third, passion, persuasion and tenacity are required. And in CBR’s case, well-informed and constructive criticism eventually brought some significant improvements to the Borders Railway specification.” CBR’s UK Parliamentary Officer, Nick Bethune, revealed the secret of the return of the railway to the region was “galvanising public opinion”.

He added: “If you look at the history of CBR, stretching back to 1998, it’s quite clear that the campaign has had to be consistently willing to challenge the establishment, to rock the boat with well-informed and innovative ideas – sometimes against implacable official opposition. The other secret of CBR’s success has been the way it galvanised public opinion, helping to convince Borderers they really could get their railway back.”