The petition has performed strongly since is launch on the 13th February 2025, 155 days ago, meaning an average rate of approximately 5 signatures per day (rounded to nearest whole figure).
This means that if this pace is maintained, in around 50 days, our next landmark target of 1000 signatures will be reached.
Thank you to all who have signed so far, but immense thanks to all those who’ve chipped in financially via Change.org to help promote the petition, with 17 promoters contributing a total of £71 towards the petition via Change.org
Thank you all very much and hopefully we’ll hit 1000 in the coming weeks!
Why run a rail route between Newcastle, Bedlington, and on to Edinburgh?
The Northumberland Line, running effectively a shuttle service between Ashington and Newcastle Central, has proven massively successful, with over 400,000 passengers to date, despite only half of the stations being open as yet, with Bedlington, Blyth Bebside, and Northumberland Park still under construction.
This link between the coalfield towns of south east Northumberland and Newcastle has long been desired, and shows the massive latent demand for a good rail service into Newcastle, with many also likely to be travelling beyond ‘the Toon’ too, with easy interchange to other services heading east to Sunderland and down the Durham Coast, south to Durham, Darlington, York, and more, or west to Hexham, and Carlisle.
Going south to head north?
From Newcastle, it is also possible to head north, through Morpeth and on into North Northumberland and Scotland, with cities such as Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and more on this route north.
From being a lifelong resident of Northumberland, and having lived for my first quarter of a century in the SE corner of the county, there is plenty of traffic headed northwards from the area, with families spread along the length of the coast, people commuting to and from work in both directions, and also for leisure, trips up to places like Alnwick, Berwick, and more in the north of the county, and cities such as Edinburgh, as wider Scotland too being large markets.
My own trip from Newsham to Alnmouth on 15th April 2025.
That being said, whilst it is now possible to do, and is still an improvement in journey times by using the new rail link; the idea of heading south from the new Northumberland Line stations, into to Newcastle and then head north again is illogical, and also incurs a double time penalty, the first from travelling the wrong way into Newcastle, but also a second penalty of time due to the waiting time in Central Station for the connecting service heading north.
Cramlington or Morpeth to catch northbound trains?
The other option is to catch northbound ECML services further north, at stations such as Cramlington or Morpeth, however, the relatively poor service pattern at Cramlington is a limitation on its usefulness (most trains terminate at Morpeth, so involving a change of train again there), and Morpeth can be an awkward station to reach, buses are not particularly great at interchanging at Morpeth Railway Station, often requiring a fair walk between bus stop and station or vice versa, and from towns such as Blyth, a hypothetical trip to Berwick would have a longer bus trip (40mins+ on the No.2 bus) from Blyth to Morpeth than the rail trip from Morpeth to Berwick (approx 30mins) would take!
In the absence of stations on the lines around Bedlington, Blyth et al, services calling at Morpeth was reasonable provision for that area of the county, but now that stations are reopening on this route, with the added advantage of a new curve opened in 1980 at Morpeth, a direct route is now possible for the first time, and in my view is now ready to be used to make travel to, from and within Northumberland far easier and more convenient, avoiding the need to travel further by road, or to change trains at Morpeth.
Direct trains Newcastle to Edinburgh via Bedlington
In contrast, a train leaving Newcastle could run up the newly reopened Northumberland Line, at the same timings that the N’land Line trains run at, before cutting back across to the East Coast Main Line (ECML) using the existing link between Bedlington and Pegswood (used as part of the route for the regular ‘Alcan’ train between North Blyth and Fort William), and be headed for Scotland.
The Bedlington to Pegswood link line would remove the need to go south into Newcastle to head north for North Northumberland and Scotland.
The Seven Counties Rambler
The last passenger carrying train, to my knowledge, to run over the this route was the SRPS Railtours charter train ‘The Seven Counties Rambler’ on Saturday 8th March 2025.
