by late 1972. Negotiations for the sale of parts of the railway solum had already begun, despite a request by Lord Melgund for it to be safeguarded. Lothian Regional Council was offered the section between Millerhill and the southern Midlothian boundary for £7,000 in May 1975 but refused on account of the limited possibilities for reuse of the trackbed and the potential maintenance liability involved. The short viaduct over the Teviot in Hawick was dismantled in September 1975, with Hawick station itself becoming the site of the Teviotdale Leisure Centre, and the A7 road was realigned on parts of the solum, notably north of Heriot, by 1977. Redevelopment of the trackbed accelerated after 1984 with the construction of a small housing estate near the site of Gorebridge station, the Melrose bypass in 1988 over much of the trackbed through Melrose station, as well as further A7 improvements including the Dalkeith western bypass and the Hardengreen bypass in 2000. In 1986, the Tarras and Byreburn viaducts on the Langholm branch were demolished. Cut off from Edinburgh to the north and Carlisle to the south, those without a car had no option but to travel by bus. The additional bus services laid on by Eastern Scottish as a condition of closure were more frequent than the Waverley Route's trains, but the journey time was 50% longer. The Galashiels-Edinburgh X95 service took 75 minutes in 2006 to travel the distance, this journey time increasing to 86 minutes northbound in 2010 and May 2011 as a result of timetable changes. This compares unfavourably with the last Waverley Route timetable in 1968–1969, according to which the slowest train took 65 minutes over the same distance, whereas the fastest managed the journey in 42 minutes. Infrastructure and services Passenger services The initial service between Edinburgh and Carlisle consisted of four trains each way daily: an express, a fast, a local and a Parliamentary. Journey times were 3 hours and 3 minutes for the express and fast trains, and 4 hours and 36 minutes for the local and Parliamentary services. There were no through services; the express and fast trains connected with services from England at Carlisle. Passengers departing Edinburgh at 9:45 am would arrive at at 9:50 pm, while an afternoon service connected with the overnight southbound West Coast express. Two stopping services each way were provided on Sundays. When the Midland opened its Settle-Carlisle line,