LATEST NEWS
As the Community council recieves updates we will publish here.
On the 23rd May 2023 some children from Reston Primary School buried a 'Time Capsule', to mark the first anniversary of the Reston station having trains stopping here.
Below you will find the Reston Station Train timetable in none smart, none digital format.
Working with R.A.G.E.S we decided to make up a timetable that is old style, i.e. easy to follow with all the train times on one sheet. We hope this helps.
In February we finally got a meeting with the station manager for ScotRail.
RAGES chairman Barrie Forrest B.E.M. was also in attendance.
We raised several questions with regard to the station. Below is a copy of the questions raised and the answers received from ScotRail.
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1. Landscaping – Our Station Maintenance Team is responsible for maintaining the station – What I have been advised is that we wouldn’t put grass on the slopes on either side of staircase as we wouldn’t be able to cut it. It is supposed to be “meadow” planting and have a wild look but it could be it wasn’t done properly and that’s why it’s got lots of weeds. We will not be putting grass in though. The large area between car park and main road is Network Rail’s land for future expansion of car park and we are not responsible for maintaining it as its not in our lease. This is getting raised with Network Rail as they may want to send the contractor back to look at it re the planting dying etc.
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2. Toilets – I’ve been told flat out No for this one I’m afraid. Apparently ScotRail have already had a full on debate/discussion with Network Rail regarding toilets and it’s not going to happen.
3. Timetable/Poster Frame – I’ve attached a form that would need to be filled out and I can forward it on to the relevant persons for consideration.
4. Time Capsule – I’ve raised this again with ScotRail/Network Rail – I’ve put in the reminder to everyone so hopefully they can start getting things organised for this but are still keen for it to happen.
Below is some recent drone footage showing the completed station.
On Thursday the 28th the New Reston Station will be officially opened by the ScotGov Transport Minister Jenny Gilruth. Invited guests will arrive by train and the ribbon will be cut, before walking to the village hall for a light buffet.
The train has a name.
On Friday, a new train arrived in Reston, one that was hand built here in Reston.
Check out the picture below. No sooner was it positioned, it was filled wih compost and then filled with flowers and then watered!
Special thanks go to the staff at Bam Nuttall for building this train for us so kind and Jan for filling it with flowers.
History in the making, today was the day that a train stopped for passengers at Reston railway station.
It was an honour to be a part of that journey, albeit only to Berwick-Upon -Tweed, popped in for a Costa coffee and then returned on the LNER train to Reston.
What was special today was the unveling of a permanent mark of respect to Barrie Forrest B.E.M. in the naming of the new road that accesses the Railway station, to be named after him. A Lasting legacy.
See pictures and video below.
Barrie unveiling the New road sign, thinking the road was to be called mart road. A secret kept hidden for nearly six months, with Great support from Joe and Ashley Bam Nuttall and the rest of the team.
Today 20/05/2022 Network Rail released the video and pictures to the media.
Below we see an impression of the completed station.
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On Monday 23rd May 2022, train operators will begin to call at the new £20m Reston station for the first time.
The first passenger service since 1964 – the 05.29 TransPennine Express (TPE) from Edinburgh Waverly - will call at Reston at 06.16 and is sure to be greeted with enthusiasm by the local community and rail interest groups.
The first north bound service – the 06.22 LNER service from Newcastle (07.15 at Berwick) will call at Reston Platform 2 at 07.26.
Later that morning, the Transport Minister, Jenny Gilruth will be greeted by children from the Primary school (and a piper) as she arrives at Reston. Ms. Gilruth will then join the School party as the children board the 10.22 north bound service for their first train trip from their new station.
You can read more about station here https://gloo.to/6IX5 and we hope that you enjoy this short video about the Reston project. https://network-rail.wistia.com/medias/5t97ps1asn
For all the EV car owners out there, here you will see the type of charger installed at the station, with 12 chargers available in total, 2 fitted at the disabled parking bays.
Here we have some more footage taken today the 14 th May. Landscaping now in progress, with trees and hedges to be planted as well as wooden fencing all round. Starting to look like a completed railway station.
Below is the latest pictures and videos, taken on the 29/04/2022.
You can see work is complete on the road layout both inside the railway station and at the entrance.
