The significant government cash injection into the Borderlands growth deal has brought fresh hopes to a railway campaign group.

Announced last Wednesday by the governments in Westminster and Edinburgh, the combined pledge to the cross-border economic growth scheme totalling £345m has sparked enthusiasm among the Campaign to Open Gilsland Station (COGS).

Gilsland, east of Brampton and straddling the border between Cumbria and Northumberland, lies on the Carlisle to Newcastle line but has been without a railway station since 1967.

Supported by MPs Rory Stewart and Guy Opperman, whose Penrith and the Border and Hexham constituencies cover the village, the campaign’s treasurer Dan Newrick said the group’s major obstacle is finding funding.

“The first estimated cost to reopen the station was the enormous figure of £28.6m,” said Mr Newrick, who is also chairman of Upper Denton parish council.

“We couldn’t believe it, it sounded like they wanted to buy the whole village, not reopen the station. So we challenged that.

“The latest figure we have from them went down to between £7m and £8m. That was our first successful challenge.”

But according to Mr Newrick, the group has now come to an “impasse”. Despite support form MPs and Network Rail, the next stage - generating a strategic business case to demonstrate that the investment would be worthwhile - could cost upwards of £400,000.

“In other words, it’s a question of can we get any money at all, and that’s really what it’s down to,” Mr Newrick said.

He said the station’s greatest value lies in its close proximity to Hadrian’s Wall.

“We know that we can’t sustain a station from an economic point of view relying on just the people that live in this area,” he said. “That’s one of our problems, we just haven’t got the population.

“What we’re trying to do is make it a destination station. You arrive at Gilsland if you want to walk on the Roman Wall trail.

“Gilsland is the only station where the Hadrian’s Wall Heritage Trial crosses the railway itself. So you would get off on the platform, and that’s it, you’re on the trail - 10m, if that, and you’re there.”

Mr Newrick added that reopening the railway station became more important when the AD122 bus service running along Hadrian’s Wall stopped journeys into Cumbria in 2014.

“We’re a prime site on Hadrian’s Wall, we have the main Carlisle to Newcastle railway running through the village, but nothing stops. We need to have some form of public transport that we can all access.”

A spokesman for Cumbria County Council said: “The council recognises there are many proposed projects that local communities and organisations would like to see delivered as part of the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal.

“The council is unable to confirm which projects will be supported at this stage. We will be working towards agreeing Heads of Terms for the Deal over the coming months with the UK and Scottish Governments.”

A Carlisle City Council spokeswoman and a Northumberland County Council spokesman also said they were unable to confirm the projects that would be supported, as detailed negotiations were still to come in the coming months.

Colin Glover, the Carlisle City Council leader, has long supported the reopening of Gilsland station.

“The station would be important for the community at Gilsland, but also to those coming to this area to see Hadrian’s Wall,” he said.

“It would be a real boost for tourism for Carlisle, Gilsland and the wider area.

“I would be very supportive of finding ways to reopen Gilsland station.”