Northumberland Line reopens to passengers after 60 years

Passenger trains on the Northumberland Line have begun running again after a gap of more than 60 years.

A pair of Class 158 diesel multiple units left Newcastle with the first fare-paying passenger service for Ashington at 0757 on Sunday December 15.

Passenger services along the route were withdrawn on July 30 1964 during the Beeching cuts, although tracks remained in situ for freight trains serving the Port of Blyth and Lynemouth Power Station. The £298.5 million project has upgraded 12 miles of railway between Benton Junction (where it meets the East Coast Main Line) and Ashington, including renewing track, upgrading signalling and modifying 24 level crossings to improve safety. 

Eventually the 18-mile-long route will serve stations at Ashington, Bedlington, Blyth Bebside, Newsham, Seaton Delaval and Northumberland Park, where passengers will be able to change onto the Tyne and Wear Metro. However, services are initially only stopping at Ashington and Seaton Delaval, while work continues at the other stations.

Northern is running the services using Class 158 DMUs on the 34-minute journey – other diesel units don’t have the acceleration needed to keep to the timetable on this partly single-track route. The Monday-Saturday timetable is made up of two trains an hour during the day before reducing to once an hour in the evening; the first departures are at 0600 from Ashington and 0616 from Newcastle.

The last train leaves Ashington at 2230 while the last northbound service departs Newcastle at 2216. The Sunday service is hourly, with departures from Newcastle from 0757 until 2155, and from Ashington between 0836 and 2236.

RAIL travelled on a special train along the line three days before it opened to passengers and spoke to Transport Secretary, Heidi Alexander, who talked about the benefits train services could bring, including a revitalised local economy.

She said: “For families, a new line means faster journeys, reclaiming precious time together; for businesses it brings more footfall, investment and growth, and for young people it means you don’t have to leave the town you were born in to get on in life.”

There are integrated fares with the Metro using the pay as you go Pop Cards, as well as conventional rail tickets, and single fares for young people under 21 with a Pop Card are just £1.