An article today in the Northumberland Gazette: ‘North Northumberland rail campaign group proposes solution to tackle transport poverty‘ discusses the proposal put forward by the Chathill Rail Action Group (CRAG) to help ease the transport poverty problem in North Northumberland, many residents of which don’t have access to a private car, but also places many at a huge connectivity disadvantage, which is covered in a separate article by the Northumberland Gazette below.
The currently underused station at Chathill only sees four trains each day, made up of two in each direction; comprising a morning and evening service, which comes from and returns to Newcastle Central operated by Northern, locally nicknamed the ‘Chathill Flyer’.
There are some hurdles (though not impossible ones) to overcome for a true local service (all stations between Newcastle and Berwick), but a potentially quick fix is put forward by CRAG to use other services.
The CRAG proposals centre around stopping some of the TransPennine Express services that currently race through the station to give Chathill a more frequent and fast service, and serve this area of Northumberland which is located quite a distance from the other stations at Alnmouth and Berwick with a faster rail connection to both Newcastle, but also presumably all the way to Edinburgh too; reinstating a long lost northward connection from Chathill.
Small change for a big reward
The approach by CRAG is a reasonable one; using a small timetable alteration to an existing service to massively upgrade the service pattern at Chathill.
This service would be relatively modest compared to the services calling at Alnmouth or Berwick, but would put Chathill into a similar service pattern that is seen at Reston station just over the border in Scotland, and due to this better rail service, Reston station had 29,896 recorded passenger journeys in the 2024/25 ticketing year, compared to Chathill which in the same time period had just 1,580 passengers, 5.3% of the number travelling to and from Reston.
Reston railway station reopened in May 2022 after a £20m investment on the Scottish side of the border, but on the English side, a station open since 29th March 1847 (almost 179 years at time of writing) and never closed sees far fewer trains each day, despite being an asset that is arguably worth tens of millions of pounds when considered against a new station being built elsewhere, and being better utilised could be a massive economic boost to the North Northumberland economy.
Lets hope that CRAG sees success with their campaign, and TPE begins to call at Chathill sooner rather than later?
North Northumberland Students struggling financially to get to Newcastle by rail
In a very similar vein to the CRAG post above, is this one from January 2026 and calls by Cllr Georgina Hill of Berwick for greater support for Northumbrian post-16 students in Berwick to have support to reach Newcastle to study.
Like the CRAG post above it highlights the important part the ECML plays in getting students (most of whom are too young to drive, and even if holding a licence are inexperienced and at higher risk than other drivers) to colleges such as those in Newcastle and to a lesser extent Ashington given the large distances involved in this very large county.
At Berwick, the issue is more financially based due to the wider range of potential rail services already available, the issue being railcards changing from a larger discount of 50% to only ⅓ off after the students 18th birthday, meaning a much larger financial gap needing to be made up by parents or the students themselves.
In an ideal world, the brilliant value of the Northumberland Line fares might be extended onto other routes; this has already been called for along the Tyne Valley Line by Cllr Derek Kennedy of Hexham West Ward, but could also be extended north to Berwick along the ECML too.
Northumberland Coast Loop to reach College or University?
The issue of reaching colleges is also one that the Northumberland Coast Loop route could contribute to making easier; a direct link from Berwick, Chathill, and Alnmouth to Blyth Bebside would put Ashington within very easy reach by a short train trip from Blyth Bebside to Ashington, just one change of train and a much shorter journey.
In addition, colleges such as Tyne Metropolitan College in Wallsend could perhaps be more easily reached from Northumberland Park, as could Coach Lane campus of Northumbria University.
Better and cheaper rail connections for Northumberland
Taken together, it can be seen that Northumberland as a whole would clearly benefit from both a wide range of rail services into Newcastle direct, but also taking in the proposed ‘loop’ route via Blyth, which if extended beyond Newcastle onto the Tyne Valley Line to Hexham or beyond could offer an excellent ‘colleges connection’ service linking not only to Newcastle, but also those in North Tyneside and Ashington too.
As of 17th March 2026, the petition for the Northumberland Coast Loop stands at 1,137 signatures, but it is still open for even more signatures if you’d like to add yours!
The Northumberland Coast Loop 