LARGE road and rail projects in the east of the region have been championed as worthy of inclusion in a massive drive to improve UK transport infrastructure.
Dumfriesshire, Clydesdale and Tweeddale MP David Mundell and Dumfriesshire constituency MSP Oliver Mundell are lobbying for the Borders Railway extension and the A75 upgrading to be delivered.
They had earlier welcomed the weekend announcement that Network Rail chairman Sir Peter Hendy had been appointed by the Prime Minister to lead a Union Connectivity Review.
The father and son political team state that the two local projects are an obvious choice for the study due to be completed next summer.
David Mundell said: "The first section of the Borders Railway has been a big success and having supported my Langholm constituents, who have campaigned for an extension route that serves the town, I will naturally push for its inclusion in the review.
"Likewise having recently launched, with Oliver and other colleagues, a renewed campaign to upgrade the A75, we have acknowledged the strong safety, strategic and economic case for widening the Gretna to Stranraer route."
Meanwhile, Oliver Mundell said: "The UK Government has concluded that substantial investment in national infrastructure can be a driver for economic growth and employment as we move forward and I'm determined that our area is included.
"Dumfriesshire is near the heart of the British Isles and I believe strengthening our road and rail links could make a huge difference to future prosperity.
“The A75 is very much Scotland’s forgotten road and after 13 years of SNP Government anything that can be done to push this vital project up the priority list, and shame Scottish Government Ministers into action, is to be welcomed.”
