The Northumberland Climate Change November Update email dropped into my inbox yesterday (8th November 2024),
The big green button takes you to the NCC Climate Change page, where you can view the above document. For rail, little is mentioned beyond the Northumberland Line scheme, but it is interesting to note that approximately 50% of the entire population of the County lives in SE Northumberland, and could make use of the Northumberland Line.
With the Northumberland Coast Loop (N.C.L.) being a route that directly serves five out of the six Northumberland Line stations (the only exception being Ashington), then the N.C.L. would equally serve this population centre well. Ashington could be served in two ways, via simply changing train at Bedlington, Blyth Bebside or any other station onto an N.C.L. service, or travelling to nearby Pegswood station, which also offers residents of Morpeth an option to utilise the proposed rail services.
It would be a massive boost to public transport options, allowing more to travel without needing to drive, cutting CO² emissions and further reducing congestion.
The N.C.L. route would build on the existing investment in the Northumberland Line by simply offering a wider range of destinations available from the newly built stations; while the greatest volumes will tend towards Newcastle and destinations beyond, there is still a substantial market for people heading north, both for work and for leisure.
Conversely, people in North Northumberland or Scottish Borders may well be encouraged to travel to SE Northumberland for work, given the major industrial areas in that part of the county.
NSECH at Cramlington is a good example, as it is actually closer to Seaton Delaval station than it is Cramlington station, and so could be the best station to serve this major hospital for both staff travelling to/from work, and also visitors, especially since Cramlington has traditionally difficult to reach due to stopping patterns of ECML trains.
Some examples of local leisure trips could be people in SE Northumberland taking a day out to places like Alnwick for Barter Books, Bamburgh Castle and more. Equally, sites like Seaton Delaval Hall, Woodhorn Museum, Blyth Battery, Port of Blyth (hosting Tall Ships, or Galleon Andalucia which attracted several thousand visitors to Blyth during its brief visit in July 2024), would draw visitors from North Northumberland and Scotland into SE Northumberland. With thirteen stations along the proposed route between just Newcastle and Berwick, there could be a vast array of journeys met by this route.
Others will be travelling longer distances to Scottish cities such as Edinburgh, Glasgow or Aberdeen, or for smaller destinations within Scotland via these cities. An example would be to connect with flights at Scottish Airports, or at events such as Taylor Swift.
The Edinburgh Fringe is a good example of additional services being provided to cope with demand for travel to Scotland, with the N.C.L., this could mean some services via Morpeth and some via Blyth in future?
Using the Hepscott Line to travel more directly between SE Northumberland and North Northumberland or Scotland would make the option to use rail much more attractive, with reduced journey times, a single seat ride avoiding the challenges of changing trains (especially with young children, luggage etc), and being an active line already for freight, and with regular use currently by Northern DMU’s for proposed Morpeth – Bedlington service, the route should be relatively inexpensive to develop, the line is already in place, let’s just use it.
The Northumberland Coast Loop 