Could the delay in completing both Blyth Bebside and Northumberland Park be an opportunity for longer platforms to handle longer trains, not just for the Northumberland Coast Loop but for wider use too?
Firstly, the intention of the Northumberland Coast Loop would be to see semi-fast trains serving both of these stations, so making them long enough (same length as platforms at Morpeth/Alnmough/Berwick of approx 200m-230m long) to serve longest trains would perhaps be a sensible addition at the construction phase rather than remodelling later on. The longest trains can have the most seats and thus makes the best use of every available path.
Secondly, there is the potential for special trains such as railtours (which may even possibly connect with Cruises into Port of Tyne as Northumberland Park is very close to the Tyne Cruise Terminal), which could offer a lot of opportunities for railway connections to tourist attractions across the North East, decarbonising tourist trips, as well as offering more time while on-shore by faster connections, meaning more time available at attractions.
Another less obvious case is the potential of special trains in 2025 to link into the Stockton and Darlington 200th Anniversary celebrations; as Bedlington made rails were used in nearly two-thirds of the S&D, and pivotal to other railways of following years too going beyond 2025.
This is just part of many more relevant 200th anniversaries associated with this part of the Blyth Valley, with locomotives built by R.B. Longridge – De Arend (‘The Eagle’) being one of the first pair of locomotives to work in the Netherlands in 1839 as one example. Surely it makes sense to celebrate a place so key in railway development via a newly reopened railway?
Just three lengthened platforms (two at Blyth Bebside and one at Northumberland Park) could be a fairly cheap and easy win and giving even a modest boost to tourism would be invaluable for the local economy creating new jobs and new opportunities. Assuming the platforms to be c. 100m in length as planned now, thats only ~100m extra to be added.
Any feedback is always welcome, especially any source that could give a fair costing of this and especially if a benefit/cost ratio could be calculated for this work… please get in touch!
The Northumberland Coast Loop 
You really have no idea do you? Construction designs cannot be changed on a whim, they take years of development and are contractually agreed between the design and contractor during tendering process. The cost of the design change alone would be millions even before materials + labour are considered, through comparison paid towards the contractor. Keep in mind the job is already spiralling towards £200m, no-one would be looking to add additional scope at this stage for the sake of pleasing some trainspotters
LikeLike
Yes, agree that construction can’t be changed on a whim, but its a fairly modest alteration to increase platform length alone to accomodate longer trains. I do also agree that this may incur an additional cost beyond simply the additional labour & materials too as it may require redesign etc, however there are potentially large gains to be made from the Northumberland Coast Loop becoming a reality for areas such as North Tyneside (served by Northumberland Park) for major business parks like Cobalt to have much more convenient long distance links, the Tyne Cruise Terminal to have wider rail connectivity, particularly to North Northumberland which is a destination for many cruise passengers (places like Alnwick Castls/The Alnwick Garden/Bamburgh Castle etc). Bebside would also serve the Blyth Estuary area which is receiving ‘Energising Blyth’ funding in region of £90m, lengthening platforms at two stations is potentially a multi-million investment, but still likely just a fraction of existing investments and one likely to be repaid many times over.
The route is forecast for approx an £180m cost by recent news articles, so will most likely come in at <£200m at the end of the project.
That last remark is very childish – the proposal is a serious one to boost the connectivity of SE Northumberland and North Tyneside, and lengthening platforms now might still be cost effective, would be happy to concede to an official costing if one could be provided?
LikeLike