A campaign to reinstate the Dumfries to Stranraer railway line has been relaunched to mark the 60th anniversary of the Beeching Report which led to its demise.
Sandy Rogerson has been campaigning for years for the return of the 73-mile route, known as the Paddy Line, which was closed in the 1960s after the infamous cuts which saw 55 per cent of stations in the UK close.
Mr Rogerson, 53, said: “We’re losing a lot of young people out of the area. We’ve got a lack of job opportunities and we’ve not got a good infrastructure.
“Rebuilding that railway and providing a decent public transport alternative right across the region is bound to attract jobs, investment and hopefully keep young people in the area.
“It takes over two hours on a bus and a train would be about an hour and a half. It would be much quicker.”
Sixty years ago, Dr Richard Beeching published his report into Britain’s rail network, leading to the closure of 5,000 miles of track, more than 2,000 stations and the loss of 67,000 jobs.
The route from Dumfries to Stranraer closed in 1965.
Mr Rogerson said: “We can’t just keep building roads. It would cost three times as much to dual the A75 as it would to reopen the railway.
The petition can be found at: you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/reopen-the-dumfries-stranraer-railway.