17/04/2022
Here is the latest drone pictures and a couple of videos, from our man in the sky Doug, he has returned from his little break.
Below is a picture that I have enlarged and marked up, as this highlights the EVC's Electric vehicle charging points. You will see there is a total of 6 double chargers making a total of 12 points, not as per Scottish Government announcement,even with the possible extension to a 207 vehicle car park will there be 20 points, the maximum as per the planning permission is 14. I do wish these people would get their facts right before making information public.
Work starts this week on the pavement alongside the roundabout.
Please see important update below as date announced for the trains to be stopping.
Please also see latest drone footage taken on the 09/04/2022 showing work progressing well.
OPENING DATE FOR RESTON STATION
RAGES is pleased to report that Reston's new Railway Station will open to services on Monday 23rd May 2022. The old one closed 58 years ago in 1964, as part of the Beeching closures. The two platforms at Reston will be served by cross border operators, including TransPennine Express and LNER.
The progress of the station construction is being well documented in photographs on our web site at https://www.rages.org.uk/NewStationAtReston.html
Transport Scotland's web site has the following article.
The new fully accessible station at Reston on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) in Berwickshire is a £20 million investment by the Scottish Government to improve access to rail services in the Scottish Borders. It will allow connectivity options to local public transport services, active travel provision and 70 park and ride car parking spaces, including over 20 electric vehicle charging stations.
Construction on the two-platform station commenced early 2021 and despite the challenges of a complex construction project in a global pandemic the station has made excellent progress and is nearing completion. On opening, Reston Station will be served by cross border operators including TransPennine Express and LNER services.
The eagerly anticipated new station will deliver a step-change in terms of public transport accessibility for East Berwickshire communities. It will transform connectivity to Scotland’s Railway bringing it within closer reach of the principal economic centres of Edinburgh and Newcastle. The station opening will also mark the reversal of the closure of the previous Reston Station 58 years earlier in 1964, as part of the Beeching closures.
Jenny Gilruth MSP, Minister for Transport, said:
"This government has invested record levels to improve connectivity and since 2009, we have reconnected 14 communities to the rail network. Communities in and around Reston will undoubtedly look forward to the benefits that will be delivered by the return of rail services for the first time in more than half a century.
"Efficient and effective rail services, which encourage people to choose to travel locally and further afield by train, for work, training, education, leisure and social activities, are vital to Scotland’s future.
"Reston Station will help towards the transformation of the local economy, deliver on our Net Zero ambitions and create a fairer, greener Scotland."
Alex Hynes, Managing Director of Scotland’s Railway, said:
"The opening of Reston Station for services is another fantastic achievement for Scotland’s Railway. This £20million investment delivers a fully accessible station reconnecting Reston and the surrounding communities to the rail network. It provides local people with greater choice to travel by train and use public transport as we seek to make Scotland a greener place to live and work."
Matthew Golton, Managing Director at TransPennine Express said:
"It’s fantastic to be able to serve the people of Reston, and the surrounding area, with our direct services between Edinburgh and Newcastle.
"Our customers – and their communities – are at the heart of everything we do and we’re delighted to be able to connect so many of those communities by rail for the first time in more than 50 years.
"We’re incredibly proud of our role as a key partner in bringing rail services back to Reston and look forward to welcoming our new customers on board at the end of May."
David Horne, Managing Director at LNER, said:
"We’re proud to be introducing our revolutionary Azuma services at Reston as it becomes the newest destination along our iconic 956-mile East Coast route. The arrival of our services will transform travel for residents and generate further economic opportunities for the area, with our world-class services making business and leisure travel simpler, smarter and greener.
"Our Azuma trains offer customers greater comfort and space, keeping people connected with free onboard WiFi and sockets at every seat. Our superb at-seat catering offers in both Standard and First Class further enhance our customer experience."
Network Rail has managed the design and construction of the project which delivers step free access with a pedestrian footbridge with lifts connecting the platform. Following its opening, Reston Station will be managed by ScotRail.
A car park with 70 spaces, over 20 of which have electric charging facilities, and 11 cycle spaces will make it even easier to take public transport. The car park has the capacity to be expanded in the future as demand requires.
