Haywain
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Because... politics.
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Northumberland Line reopening: progress updates
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The wording of the announcement would suggest trains will not be stopping at ManorsDfT has also issued press release about the reopening
Historic Northumberland Line to reopen next summer
Fully accessible stations are being built to give 6 Northumberland communities regular train services.www.gov.uk
SuspectUsual
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Well, quite coincidentally it’s the transport for the north annual conference in Newcastle today
swt_passenger
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It’s possibly getting off topic as speculation, but not calling at Manors would allow the services to use the reversible line as far as Heaton. There seems to have been a presumption here that they’d naturally use P1, but if they didn’t then skipping Manors could make sense to give more pathing options especially in the up direction.
I do like some of the wording, "the line will stop at..." makes it sound like it is all short disconnected sections
zwk500
Veteran Member
I think we can forgive the DfT press officers not being too careful about the differential between a Line (route) and Line (service).
Last time I was in Newcastle, a few years ago, I had difficulty finding Manors National Rail station from the Metro station. I knew they were separate stations but expected some signposting. Perhaps things have improved since then. Photos show a third track (with no platform). Is that the reversible line referred to?
Why? Nobody would plan to use Manors as in interchange between metro and heavy rail services given the extremely sparse national rail service, you'd use Central for that.
zwk500
Veteran Member
All lines through Manors are reversible, although generally the platform lines are used as the Up and Down Fasts, with the non-platform side a reversible slow line. However the crossovers at either end of Manors are used for trains to/from Newcastle throat to try and deconflict certain moves.
Quicker to transfer from National rail to Metro there than carry on into central??
zwk500
Veteran Member
How many journeys are being made into Newcastle from the north on trains that call at Manors that want the metro and aren't using the buses or driving to a metro station nearer the origin?
For a journey like Tynemouth to Cramlington changing at Manors seems to make sense, rather than change twice to get to Central or go the long way round the loop.
swt_passenger
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Yes. Before electrification there were four tracks as far as Heaton, with the slow pair heading off towards Tynemouth. Afterwards they effectively laid it out as primarily an up and down pair for the ECML, and a third line as far as Heaton depot entry. The latter is what I meant by a reversible line. It would allow, for example, a down train from P5 to be crossed to the down line behind an approaching up train beyond Manors, or even beyond the former Heaton Station site.
androdas
Member
Manors is handy for the east end of the city centre via the footbridge across the central motorway. There is a lot of development going on in that area at the minute on the old Bank of England site and Pilgrim Quarter, that may provide more of a use case for Manors in the future.
Anyone wanting the Metro for stations on the Yellow Line North of Newcastle will change at Northumberland Park rather than Central and anywhere South of there, changing at Manor's would involve changing trains twice since it's on the St James line.
There's very little logical sense changing there.
ivorytoast28
Member
Manors is only on the St James- Coast line so you can't go to central without either changing again at monument (or walking which is usually quicker given the metro is hardly frequent). If manors had a regular reliable national rail service I'm sure plenty would
No reason not to have clear signage anyway. It doesn't hurt and is good from an accessibility perspective
zwk500
Veteran Member
It may not hurt but it isn't free. And there's an art to signing something effectively in an urban area that requires time to locate the signs in the optimum positions. Time and experience aren't cheap, so the question becomes who pays? The railway says 'its' outside our boundary' and the council says 'it's being done for the railway, not for us' and so you have the mess British planning always ends up in.
Yeah no arguments about that. Personally I wish they'd shut the thing and use the time sitting there to open a station further North at either Heaton and/or around the Coast Road area. It's a waste of space and in the complete wrong place and both the above are massive residential areas with no form of train/metro.
Matey
Member
If Network Rail start surveying the line with drones, as they did with the Okehampton line, it is a good omen.
Do you realise you've just replied to a post that's getting on for three years old?
androdas
Member
Work to reopen the line started last year and construction has stated at many of the station sites, resignalling works have started and a lot of the line is being relaid with Ashington being the most advanced, lots of updates in the excellent newsletter done by the council https://www.northumberlandline.uk/post/newsletter-february and you can take a look at an aerial view of Ashington station under construction here:
It was on the local news today [note: the link expires in about a day].
www.bbc.co.uk
BBC One - Look North (North East and Cumbria), Lunchtime News, 06/03/2023
The latest news, sport and weather for the North East and Cumbria.
Killingworth
Established Member
I was at the TfN meeting in Newcastle today and specifically aaked Jamie Driscoll, metro mayor of the North of Tyne Combined Authority, if the service would stop at Manors. He said it would.
The opening next year was announced but not yet a date. We'll have to wait and see what the final timetable is.
The opening next year was announced but not yet a date. We'll have to wait and see what the final timetable is.
Nicholas Lewis
Established Member
Even with a solid opportunity like this the government has to drag it out and i do wonder how much it now is shoring up red wall areas anyhow great to see full commitment now made.
DynamicSpirit
Established Member
A station in South Heaton, by Chilllingham Road metro station, would also make a lot more sense than the current Manors station if you wanted to provide a decent interchange with southern part of the metro coast line. I imagine there are all sorts of reasons (like fast LNER and TPX trains) why it would be very difficult to do, though
swt_passenger
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No, to the best of my knowledge they’ve only ever publicised end to end timings. I don’t think there’s been any mention here yet of a track access application.
A task for Nexus, surely. Incidentally on the journey I referred to I was heading for Chathill, so important not to miss the train!
androdas
Member
Nexus don't operate in Northumberland yet* they are the Tyne and Wear transport authority.
*Might change with the new combined authority that may cover the area taking transport powers however it may not be called Nexus
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