Commuter train comeback for Alnwick in future?

Please note that all views expressed are my own, and not those of any organisations or persons mentioned within this post.

Bewdley – Kidderminster Town – Kidderminster – Birmingham Snow Hill trail train service.

In the West Midlands, the town of Bewdley has a station on the preserved Severn Valley Railway, a heritage railway that runs 16 miles between Kidderminster and Bridgnorth, approximately following the River Severn through the counties of Worcestershire and Shropshire respectively.

Starting in September, a short stretch of this line between Bewdley, and the terminus at Kidderminster is proposed to operate a three days a week commuter service on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, with relatively low-cost ‘through tickets‘ being available, but using heritage trains on the Bewdley – Kidderminster Town section of the route.

Please view the full details below in this video by Network News on YouTube.

The Severn Valley Railway heritage line connects to the mainline in the town of Kidderminster itself, and the two stations are adjacent across a car park; ‘Kidderminster Town‘ is the heritage station, whilst plain ‘Kidderminster‘ is the national railway network station, with a short walk required between them.

Starting on 1st September 2026, an eight week long trial of a commuter service using heritage trains between Bewdley station and Kidderminster Town will begin, with trains timed from Bewdley in the morning to meet at Kidderminster the ‘mainline’ services into Birmingham Snow Hill, and vice versa in the evening.

Timings of the trains and making a connection at Kidderminster is competitive with road journeys either into Birmingham, or driving from Bewdley to Kidderminster station, then catching an onward train into Birmingham, with all at around 1hr in duration.

The 06:40 from Bewdley will meet the 07:08 Kidderminster to Birmingham Snow Hill (BSH), and the 07:40 from Bewdley will meet the 08:08 Kidderminster to BSH, the first leg of the trip therefore taking 28 mins from departing Bewdley to departure from Kidderminster, with the Severn Valley Railway timetable suggesting the train would take around 13 minutes to travel from Bewdley into Kidderminster Town, allowing a 15 minute connection time.

Alnwick (Lionheart) – Alnmouth for Alnwick – Newcastle Central Station:

The trial on the Severn Valley Railway will be interesting to observe, as it may be applicable to copy when the Aln Valley Railway (AVR) reaches its goal of Alnmouth Station in the hopefully not too distant future.

The astonishing progress made by the AVR since breaking ground at Alnwick Lionheart in February 2012 through to running regular services to Greenrigg Halt since June 2023, a little over 11 years is remarkable, and it would be unsurprising for progress towards Alnmouth to be equally rapid given the chance.

Obviously the Severn Valley Railway is a more long established heritage railway compared to the Aln Valley Railway, and all of the infrastructure is already in place, BUT the Aln Valley could soon reach this stage, and if developed with the idea from the outset, might make it easier to implement?

The Alnwick Branch, with hindsight was a mistake to close in the 1960’s, and perhaps ought to have had a ‘Northumberland Line’ style reopening and operating a regular, low-cost service to/from Alnwick, but that wasn’t to be, so perhaps a hybrid model of heritage+commuter may be an ideal solution to enhance a great local attraction and provide a much improved connection to Alnmouth station alongside?

So what could this look like?

Alnwick Lionheart to Alnmouth Station: c.20 mins

As it stands, the current Alnwick Lionheart to Greenrigg Halt (the approximately halfway point to Alnmouth station) journey time is a sedately paced 10 minute rail journey, so a reasonable assumption would be that the full journey will take approximately 20 minutes without stopping at Greenrigg Halt en-route.

Alnmouth Walking Connection: c.15 minutes

Assuming a similar ‘across the car park’ walking connection and a similar connection time of 15 minutes to southbound train, the overall departing Alnwick Lionheart to departing Alnmouth would take 35 minutes.

The fifteen minutes connection time allows a reasonable amount of time for the potential distance between the two stations, as well as the need to cross the bridge in good time, depending on layout, this may have scope to be reduced, especially if a near cross-platform interchange could be done as at Keighley on the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway, though this would impact on the current NCC car park and potentially some Network Rail lineside equipment.

Therefore, from Lionheart to the southbound platform at Alnmouth Station is an approximate 35 min trip overall.

Alnmouth to Newcastle Central: c.30 mins.

The typically journey time from Alnmouth to Newcastle Central Station is typically around around 30mins, with a range between 26 mins and 31 mins.

Alnwick to Newcastle: Just over 1hr by train.

The fastest ‘before 8am’ arrival in Newcastle is the 07:06 CrossCountry, taking just 26 minutes from Alnmouth to Newcastle Central station.

Working backwards, that would place the first Alnwick Lionheart departure at approx 06:31 to meet the current 07:06 from Alnmouth to Newcastle Central, an overall journey time of 61 minutes, which is again competitive with peak time driving from Alnwick to Newcastle city centre.  

A similar ‘before 9am’ arrival would be based on a connection to the current 08:09 CrossCountry, arriving in Newcastle 29 minutes later at 08:38; to meet this train, a second morning departure from Alnwick Lionheart would be required at approximately 07:34, an overall journey time of 64 minutes

These journey times are quite competitive compared to driving at peak times in the rush hour, and whilst slower than driving between Alnwick and Alnmouth, it would obviate the need to find the sometimes scarce parking spaces at Alnmouth station, by using the ample free parking at Alnwick Lionheart, as well as the opportunity to walk or cycle much more reasonably to a much closer station and avoid the need for a car altogether, important for younger people who may find driving costs prohibitive or be less confident to drive longer distances daily.

This solution resolves several issues quite neatly; finding extra land for parking at Alnmouth station is challenging, and the overspill onto residential streets is often unwelcome, as is the high volume of traffic on roads such as Curly Lane or South View, so bring passengers into Alnmouth by rail resolves both issues, whilst also supporting the Aln Valley Railway.

Such a link, used more broadly such as at weekends would also support the town of Alnwick more broadly by making access by rail easier, with long term potential to have the Aln Valley Railway mainline connected, potentially allowing a direct Alnwick to Newcastle through journey to be made?