SCOTTISH Borders Council has agreed to spash the cash in a bid to bring a rail station back to Berwickshire.

The local authority has offered to increase its contribution for the re-opening of Reston station to £2.84 million.

In 2014, Scottish Borders and East Lothian councils made a joint proposal to contribute £3.1 million towards the reinstatement of Reston and East Linton stations on the East Coast Main Line.

Following design work undertaken by Network Rail, current estimates are £10.63 million for a new station at Reston and £11.13 million for a new station at East Linton.

Both local authorities and the South East of Scotland Transport Partnership (SEStran) held discussions with Transport Minister Humza Yousaf MSP in June this year, at which the Scottish Government offered to provide half the costs of both stations.

Both councils have now agreed to increase their contributions to try and deliver these new stations.

Councillor Gordon Edgar told us: “I am pleased that the Council has been able to increase its offer to the Scottish Government towards the delivery of Reston station, and we continue to work closely with partners to ensure this becomes a reality as soon as possible.”

This increased offer to the Scottish Government was endorsed in private at a meeting of Scottish Borders Council’s Executive Committee on Tuesday.

East Lothian Council met earlier this week and also agreed to increase their contribution.

Should the offers be accepted by the Scottish Government, both councils and SEStran will be submitting a fresh bid to the Scottish Stations Fund which could close the funding gap to allow the project to go ahead.