Kind regards,
Tom Dickson
RAGES Membership Secretary
Video showing parking bays, bus shelter and Cycle stand.
In this latest update taken on the 25th March, a close up of the monobloc being laid.
A general scan of the site to show the difference a week makes.
In this video you can see the layout of the car park and the location of the bike stand.
This video shows the progression on the car bays and the lift towers.
Here is two videos taken on the 17th March by the Drone man's apprentice.
The layout of the road is now more prominent with the path almost completed too.
Please see video footage from Network Rail of the bridge being fixed into position.
The work was carried out by contractor Bam Nuttall, during an extended closure of the line with teams working around the clock during a 54-hour window, to allow the bridge sections to be craned in safely over the weekend (September 25-26). Six sections, making up the main framework of the steel bridge and lift-towers, were successfully positioned beside and above the East Coast Mainline. The largest section, the main bridge span was 16 metres long and 6.5m metres and weighed more than 28 tonnes
Received today 16/09/21
Top soil removal in progress, soon that train will be stopping here!
RESTON STATION PLANNING APPLICATION
20/01133/FUL
Just an update, the open show case event went well with quite a few people attending, comments were noted from all and were part of the submission compiled by the community council, this was sent to SBC planning department on Sunday 15th November, it can be viewed here.
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On the 01 October the planning application for the New Reston railway station was submitted to Scottish Borders Council planning portal.
You can view and comment on the planning application here- on the application reference box, type in the application number- 20/01133/FUL then select search.
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The community council hopes to have available the full application to present to the public,
at present due to Covid-19 restrictions this is proving difficult, once we can provide a safe method incorporating all the latest guidelines, we will make the public aware.
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Today 27/08/2020 residents of Reston village and surrounding villages should have received a letter outlining Network Rail's proposal for their planning application. In the letter is details of the planning application and details of a newly created website for the station, this can be accessed here.
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Have look at the visualisation on the Location & Site Access page, this is an interpretation of what the station might look like.
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Thursday 23/07/20-An online meeting was held today with questions asked which have been raised by the local communities. See below for synopsis of the meeting.
Reston Station Network Rail
Microsoft meeting
Held 23/07/2020
Present Derek Christie (Network Rail), Allan Brooking (Community Liaison Manager), Nicola Slaven (Planning Officer Network Rail) Barrie Forrest (Chairman R.A.G.E.S. & Reston and Auchencrow community council) Logan Inglis (Secretary Reston and Auchencrow community council).
Below is a list of questions raised at the meeting from Barrie and Logan to the other members.
Questions
Proposed timeline-due to the present conditions it cannot be ‘hard & Fast’ but it is proposed to have the design submitted to scottish Borders Council planning for mid-August 2020, with a 16-week consultation period. Presently two studies are awaited before the planning submission, an Ecology study on Bats and a Flood risk study. Once these have been completed Network Rail will submit the planning application.
It is hoped to have a website created in this time where details of the planning application can be viewed and commented on. Once present conditions allow further public engagement will be carried out.
A proposed completion date for the construction is December 2021 all going well but may go into 2022.
Car park i.e. size capacity, discussion on the size of the car park, this was mentioned as previous designs were of a car park to take a capacity of 200 cars, presently the design is siting a capacity of circa 70. The new design will be in the region of 70 vehicles but there is sufficient land being purchased to incorporate the 200 capacity as originally intended should the need arise.
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Electric charging points: this was raised and inline with government policy, electric charging points will be installed.
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Toilet facilities: there is no plans to install toilets at the station, this would need to be taken up via Scottish Borders Council, as they see this is, as an unmanned station, this is not policy for toilets to be installed.
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Ingress and egress points to the station, major concern: The question was raised with a view to a site meeting to best explain and demonstrate the ongoing problem within the village of traffic flow, Reston main street is linear in design and has historically suffered from traffic flow due to the ‘Bottleneck’ near to the local shop, with an increase in ‘On Street’ parking. With envisaged increase in traffic flow, the proposed station access from the B6438 will exacerbated the traffic problem further. A proposed roundabout is to be included to the design for access to the station car park, this will be near to the existing access road to ‘The Orchard’ road, ‘The Orchard’ road will be closed off from its existing access point and access to ‘The Orchard’ will be via a new road running parallel to it.
