A Virtual Railway Station for Alnwick? Inspired by Keswick.

Keswick: A ‘Virtual’ Railway Station for the Lake District town?

A recent article from Rail Advent has shown an interesting way that the town of Keswick, in Cumbria, has gained a new ‘station’ on the national network, served not by trains, but by buses.

In the article, it describes how Keswick has a ‘virtual railway station’; that means Keswick Bus station is also treated as a railway station for ticketing purposes.

This allows a through, fully integrated ticket to be purchased via a number of means (full details on the original Rail Advent article) but for simplicity, is shown here as booking via the Avanti West Coast website, and using Carlisle as a starting point.

This means a simple trip by train from Carlisle (or any other station) to Penrith (North Lakes), then to connect onto local buses (X4 & X5) to Keswick, which the opposite true in reverse.

It is also interesting that local bus operator, Stagecoach, is also now offering a half-hourly bus service on this route between Penrith railway station and Keswick’s ‘virtual’ railway station.

Should Alnwick also have a ‘virtual’ railway station?

Alnwick could be a perfect contender for a similar style of ‘virtual railway station’ if offered by an operator such as LNER, and offer a through service to the town using a combination of rail and buses.

The rail link between Lionheart Station on the Aln Valley Railway and Alnmouth Station on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) is progressing, and hopefully will soon to be realised, but it is highly unlikely that the original Alnwick Station (now home to Barter Books) would ever regain trains (not impossible, but would be challenging and very costly). For now, Lionheart station, on the eastern side of the A1 Alnwick Bypass is as close as rail could reasonably get.

Alnwick Bus Station, by contrast, is within the heart of town, just a short walk from the Market Place, Alnwick Castle, The Alnwick Garden, Lilidorei and even Barter Books.

Alnwick is a tourism hotspot itself in Northumberland (Alnwick Castle has 350,000 visitors per year), and is an excellent base to reach other places by walking, cycling or public transport.

Setting up a virtual railway station, and having a half hourly bus service (as has been prescribed in our Dedicated ‘Bus Meets Train’ petition), would be an excellent way to make travelling to Alnwick by train and bus, easier, more convenient and more sustainable.

Let’s hope that a collaboration between ECML train operators such as LNER, CrossCountry, Transpennine Express and more could enable Alnwick to regain a railway station (even if only a virtual one) and see direct tickets made available.

Please sign our ‘Bus Meets Train’ petition if you haven’t already.

Thanks, RH.