Northumberland Line reopening: progress updates

[GuyGibsonVC]

From this December's timetable change, the only regular through Northern services at Newcastle will be the Middlesbrough semifasts every other hour with Carlisle stoppers, with Carlisle semifasts and Hexham, Morpeth and Nunthorpe stoppers terminating at Newcastle.

(Off-topic, but I hadn't realised how bad the connections would be under the draft timetable in some North East cases – Hexham local stations to Middlesbrough would go from a direct service to a 52 minute wait at Newcastle.)

I wonder what the rationale is behind the change?

 

[A S Leib]

I wonder what the rationale is behind the change?

Reliability is the reason given on the (currently being changed) ECML timetable website.

 

[ainsworth74]

If we're going to start getting into the weeds of the changes being brought in by the December 2025 timetable change it's probably time to take it to the dedicated thread for the ECML timetable change

December 2025 East Coast Timetable

Mod Note: Posts #1 - #25 originally in this thread. Mod Note: Discussion of the actual timetable can be found from this later post in the thread here. Article in today's Sunday Times says new TT will go ahead, announcement expected 'this month'. 'Now Network Rail, the train operators and...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[nerdowell]

Northumberland Park Construction Update - "Opening Later this year"

Northumberland Park Update

Ahead of the lift installation and platform works over the next few weeks, we catch up with the project team to hear the latest progress on station construction at Northumberland Park.Northumberland Park Station Update Northumberland Park - Lift Shaft Installation & Platform Works

www.northumberlandline.uk

Ahead of the lift installation and platform works over the next few weeks, we catch up with the project team to hear the latest progress on station construction at Northumberland Park...

Special 158 Livery: The Northumbrian - Unveiled featuring imagery of landmarks from along the Northumberland Line including Woodhorn Pit Wheels, Blyth Beach Huts and Seaton Delaval Hall

Introducing "The Northumbrian"

New train artwork celebrating the reopening of the Northumberland Line and the history of the local area has been unveiled by Northern.Featuring depictions of local landmarks including Seaton Delaval Hall, Blyth Beach Huts and Woodhorn Colliery, the colourful vinyl was revealed during a ceremony...

www.northumberlandline.uk

New train artwork celebrating the reopening of the Northumberland Line and the history of the local area has been unveiled by Northern.

Featuring depictions of local landmarks including Seaton Delaval Hall, Blyth Beach Huts and Woodhorn Colliery, the colourful vinyl was revealed during a ceremony at Ashington station earlier today.

It also includes football fans in Newcastle United and Sunderland colours, The Angel of the North and George Stephenson, the famous engineer from Northumberland who played a key role in the creation of the modern railway in 1825...

 

[hacman]

One of those routes though where it always seems like a solid 95%+ of the train gets off at Newcastle in either direction though. Admittedly I don't do it all that often but on every occasion I've seen it the train basically empties on arrival and then refills. Obviously it would be better if the connection wasn't 52 minutes though but I don't think it's a disaster either way.

That's true, and I suspect MetroCentre and Sunderland, which have the most alternatives, make up most of the total through demand.

This is the reason for the change - the number of people who actually travel across Newcastle to any station that isn't Sunderland or Metrocentre is very small, and having trains run through has long been a cause of knock-on delays.

The connection timing needs to be tightened up, but hopefully, this can then start to be done with future timetable changes.

To this end, it has been a very good thing that the NL is currently an isolated diagram for the most part - faster journey times and good connections are worth a lot, but they will always come second to consistency and on-time running as that is what makes a service reliable. Reliability is one of the headline selling points of this project, with the existing bus services being anything but.

 

[Wallsendmag]

Noticed the lift shaft and stairs in place on the way past yesterday.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Looks like I caught the branded 158 the day after it had been launched. Similar branding on the inside of the unit too, along the band between the luggage rack and the window.

It looked very smart. I was pleased to finally tick the line off too.

 

[GuyGibsonVC]

Opening of two Northumberland Line stations delayed until 2026

It comes just a week after the council said the stations remained on track to open this year

www.chroniclelive.co.uk

‘The latest delays on the £300 million railway was revealed by council leader Glen Sanderson at Wednesday's meeting of Northumberland County Council’

Two of the remaining stations on the Northumberland Line railway will not reopen to the public until 2026, it has been confirmed...

Looks like Northumberland Park and Bedlington have been pushed into next year.

 

[Meole]

At least both are still to be opened, always a chance they could have been cancelled to save costs.

 

[GuyGibsonVC]

Major milestone marked as half a million journeys are made on the Northumberland Line | Northern News

Passengers have made 500,000 journeys on the Northumberland Line since it opened, Northern has announced.

media.northernrailway.co.uk

500,000 passengers have now travelled on the Northumberland Line since it opened, train operator Northern has announced.

The operator has been running trains since the line opened in December 2024, with the milestone of half a million customer journeys achieved just eight months later.