Route map of ‘The Seven Counties Rambler’ from the souvenir brochure on the tour, clearly showing the northern link from Bedlington to Pegswood and on towards Berwick-Upon-Tweed and Edinburgh.
The running times for this train can seen below for an indication of journey times, but was based on a pair of Class 37 diesels hauling vintage carriages, not modern units, so the times are likely to be significantly generous to ensure keeping time.
As an example, Newcastle to Bedlington, even factoring in station stops, does not take 39¼ minutes for more modern Northumberland Line trains, but for this fairly slow train to travel from Bedlington to Morpeth North Junction in 13 minutes indicates how quick it potentially could be if operated with modern units and after receiving upgrades on the line.
From the RAILWAYDATA.CO.UK page for Morpeth, it can be seen that Edinburgh is the second-most popular destination, with 36,429 journeys recorded in the 2023/24 operating year after travel to Newcastle.
It is not unreasonable to assume that a significant percentage of these passengers originated in nearby towns such as Bedlington, Blyth, Ashington etc, so a new direct service via the Northumberland Coast Loop might shift some of this traffic away from Morpeth towards the proposed stop at Blyth Bebside, which for many passengers will be both closer and more convenient due to easy access via the A189 Spine Road, and the large, free car park, as well as easier bus, taxi and for many close-by residents, shorter walking and cycling distances.
In the larger data available from this website, other stations in North Northumberland and Scotland such as Berwick features strongly (5,920 passengers), Alnmouth (5,822), and Glasgow (Queen Street & Central) bringing in 3,938, with other stations bringing in smaller volumes.
The Northumberland Line does, however illustrate another factor, that there is potentially a large and untapped latent demand; people who are either travelling by other means currently (such as driving), or indeed may not be travelling at all, so a new rail route may well do far better than simply sharing out existing traffic by actually adding new rail users into the mix too, so a share of the above could very well represent a minimum flow, not a maximum.
The TPE Nova 1 fleet a good fit for the N.C.L?
PLEASE NOTE: This fleet and operator is purely used as an illustrative example, any operator or rolling stock would be welcome to operate this service.
The five car Nova 1 fleet (or similar) operated by Transpennine Express (or other TOC) could be a good candidate for operating the Northumberland Coast Loop; these five cR Hitachi 80x units ply daily between Newcastle and Edinburgh, their relatively short train lengths being ideal for the short platforms of the Northumberland Line (these units also call at Chester-Le-Street which has 110m platforms, very similar in size to the N’land Line, and units presumably are fitted with selective door opening to ensure only doors safely on the platform will open, the rest remaining closed).
Example of SDO by TPE when serving Chester-Le-Street?
This is in addition to these units being 125mph capable bi-mode units, meaning that they can help maintain schedules on the ECML, but could then come off the wires to run around the B&T lines that form the Northumberland Coast Loop before rejoining the route.
They would also provide a useful boost to capacity on the Northumberland Line, which particularly on major events in Newcastle has been known to struggle, but with 342 seats, each train would provide more than 4-car 158 sets, which are sometimes challenging to provide.
In addition, the spaces for bicycles would be useful for cyclists undertaking the coastal national cycle route, which the Northumberland Coast Loop follows along its length from Berwick to Blyth.
Costs
The existing link line between Bedlington Junction and Morpeth North Junction is already in regular use for railfreight, and is a recognised diversionary route, and alongside the Northumberland Line scheme has seen level crossings such as that at Choppington upgraded with new equipment, as well as being used regularly for stakeholder trains, diverted biomass trains, and railtours so it can be reasonably assumed to be in an overall good condition, and there require little to no extra investment to bring a limited service into use.
At a worst case scenario, a similar upgrade to the Northumberland Line might be required, such as partial (was double track from Choppington station to Bedlington historically), or full doubling of the line. The Northumberland Line cost an average of c.£16.6m per mile (£298.5m overall cost ÷ 18 miles of route), but these costs were inclusive of resignalling, level crossing upgrades, the new Newsham bridge, and six new stations, many with large car parks and complex works).
