HomeGeneral InterestReston station reopens after 50 years

Reston station reopens after 50 years

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The new Reston station saw its first train at 06:16 on 23 May when the 05:29 TransPennine Express service from Edinburgh to Newcastle arrived. This was the first time a train had stopped there since the original station was closed in 1964.

Reston is a small village of about 200 houses in the Scottish Borders, 47 miles from Edinburgh and 10 miles north of Berwick-upon-Tweed, close to several settlements including the coastal town of Eyemouth. The 70-space car park has been built in the expectation that the station will be a well-used railhead for the area.

Scottish Transport Minister, Jenny Gilruth, advised Rail Engineer that the £20 million investment provided by the Scottish Government for the new station would open up the area and that there are plans to improve bus links to maximise the benefit that the station will provide to the local community.

Aerial view of the reopened Reston station.

The station is served by eight trains a day all operated by TransPennine Express, except for a LNER service that provides a 07:27 service to London and an evening arrival from London at 21:41.

The station is built on an embankment and has two 270-metre-long, 4-metre-wide platforms. Its novel ribbon footbridge incorporates lift shafts on either side, with the north shaft 17 metres high and serving three levels ─ the interchange (ground level), the north platform, and the bridge crossing.

Various ceremonies marked the day with the most intense taking place at the station between 10:10, when the Transport Minister and main press party arrived at the station on a train from Edinburgh, and 10:22, when the next train to Edinburgh departed.

This train did so carrying 49 pupils from Reston Primary School who had been given train tickets by TransPennine for a day out in Edinburgh to mark the occasion.

Image credit: David Shirres / Network Rail

David Shirres BSc CEng MIMechE DEM
David Shirres BSc CEng MIMechE DEMhttp://therailengineer.com

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Rolling stock, depots, Scottish and Russian railways


David Shirres joined British Rail in 1968 as a scholarship student and graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Sussex University. He has also been awarded a Diploma in Engineering Management by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers.

His roles in British Rail included Maintenance Assistant at Slade Green, Depot Engineer at Haymarket, Scottish DM&EE Training Engineer and ScotRail Safety Systems Manager.

In 1975, he took a three-year break as a volunteer to manage an irrigation project in Bangladesh.

He retired from Network Rail in 2009 after a 37-year railway career. At that time, he was working on the Airdrie to Bathgate project in a role that included the management of utilities and consents. Prior to that, his roles in the privatised railway included various quality, safety and environmental management posts.

David was appointed Editor of Rail Engineer in January 2017 and, since 2010, has written many articles for the magazine on a wide variety of topics including events in Scotland, rail innovation and Russian Railways. In 2013, the latter gave him an award for being its international journalist of the year.

He is also an active member of the IMechE’s Railway Division, having been Chair and Secretary of its Scottish Centre.

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