Northumberland County Council (NCC) has commissioned an £850,000 feasibility study into re-opening the Ashington, Blyth and Tyne line, in conjunction with Network Rail.
The council has already established that to make the scheme attractive to potential users and to support regeneration, a seven days a week, twice an hour at peak times service will be needed, with a journey time between Ashington and central Newcastle of just over 30 minutes. To achieve this a dynamic passing loop would be needed near Seghill, unless the paths allocated to freight trains can be suitably adjusted.
NCC has committed £5 million for detailed development work. In February 2015, the council allocated £30m to the project in its budgets for 2015/16 and 16/17. The study, to Network Rail’s GRIP2 level of detail, is due to be completed next summer. (GRIP = Network Rail’s Governance for Railway Investment Projects process, Stage 2 is Feasibility.)
- For more information, see RAIL 786, published on October 28.
Paul Hepplewhite - 24/10/2015 09:45
How many surveys and feasability studies have to undertaken before some of yhe largest towns in the UK without access to the trains are finally put back on the rail network? ? If Ashingtonand Blyth were in Kent or Surrey this would've happened years ago....YEARS ago!