At 4.78 miles in length (7.7km) between the two junctions, this would result in a ballpark high end figure of £79.7m (4.8 miles of route × £16.6m/mile), but could potentially include the cost for Choppington Station (approx £10m for single platform, £20m for two platform), as well as the potential cost of replacing the A1068 Choppington Level Crossing with a bridge (road dropping below railway the most likely option), which based on cost of Newsham Bridge, could cost around c.£30m.
Taking the c.£10m-20m cost of Choppington Station, and the c.£30m cost A1068 bridge replacement for the level crossing might reduce costs by £40m-50m, bringing this 4.8 mile link line to a cost of around £30m without these add on costs, which could be delivered later in the case of Choppington station, or for the A1068 level crossing, retention of the existing crossing may be acceptable.
As can be seen above, the petition for the proposed Northumberland Coast Loop rail services between Newcastle Upon Tyne, along the Northumberland Line to Bedlington, then back onto the East Coast Main Line (ECML) near Pegwood, to then head to Edinburgh has now reached 666 signatures since 13th February 2025.
This petition was launched 148 days ago, meaning that it has achieved an average of 4.5 signatures every day since then.
Route map of the Northumberland Coast Loop showing the existing link between Bedlington and Pegswood which would allow an alternative route between Newcastle and Berwick/Edinburgh via Bedlington.
If that rate of signatures being added continues at the current rate, the next landmark of 1000 signatures should be reached around the end of September 2025.
The petition for a better bus service running between the Northumberland Towns of Alnwick, via Alnmouth Railway Station, to Amble is gaining serious momentum, with 700 signatures now reached as of 8.7.25, with that number steadily growing day by day.
So what could such a service look like in practice?
The ‘Poison Garden’ livered Arriva Double Decker standing at Alnwick Bus Station, June 2025, an ideal candidate for running the route?
Route
The route would follow that of the existing X20 service operated by Arriva, which mostly follows the A1068 from Amble to Alnwick Bus Station, with a small detour to serve Alnmouth Railway Station (Curly Lane), this route is accessible by all buses, and commonly operated using double deckers, so should not present any issues for more services or different bus operators serving the route.
Map of the X20 route between Alnwick (middle left) and Amble (bottom right). List of existing Alnwick-bound X20 stops between Amble High Street and Alnwick Bus Station, and same in reverse for a service leaving Alnwick for Amble/Ashington/Newcastle.
There is no issue with this route, so if this service is either improved, or an additional service was to run on this route, it would present no objections.
Service Span Problem
*The first bus is too late in the morning to meet early morning trains.*
One of the two key problems with the existing bus provision is the service span (time of the first bus until the last bus).
At present, the northbound bus from Amble only reaches Curly lane at 07:04, too late for many of the early morning trains that leave Alnmouth, with the first as early as 06:22 headed towards Newcastle.
Northbound bus timetable at Curly Lane (Alnmouth Station) headed towards Alnwick from Amble and places south of Amble.
The 07:04 bus from Curly Lane then runs to Alnwick, and forms the return service southwards, meaning that from Alnwick, the first bus across to Alnmouth doesn’t arrive until 07:41, over 79mins (1hr 19min) after the first departing train.
This means that, by bus, it is impossible to reach a large number of rail services, which are outlined below.
Connections to all of these trains (6) are not possible from Alnmouth (timings to the 07:07 Plymouth bound service are too tight for an effective connectionFrom Alnwick, it is impossible by bus to reach Alnmouth station in suitable time to catch even more buses, with at least eight trains not made available by a bus connection.
Service Span Solution: Earlier First Buses from Amble AND Alnwick
A simple solution to this problem is to run the first X20 bus around 1 hour earlier from Amble, so that it would arrive at Curly Lane at around 06:04, allowing ample time to meet the 06:22 service towards Newcastle and London.
