I think an early suggestion by locals was that it should be a Metro extension, but as I think was mentioned earlier in this thread that was ruled out early on as too expensive in terms of electrification, and would apparently have negated any time savings compared to buses if running via Gosforth and Jesmond.
Terminating at Northumberland Park & continuing by T & W Metro instead, would mean a significant extra journey time to the main destination of Newcastle City Centre. There are 10 other Metro stations to get to Central.
A daft idea as the line clearly continues all the way to the ECML junction with a grade separation to cross the metro alignment. Whether the new service terminated at or ran on past a Northumberland Park call, a dedicated new platform would be required on the existing single line. The Metro station is a single island configuration there so there's no easy possibility of simply opening up a back face of a Metro side platform and using the existing access and facilities, something that might be plausible at the next station, Palmersville.
Agreed it's a much better hub all round, and if you're going from Ashington to Cullercoats or Tynemouth you'd save a couple of miles and the time involved in doubling back. There's a big multistorey Nexus car park and shops nearby as well.
And if you are going shopping, the Metro to Monument or Haymarket is more convenient than a train to the Central Station.
www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk
The current PM shouldn't be short of spare time by then.
He will be very short of spare time probably as he will be enriching hiimself with an endless round of talks and keynote speeches: "How I got Brexit done".
I imagine the drivers of the motorcade will know where to go from the helipad whoever is the PM.
Initially, yes, But they then go through it with the private office, and it is normal to have quite a lot of revisions (it’s a good excuse to let go of some things that no one really ever wanted to do in the first place).
Thank you Red Star- quite so. I was forgetting that an 'official' opening need not (and generally doesn't) correspond with planned first trains- too much to go wrong!
Can anyone think of a reason why the old Ashington platforms actually need to be demolished, as the new single platform station is further south than the existing platforms, and at the end of a down siding? Does it possibly mean the through tracks are being repositioned slightly?
Almost certainly wont meet the criterion for a new terminal platform, passenger egress height etc.
That’s already known, as I wrote we already know the new platform is offline and to the south of the existing station one reason being to prevent reversing passenger services blocking the line for freight - so there’s no obvious reason to remove the old platforms.
