Borders Railway has been named the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors’ Scottish infrastructure project of the year.
The project was recognised during a ceremony in Edinburgh for its delivery of essential facilities, services and infrastructure.
The £294m Borders Railway re-established passenger rail links for the first time in over 40 years from Edinburgh through Midlothian to Tweedbank last year and is the longest domestic rail line to be built in the UK for over 100 years.
Borders Railway, train passing through Galabank Pic: Peter Devlin
The programme of works included 30 miles of new railway, seven new stations, an upgrade of supporting infrastructure, refurbishment of 95 existing bridges and the installation of 42 new bridges.
Freyssinet supplied 107 bridge bearings for the project, which included 52 elastomeric bearings, 46 mechanical pot bearings and 9 guide, pin or rocker.
In addition, Freyssinet-owned company Reinforced Earth Company (RECo) designed and supplied Reinforced Earth precast panel walls to 26 structures, including Hardengreen Viaduct, the largest structure on the line. The approach embankments were built using Terraquad, a Reinforced Earth system of precast concrete facing panels tied together with galvanized steel reinforcing straps and held in place by backfill.
The railway line opened in September 2015 and welcomed over 500,000 people in its first five months of passenger service.
Chair of RICS Scotland judging panel, Colin Smith MRICS, said: “The new rail network addition is highly popular and the judges could not fail to consider the project’s delivery time, quality and inherent sustainability credentials.”
Borders Railway will represent Scotland in the RICS Awards Grand Final, which will take place in London in this October.