At the Alnwick end of the route, a first bus should leave Alnwick no later than 06:00 (ideally around 05:55) so that by the time it arrives in Alnmouth around 15minutes later (06:10 – 06:15) it allows plenty of time to meet the first southbound train at 06:22.
In short, an X20 route bus leaving Amble at 05:55 and another at 05:55 leaving Alnwick would meet the first train quite happily.
The last buses to serve Alnmouth Station are OK, as they run long after the last trains have arrived at Alnmouth, however they follow the often meandering route of the X18, not the express X20, so extending the X20 into late evening alongside the X18 would perhaps be preferable.
Frequency is Freedom
The second key issue for buses to and from Alnmouth Station from Alnwick and Amble is their frequency, which is not quite hourly (as can be seen from the timetable, the services ‘drift’ on mins after the hour over the course of the day, meaning that there is a gap of more than an hour between some buses.
To resolve this, a fixing of times to ‘xx mins past the hour’ throughout the day for the existing service would be preferred, to ensure an hourly clockface departure/arrival time throughout the day.
In addition, a second service set exactly 30mins (yy mins past the hour) later would mean than in a worst-case scenario of a ‘just missed’ bus, the next one will be along in 30 minutes.
Conclusion
Therefore the fix for the A, A, & A ‘Bus Meets Train’ service is a simple one, run the first buses earlier, and run two buses per hour on the route of the X20 rather than one during peak hours (06:00 to 19:30). Nothing needing to be built, just running buses better to improve connectivity.
Perhaps the use of branded buses for local attractions, such as Arriva 7542 (YX17 NNT) in ‘The Poison Garden’ livery could be great moving ambassadors for the route too, and perhaps, if Alnwick follows Keswick with a ‘virtual railway station’, then maybe a rail operator such as LNER, TPE, CrossCountry etc could similarly brand one or more of their trains?
Please see the screenshots below for more details on upcoming SENRUG meetings, which if you can, please support by attending them if possible.
The first is tomorrow, Tuesday 8th July 2025 in Morpeth at Morpeth Town Hall starting at 19:30.
The second is in Berwick-Upon-Tweed on Monday 14th July 2025, held in the Town Council Offices on 82-88 Marygate, starting at 18:00.
If you can attend these meetings, please do so to support these campaigns for better rail services to, from, and within Northumberland. I can’t make the meeting on Tuesday 14th July due to other family commitments, but hopefully I might be able to attend the Berwick meeting on Monday 14th July – possibly see you there?
The similarities and differences between SENRUG and the Northumberland Coast Loop proposals to connect Newcastle to Berwick via Bedlington
Broadly speaking, I am in full support for almost all proposals for the rail improvements put forward by SENRUG on their campaigns page of their website (https://www.senrug.co.uk/our-campaigns).
The key difference is on proposals between the two campaigns for a new Newcastle – Bedlington – Widdrington – Berwick Rail Service.
Both routes are identical south of Bedlington and north of Widdrington, the key difference being the choice of route between Bedlington and Widdrington.
Rail traffic at present between SE Northumberland and Scotland is only the twice or thrice weekly ‘Alcan’ service between North Blyth and Fort William on the West Highland Line, with occasional passenger use by a very small number of railtours (one since the start of the year, and a second due in August 2025).
The Northumberland Coast Loop proposal is to use the existing line from Bedlington, through Choppington, then Pegswood, and onto Widdrington to provide the through route, as demonstrated by ‘The Seven Counties Rambler’ railtour in March 2025.
Route map showing the existing link between Bedlington in the east, and Morpeth/Pegswood in the west, with the option for trains to head either north or south on the ECML already (as proved by the North Blyth/Fort William ‘Alcan’ trains which take the Bedlington – Pegswood- Berwick route several times per week already.
