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Passengers in the North-East will be able to reconnect with friends and family and enjoy greater access to business and education opportunities, when the historic Northumberland line reopens next summer.
The Government is working with Northumberland County Council, Network Rail and Northern Rail to restore regular services to vital line from next year, creating faster and easier journeys between Ashington and Newcastle. The completed line will see journey times slashed in half, brand new stations built and historic railway towns, which have not seen footfall of eager passengers since the heydays of The Beatles, revived. Transport Secretary, Mark Harper said:
With six new, fully accessible stations being built, the new line will stop at Ashintgon, Bedlington, Blyth Bebside, Newsham, Seaton Delaval, Northumberland Park and finally Newcastle Central. Northumberland County Council Leader Glen Sanderson said:
“This is the moment we’ve been working towards and I am so excited we’ve reached this point as we prepare to get trains rolling again through this part of our county.” Not only will the restoration of passenger services reconnect communities and improve connections, but it will also boost the region’s economy through improving access to jobs. Once complete, the journey time between Newcastle and Ashington will be reduced from 70 minutes to just 35, with services operating regularly seven days a week, providing easy access to jobs, education and tourism opportunities in the city centre for not only local residents but all those passing through too. The line’s construction work alone has created almost 100 high-skilled jobs and apprenticeships, demonstrating the benefits it’s already having on the local community. Congestion and air quality is also expected to plummet as people will be encouraged away from their cars and onto trains. Matt Rice, Network Rail’s North & East Route Director said:
The Northumberland Line project forms part of the Government’s Restoring Your Railways scheme, which has been reinstating local services and restoring closed stations and railway lines that were axed as a result of the Beeching cuts in 1963. It has already seen the successful delivery of the Dartmoor Line, which reopened to passengers in November 2021 and has since doubled its passenger services and benefitted students studying in Exeter. |