A PLANNED 35-mile rail network from Scotland's capital into the heart of the Borders is on track to be a repeat of the Edinburgh trams debacle, it has been claimed.
The warning came after the Borders Railway Project, that would link Edinburgh to Tweedbank for the first time since 1969, suffered extended delays and escalating costs.
Tory MSP John Lamont's comments came after figures released under the Freedom of Information Act that show completion has been delayed by a year to 2015, and that it will cost almost double the original budget of £115 million.
Almost £54m has already been spent on the scheme without a single piece of track being laid.
The Edinburgh trams project has also suffered extended delays, contractual problems and escalating costs, with the latest predictions going upwards of £1 billion, compared to the original £375m estimated in 2003.
Mr Lamont, MSP for Ettrick, Roxburgh and Berwickshire and the party's chief whip, said: "People are asking serious questions of the Borders Railway, and of the Scottish Government's handling of it, and quite rightly so. I think it has the potential to be another repeat of the trams debacle unless someone gets a grip soon."
Scottish Labour's Shadow Transport Minister Elaine Murray MSP said: "This is a complete shambolic mis-management of Scottish railways and means there are some serious questions for the Scottish Government to answer on this issue. Clearly Keith Brown [Minister for Transport] needs to get a grip of this issue, and fast."
A spokesman for Transport Scotland, the national transport agency, said: "The costs incurred are essential to delivering Borders Railway and have enabled the land on which it will be built to be purchased, design scoping work to be done, and the advance work to prepare for the start of construction to be undertaken.
"These costs would have been incurred no matter the undertaker, and the work associated will transfer to Network Rail, putting them at an advantage by allowing them to concentrate on the construction of the railway."
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