Using existing track, this route should be faster and cheaper to implement, but does omit the town of Ashington, though Morpeth could be served by a new station on the Morpeth North Curve if desired via this route, which runs on the edge of Coopies Lane Industrial Estate. This current route is quite underused at present, compared to a busy past serving Blyth Power Station and Port of Blyth with coal trains, a traffic now long consigned to history, but could be used to deliver a new passenger service quite quickly if desired.
In contrast, the SENRUG proposals are for a reopening and re-engineered ‘Butterwell Route‘, which would use the Northumberland Line from Bedlington to Ashington, then continue north using the disused line through Ashington Community Woods, pass nearby the village of Linton Colliery, and require a new curve to link this industrial branchline to the East Coast Main Line (ECML) facing north (it connects currently facing south towards Pegswood/Morpeth).
This route would include Ashington on a new coastal rail route between Newcastle and Berwick-Upon-Tweed, but would require a line disused for over 20 years and heavily overgrown to be brought back into use, as well as substantial new engineering for a curve and junction to be created near to Ulgham to join the ECML.
In my view, the N.C.L. route could be made a reality far quicker by simply using the existing line, already open for regular traffic, to create this new Newcastle – Bedlington – Berwick – Edinburgh rail service, and would enhance the range of services offered to a reopened Choppington station too.
I would not oppose the Ashington – Widdrington route being developed, indeed I would welcome it; but starting a coastal rail service via Pegswood, Choppington, and Bedlington seems the more logical starting point to establish the market between SE Northumberland, North Northumberland and Scotland, and helping to build the case for a new link north of Ashington thereafter?
Our petition has made a signifant jump in recent days to 627 signatures, but to reach the major milestone of 1000 signatures, an additional 373 supporters of the Northumberland Coast Loop are needed.
Ideally this petition will reach 1000 before the first anniversary of the Northumberland Line on 15th December 2025.
If you would like to help the campaign reach this landmark, please click here: https://chng.it/wbhpn9ffpJ
Massive thanks to all who have signed so far, but lets keep up the momentum!
As we start July, a quick update on the Northumberland Coast Loop campaign, with thoughts on the long history of rail in Northumberland, and its bearing on its future…
Newcastle – Northumberland Coast Loop – Edinburgh Rail Service Petition
The petition continues to do well, with 587 signatures since it’s launch in February 2025, hopefully 600 signatures will be reached in the coming days, if you haven’t already signed it, please do so here: https://chng.it/wbhpn9ffpJ
‘The Northumbrian‘ Naming at Ashington, and Northumberland Line Continued Success
On Thursday 26th June, one of Northern’s Class 158 trains (158 844) was named ‘The Northumbrian’, and adorned with artwork depicting landmarks, famous persons such as George Stephenson, and more from Northumberland and the wider North East on the vehicle sides.
This article in The Chronicle also states that the Northumberland Line continues to achieve huge passenger numbers, having now topped 400,000 a sign indeed of the massive success of this route despite delays and as yet still only partially open.
Once the remaining stations at Bedlington, Blyth Bebside, and Northumberland Park are opened, it is likely to see a further surge in passenger use, perhaps a million passengers per year might be possible?
The Northumberland Coast Loop one of the potential alternatives to ‘Dinosaur Schemes’ for the A1 and A19?
The enormous success of the Northumberland Line does beg the question of expansion at the northern end back onto the East Coast Main Line (ECML), and enhancment of the ECML towards Edinburgh as alternatives to the massive proposed investments into Moor Farm Roundabout on the A19/A189 and Dualling of the A1 north of Morpeth.
This question was posed in a recent article in the Northumberland Gazette, where North East Sustainable Transport argue that these schemes will bring little real benefit but will add to pollution problems, which especially in the case of the A1 dualling has already been modelled by the Government itself.
Net Zero North East states on their homepage that transport accounts for 30% of North East Greenhouse gas emissions, and Philip Meikle, Transport Strategy Director at Transport North East is quoted as saying (image below).
