NatEx Win ICEC

[Nick W]

Tyneside is pretty well served at the moment...

900,000 thousand people live in tyneside of which only 250,000 or so live in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Given that that area has one of the smallest car ownership levels, some of the poorest roads in England and is serious need of regeneration, I think I'd like to see some services looped via Sunderland, possibly via Middlesborough, another under-served area with a population of 450,000, and then onto Scotland. Both areas are crying out for a high-speed line.

Grand central will begin serving the area soon, so we'll see how it goes from there.

 

[Craig]

I think you're confusing Tyneside with Tyne and Wear.

Sunderland and the Durham coast (Wearside) will be well served by Grand Central. I don't think there are any more paths available at Sunderland for a northbound service to Scotland. There are plenty connections available by taking a Metro to Newcastle anyway.

The only other line worth looking at would be the Tyne Valley, but I don't think there's many stations (if any) that are big enough for HSTs. Improving the local service with better connections at Newcastle would be a better solution.

 

[Spaceflower]

What about the leamside line into Newcastle (via Washington). This could be looped via Teeside, again, and wouldn't need to compete with metro services, in fact making use of freed paths created by them between Wardley and Nrewcastle. What ya think?

I still think Peterlee should be served by grand central too, creating an additional market. I would argue much of its current traffic is going via Durham, road or Newcastle Airport.

The Metro was the worst thing in the world for Sunderlands heavy rail services, effectively turning the largest city in the North East into a Newcastle suburb, from a transport point of view. What about the new station? hands up who liked the old one better. It was much more airy and some badly needed sun and fresh air could get in. There was even 2 redudant platforms with space for two more lines (one through and one bay). Surely making use of this space to create additional paths would have been more forward thinking.

 

[Craig]

Re-opening Leamside is a good idea. It'd be a good diversionary route if the ECML is closed and it'd get freight off the mainline. A car loading facility could be built at Nissan too.

The Metro to Sunderland was great for me. I went to uni in Sunderland so it meant I could stay at home and commute there. It's worth bearing in mind that the Transpennine Express services that used to run to Sunderland pretty much always ran empty beyond Newcastle.

 

[Spaceflower]

A car loading facility could be built at Nissan too.

Yes it would take more lorries off the road and save money, wow. They are currently took via a shuttle to Tyne Dock for loading?

It's worth bearing in mind that the Transpennine Express services that used to run to Sunderland pretty much always ran empty beyond Newcastle.

Except when Sunderland were playing at home lol. The local train services on this route were very heavily used, and werent they more frequent? TPE extended services also ran to Sunderland from the south and i always found them at least half full. I do agree though, it has increased connectivity throughout Tyne and Wear, making peoples existing journeys easier*

The Metro to Sunderland was great for me. I went to uni in Sunderland so it meant I could stay at home and commute there

.

I still do

* I did a survey on the metro extension to Sunderland and what i found was that many people had transferred from existing public transport, NOT road, which, too me, defeats the object a bit of a new transport system. The targets were not met and services were cut.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

TPE services to Sunderland often replaced the local services due to them being run by the same operator. Perhaps this is another reason why they no longer run?

 

[adambro]

900,000 thousand people live in tyneside of which only 250,000 or so live in Newcastle upon Tyne.

Given that that area has one of the smallest car ownership levels, (...) I think I'd like to see some services looped via Sunderland, possibly via Middlesborough, another under-served area with a population of 450,000, and then onto Scotland. Both areas are crying out for a high-speed line.

I would suggest you have answered the question as to why there isn't a high speed line serving the area. Low levels of car ownership probably indicate low incomes etc. In that case there is unlikely to be a market for intercity services.

 

[Craig]

Yes it would take more lorries off the road and save money, wow. They are currently took via a shuttle to Tyne Dock for loading?

Not sure, I assume so.

Except when Sunderland were playing at home lol. The local train services on this route were very heavily used, and werent they more frequent? TPE extended services also ran to Sunderland from the south and i always found them at least half full.

Surely it's easier to get to the Stadium of Light from the new Metro station though? I think the service was half hourly with extra peak trains before the Metro. In my experience the majority of the passengers on the TPE services would get off at Newcastle anyway. There's a lot of people who travel though to/from other parts of the Metro network, especially now Sunderland trains now run to Airport, so direct Metros rather than train and a change at Newcastle is better for them.

 

[Spaceflower]

Howay man, youre going off topic

Yes, im pretty sure cars are loaded onto the train at Tyne dock.

 

[Nick W]

I would suggest you have answered the question as to why there isn't a high speed line serving the area. Low levels of car ownership probably indicate low incomes etc. In that case there is unlikely to be a market for intercity services.

Sounds like a very conservative policy. Perhaps you could explain to the people in that region why some of their taxes would have gone to high speed line 1, yet they can't have a high speed line, and are only just getting IC services to london.

 

[Mojo]

Sounds like a very conservative policy. Perhaps you could explain to the people in that region why some of their taxes would have gone to high speed line 1, yet they can't have a high speed line, and are only just getting IC services to london.

Talking of conservative policies, Nick, should an area with the highest urban traffic speeds in the country (Tyne and Wear) recieve more investment in transport?

 

[Spaceflower]

Well we do have some of the lowest rail usage figures

 

[Mojo]

I don't know much about that, but there must be something the area is doing right. It has the 2nd highest usage levels of the UK light rail schemes (but OTOH is almost twice as long as other systems.) The width of roads do certaintly have some part to play. Around 40% of major routes are at least dual carriageway.

 

[rail-britain]

Keep your eyes on the Competition Commission website
http://www.competition-commission.org.uk
Details will appear within the next 10 business days that they are to investigate National Express operation of the East Coast franchise

When Nat Ex won the ScotRail franchise, they were forced to sell their Scottish Citylink operation, and many in the industry believe Nat Ex may have some restrictions placed on its coach business once the investigation is completed