If you build it, they will come…

 

[A S Leib]

Major milestone marked as half a million journeys are made on the Northumberland Line | Northern News

Passengers have made 500,000 journeys on the Northumberland Line since it opened, Northern has announced.

media.northernrailway.co.uk

If you build it, they will come…

I won't be surprised to see Ashington with higher passenger numbers than Morpeth, in 2025-6 if not this year (as ORR statistics are April–March). I'd guess journeys to / from Ashington make up the majority of those on the line right now, and probably would have taken some journeys away from Morpeth (520,000 passengers in 2023-4).

 

[androdas]

In my experience Newsham and even Deleval seem to get as many boarding as Ashington. But I do mainly use the line in the peaks.

Absolutely Morpeth (and Cramlington) will have taken a hit. Before Ashington opened I used to drive to Morpeth quite regularly when I travelled for work long distance. Now I park at Ashington for free and change at Newcastle. I have colleagues from Cramlington that now just use Deleval as it has free parking and more trains

 

[GuyGibsonVC]

I won't be surprised to see Ashington with higher passenger numbers than Morpeth, in 2025-6 if not this year (as ORR statistics are April–March). I'd guess journeys to / from Ashington make up the majority of those on the line right now, and probably would have taken some journeys away from Morpeth (520,000 passengers in 2023-4).

Yes, the half hour frequency, free parking and cheaper fares will have shifted some from Morpeth. Even Pegswood, with its handful of trains a day, see people go down the road to Ashington.

Deleval has been the dark horse. Saves you getting stuck in the North Tyneside traffic and you can be in the City Centre in less than 20 mins for £2.

No wonder the car park is full!

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Can anyone confirm the station opening date for Blyth Bebside please? Last news was late August / early September. I note from RealtimeTrains that calls are shown as 'unadvertised ordinary passenger', but that all trains are calling.

 

[GuyGibsonVC]

Can anyone confirm the station opening date for Blyth Bebside please? Last news was late August / early September. I note from RealtimeTrains that calls are shown as 'unadvertised ordinary passenger', but that all trains are calling.

There are some road resurfacing works planned for mid September. With the other stations, they usually give around a couple of weeks notice.

With this in mind, I’d say any opening will be probably be in late September at the earliest.

 

[swt_passenger]

There are some road resurfacing works planned for mid September. With the other stations, they usually give around a couple of weeks notice.

With this in mind, I’d say any opening will be probably be in late September at the earliest.

On the Northumberland Line website they've just announced the 2-week delay to nearby road works, that should have been happening next week, because they've just found "access challenges resulting from complex issues with utilities in this area". So I expect that’s possibly the same work area as you have mentioned?

There are also "unknown utilities" causing delays to associated road works near Bedlington station. Amazing how often utilities issues come up after work starts, I suppose the older a place is, the more of a problem there is with accurate record keeping.

I forgot to add a link to the Northumberland Line news page, it’s the top 2 articles:

News | Northumberland Line

www.northumberlandline.uk

Front Street, Bebside - Roadworks Update
...the final stage of the highways works will now take place overnight during a four-night full road closure on Front Street, starting on Friday 12 September and finishing on Monday 15 September. Works will be ongoing between 7pm and 6am each day during this period...

Bedlington Road Works Update
We are pleased to share that the works on Ravensworth Street/Station Street, to complete essential drainage upgrades, are now complete and the road will reopen at 5pm on Friday 22nd August 2025.

However, these works have discovered underground utilities in the area, which were previously unknown, meaning that the next phase of works (the closure of part of Barrington Road) have been postponed...

 

[GuyGibsonVC]

On the Northumberland Line website they‘ve just announced the 2 week delay to nearby road works, that should have been happening next week, because they’ve just found “access challenges resulting from complex issues with utilities in this area”. So I expect that’s possibly the same work area as you have mentioned?

There are also “unknown utilities” causing delays to associated road works near Bedlington station. Amazing how often utilities issues come up after work starts, I suppose the older a place is the more of a problem there is with accurate record keeping.

Yes, that was the work I was referencing.

Bedlington has the same issues. I have a bit of sympathy as that part of Northumberland was one big coal mine and I’d imagine the earthworks and utilities are complex.

Still, nearly two years overdue is a bit galling.

 

[danielnez1]

Yes, that was the work I was referencing.

Bedlington has the same issues. I have a bit of sympathy as that part of Northumberland was one big coal mine and I’d imagine the earthworks and utilities are complex.

Still, nearly two years overdue is a bit galling.

The money pit of inefficiency is appauling.

 

[Killingworth]

Massive match at St James Park tonight to prove the value of this rail link from the heartland of NUFC's support but seems normal 2 car trains into Newcastle. KO 20.00 so those wanting to get back to Ashington will welcome the 4 car 22.16, the last train of the day.