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Further questions were raised as to why the railway ‘Underpass’ was not used in the design, the ‘Underpass’ was not used as this was not suitable for safety concerns primarily because of the existing farm vehicle traffic and present pedestrian use.
Two lifts are to be installed, these are to be the first ones in the UK of this design, to be installed at Reston and East Linton stations. To be more suitable for disabled users.
Meeting concluded.
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Friday 28/02/2020- Allan Brooking from Network Rail attended the Reston café, Allan is the Community liaison officer for Reston station. Today he listened to local residents views and suggestions on Reston station. Some of the community council members took Allan around Reston showing the layout of the area.
Some of the concerns raised today were highlighted to Allan, one point raised was the 'car park' the screening request sates the car park to have spaces for 70 cars, in previous documents, this was believed to be in the region of 140 spaces- ample room for expansion. We do not want to see a problem created by lack of parking as already experienced in both Berwick and Dunbar, while we have the room, lets use it.
Another point was Not to use 'The Orchard' road as an access/egress route, this is to preserve neighbour privacy and congestion problems.
Alternate routes were discussed with access/egress routes via the B6437 road (Chirnside road) and the old Mart entrance.
The installation of Electric vehicle charging points in the car park.
All these points were raised today and Allan is to feedback to Network Rail.
Allan commented on the friendly and welcoming people of Reston- a credit to the residents.
Today (25th Feb ) we learned of a planning submission to Scottish Borders Council planning page.
Network Rail has requested a 'Screening Opinion', requesting the views of the council planning department pertaining to Reston station.
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Below is the documents submitted by Network Rail.
You can also view these and any future documents via the shortcut here. Type in 20/00215/SCR in the application box.
Received today 31/01/20
Network Rail intend to submit their planning application in late Spring 2020 for Reston and winter 2020 for East Linton but in advance of this are already collating the information to undertake an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) screening, as the first stage in the planning application process.
I’ll be able to provide you with a construction date for each of the stations once the designs for the stations are further advanced. However, Markle level crossing needs to be upgraded before East Linton station can open. These works are currently scheduled for 2022.
Network Rail are progressing with a communications plan for both stations following the appointment of their community representative. I’ve asked Network Rail to consider the optimum way to keep both residents and RAGES informed of progress including face to face meetings. Is it ok if I pass your contact details onto the Network Rail team to liaise over possible dates?
Ground investigation works at both Reston and East Linton are due to start next week.
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Rail Technical Services
Rail Directorate
T: 0141 272 7490
BlackBerry: 07825175193
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Update January 2020
Network Rail, with their designer, are progressing with the designs for both stations. A holistic approach is being taken to the design of the station ensuring that the end to end journey undertaken by passengers is considered and reflected in the design. This includes consideration of the appropriate means of access for passengers. Network Rail have asked their designer to identify as a priority whether ramped access to the platforms would be compliant with industry standards and negotiable for individuals with reduced mobility, using a common sense approach. Transport Scotland has asked Network Rail to consider the use of lifts as part of this work.
Network Rail intend to submit their planning application in late Spring 2020 but in advance of this are already collating the information to undertake an Environmental Impact Assememnt (EIA), as the first stage in the planning application process.
Network Rail’s contractor will provide a dedicated communications representative for the two new stations and community liaison will begin in earnest in early spring. Project information will be shared, and feedback sought through community/ public events. The project will also take the opportunity to visit nearby primary schools and inform pupils of the planning and work involved in building a new station in their community. STEM ambassadors will engage with pupils to teach youngsters all about the railway and the importance of STEM subjects which are needed for the next generation of railway workers. If you know of any community/public events where it would be useful for project representatives to attend as the project progresses and more information is available, do let me know.
Transport Scotland is engaging with the East Coast Event Steering Group (ECESG) to identify opportunities to provide an acceptable timetable for potential passengers while understanding the potential service conflicts, franchise commitments and operator aspirations. Commercial discussions have commenced with the train operating companies regarding providing this timetable for the stations.
Network Rail’s contractor BAM Ritchies are expected to be visiting Reston and East Linton tomorrow with a view to assessing the sites, before firming up their site investigation/ ground investigation price.
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