More time needed to settle £1.6m claim over Borders Railway damage

Lawyers are holding out for more time to try and settle a long-running £1.6M compensation claim over the construction of the Borders Railway.

Scottish Borders Council want reimbursed for the repairs of roads, bridges and walls which were damaged during the building of the £300m track between Edinburgh Waverley and Tweedbank.

They launched a legal action against Network Rail Infrastructure Ltd and a two-day debate was due to get underway at Selkirk Sheriff Court this morning.

However, the hearing was cancelled to allow more talks to take place behind the scenes in the hope of reaching an out-of-court settlement.

In a statement Scottish Borders Council would only say:

Talks have broken down in the past at attempts to get a resolution with Network Rail, which owns and manages Scotland's rail infrastructure, resulting in the council resorting to legal action.

The claim centres on the catalogue of damage inflicted on and around the A7 corridor north of Galashiels and the responsibility of the council since 1994.

The Newtown St Boswells-based local authority said they picked up the tab for the repairs which they argued were the responsibility of Network Rail.

It is said this happened in the weeks before the Borders Railway opened in September 2015.