RAIL campaigners in the Borders have reiterated their plea to transport chiefs to extend the platform at the proposed new terminus in Tweedbank to accommodate charter trains in a move it is claimed would attract more visitors to the area and could earn the local economy an extra �500,000 a year.

EArlier this year, the Border Telegraph revealed four of the biggest tourist train operators in Scotland backed the Campaign for Borders Rail proposals to almost double the size of the station's platforms - including the operators of the Jacobite steam train made famous in the Harry Potter movies.

And now they have won the support of local tourism officials after a delegation visited the Settle & Carlisle Railway on a fact-finding mission.

Bill Jamieson of CBR said: "Transport Scotland have not come clean about the charter train situation and in particular the need for longer platform tracks at Tweedbank. This has to be urgently reviewed if we are to make the most of the new Borders Railway - bringing in �500,000 or more additional visitor spend every year."

A delegation of six from the Borders visited Appleby station earlier this month to see how a local community partnership has promoted increased rail tourism. They were guests on the Fellsman tourist charter train which links Lancaster, Preston and Appleby with Carlisle every week during the summer season.

The Borders delegation included Catherine Maxwell Stuart, Chair of the Area Tourism Partnership, and Paula McDonald, Regional Director of VisitScotland. And their host was James Shuttleworth, from West Coast Railways, which operates the highly successful Jacobite steam train on the Fort William-Mallaig line popularised in the Harry Potter films.

Ms Stewart, who lives at Traquair House, the oldest inhabited house in Scotland, said: "With the right set-up at Tweedbank station, we can organise connecting coaches to take the hundreds of additional visitors who would arrive on each charter train onwards to the wide range of classic visitor attractions we have in the Borders."

And Ms McDonald agreed. She added: "Charter trains have a natural fit with the Borders economy, and it would be a sound investment to ensure that the Tweedbank platform tracks are extended to cope with these trains - an extension of not much more than 100 yards."

Local rail campaigners have now sought a meeting with the Scottish Transport Minister Keith Brown to discuss their concerns.

South of Scotland MSP Claudia Beamish, who joined them on the trip along with Scottish Borders Council's deputy leader John Mitchell, said: "The train we travelled on was packed with people of all ages, bringing a boost to local economies in Appleby and Carlisle - but as things stand, that 11-coach train simply could not be accommodated at the new Tweedbank station."

And she added: "Transport Scotland have to find a way to redesign the station so that it offers enough flexibility to maximise the benefits of the new railway to the Borders economy."