This may not go well, football or travel wise? Hope Northern have a contingency plan for their part of the evening.

 

[duffield]

Massive match at St James Park tonight to prove the value of this rail link from the heartland of NUFC's support but seems normal 2 car trains into Newcastle. KO 20.00 so those wanting to get back to Ashington will welcome the 4 car 22.16, the last train of the day.

This may not go well, football or travel wise? Hope Northern have a contingency plan for their part of the evening.

It sounds pretty difficult for getting that train. With time added on, matches often get very close to the two hour mark, 15 minutes to get out of the (presumably capacity filled) ground and over to the station doesn't seem feasible to me. But I'm not a local, maybe this can be made to work.
Obviously if the result is very clear cut by 70-80 minutes some people will leave early, but it could be close goal fest with Liverpool looking like they can both score and concede lots of goals at present.

Ideally Northern would delay this service by 15-30 minutes, surely they could get a path at that time of night? Or even better run and extra service.

 

[Killingworth]

It sounds pretty difficult for getting that train. With time added on, matches often get very close to the two hour mark, 15 minutes to get out of the (presumably capacity filled) ground and over to the station doesn't seem feasible to me. But I'm not a local, maybe this can be made to work.
Obviously if the result is very clear cut by 70-80 minutes some people will leave early, but it could be close goal fest with Liverpool looking like they can both score and concede lots of goals at present.

Ideally Northern would delay this service by 15-30 minutes, surely they could get a path at that time of night? Or even better run and extra service.

55,000 crowd expected. That last Northern service will be very cosy!

TPE are seemingly not offering any direct services back to Liverpool after their 20.58.

No sign of any charter trains today either? Makes one wonder what's the point of a railway?

It should be a good evening for taxi drivers in Newcastle tonight.

 

[Llandudno]

55,000 crowd expected. That last Northern service will be very cosy!

TPE are seemingly not offering any direct services back to Liverpool after their 20.58.

No sign of any charter trains today either? Makes one wonder what's the point of a railway?

It should be a good evening for taxi drivers in Newcastle tonight.

Or the match kicks off no later than 1830…

 

[duffield]

Or the match kicks off no later than 1830…

As it's a bank holiday, if it was for the fans' convenience it would be an afternoon match. But I guess Sky wanted it at 20:00 for maximum peak viewing time - just about the worst possible time for Liverpool fans.

 

[zwk500]

No sign of any charter trains today either? Makes one wonder what's the point of a railway?

Charter trains are increasingly hard to run for football matches, especially late kickoffs. Racing to beat the blocks while trying to avoid getting trapped behind all-shacks but not leave all the fans behind and it quickly just becomes a hiding to nothing.
The public services finishing by 10pm is poor though.

It should be a good evening for taxi drivers in Newcastle tonight.

When does the Metro stop running?

 

[GuyGibsonVC]

Massive match at St James Park tonight to prove the value of this rail link from the heartland of NUFC's support but seems normal 2 car trains into Newcastle. KO 20.00 so those wanting to get back to Ashington will welcome the 4 car 22.16, the last train of the day.

This may not go well, football or travel wise? Hope Northern have a contingency plan for their part of the evening.

The new December timetable has a 2321 departure back to Ashington which will be very welcome.

This helps those going to the match, theatre, shows, etc.

 

[Killingworth]

Charter trains are increasingly hard to run for football matches, especially late kickoffs. Racing to beat the blocks while trying to avoid getting trapped behind all-shacks but not leave all the fans behind and it quickly just becomes a hiding to nothing.
The public services finishing by 10pm is poor though.

When does the Metro stop running?

Sorry we've gone off topic. There's a new thread encompassing football and the railway here; https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...rains-home-for-away-fans.291308/#post-7439730 Should football game finish times take into account suitable trains home for away fans?

But in this case they should allow for home fans too! The Ashington and Blyth area is historically a hot bed of support for the Magpies ( home of Jackie Milburn, the Charlton brothers, Dan Burn etc). The Metro doesn't get close - but last trains normally run from Newcastle city centre just before midnight

 

[xotGD]

The new December timetable has a 2321 departure back to Ashington which will be very welcome.

This helps those going to the match, theatre, shows, etc.

The notion of folk from Ashington going to the theatre made me chuckle.

 

[dave1]

Any update from anyone when Bebside is going to open

 

[swt_passenger]

Any update from anyone when Bebside is going to open

I think no earlier than the end of September, based on Saturday‘s discussions about problems with local roads. (Post #1455 onwards.). The project website still does not give a date.

 

[Tge1435]

Any update from anyone when Bebside is going to open

The current programme indicates that Bebside Station will open in October 2025 as whilst the construction activity is nearing completion, the complex regulatory process of securing ‘entry into service’ will take a few months to conclude; it is expected that Bedlington Station and Northumberland Park will open in early 2026.