The Northumberland Coast Loop could work well to provide a direct rail route in parallel to the road network, with the Northumberland Line being parallel to the A19 and A189, stations such as Northumberland Park being adjacent to the A19, and Blyth Bebside adjacent to the A189, and the existing link between Bedlington and Pegwood offering a direct connection onto the A1/ECML corridor heading northwards into North Northumberland and Scotland.
With modal shift of passengers and freight onto the proposed Northumberland Coast Loop route (and other rail routes such as the ECML via Morpeth and Cramlington too), and away from road transport, the traffic volumes, and consequent pressure on junctions such as Moor Farm Roundabout and routes like the A1 in Northumberland will be reduced, as will emissions, as will the reduction in road accidents, as rail travel is by far a safer mode for both passengers and freight.
Let’s put more travel to, from, and within Northumberland onto rail, not road.
As can be seen from the Northumberland Line investment, rail travel has proven to be highly popular and attractive, with a clear, high, latent demand for it, let’s enable it further by continuing to invest in Northumberlands rail network, adding new connections such as the Northumberland Coast Loop, which would enable a direct rail journey from Blyth to Berwick-Upon-Tweed or beyond.
It would indeed be a fitting honour in the Railway200 year for areas like the Blyth Valley to be better served by rail; not only as a general improvement to transport service, but also to reflect the long railway heritage of the Blyth Valley; which beginning with Huntingdon Beaumont in 1609, who introduced waggonway technology from his native Nottinghamshire, through to John Birkinshaw, who is 1819 patented a new ‘malleable’ iron rail, which was used for two-thirds of the Stockton and Darlington Railway due to its superiority compared to cast iron.
Site of Bedlington Ironworks (1736-1867), where Bedlington Rail was developed by John Birkinshaw in 1819, and many early locomotives were built.Engine Pit Waggonway, downstream of Bedlington Ironworks where the Bedlington Rail was first used. Quote from: https://www.sdr1825.org.uk/history-of-the-sdr/
The Northumberland Coast Loop ties together many different elements of railway heritage, but also of its future; railways evolved in Britain from the earlier waggonways, which developed largely in the North East as a means to get coal from pit to port, but now can play a vital role in decarbonisation and modal shift away from road transport.
The introduction by Beaumont of waggonways in the Blyth Valley in 1609 was pivotal in their wider adoption and continual improvement around the North East, with a near direct path from the Beaumont Waggonway, through major waggonways like the Tanfield Waggonway (now part of the Tanfield Railway, itself celebrating 300 years this year) through to the Stockton and Darlington Railway in 1825, with Bedlington Rail being a key part of the success of that line, and then the wider growth of the rail network in the UK after that time.
George Stephenson was very much born into a waggonway world, by the time of his birth in 1781, the Causey Arch, the worlds oldest railway bridge, had stood for 56 years by that time, and Huntingdon Beaumont had been dead for 157 years (died in 1624).
George Stephenson wasn’t a sole ‘great man’; there were many of his peers, both local and far distant such as Trevithick, who also helped develop the humble waggonway into the modern railway we would recognise and actually still use today, such as the East Coast Mainline between Newcastle and Berwick, that George set out.
The role of the railways hasn’t ended though despite the near end of coal trains in the area and UK overall, indeed recent figures suggest that rail travel has recovered following the Covid-19 pandemic, if not already exceeded it, and railways could play a vital role in decarbonisation of the transport system, with even ageing diesel trains still more efficient than cars.
The book below ‘How The Railways Will Fix The Future‘, written by rail engineer Gareth Dennis, is an excellent source on how putting rail at the heart of a better public transport and active travel system could help to solve a multitude problems both locally in places like Northumberland, but also the wider UK as well as worldwide.
It is well worth a read!
It is clear from the success of the Northumberland Line that investment into rail is a sound one, and for Northumberland, would represent building on over 400 years of success on rails, lets take the railways forward for another 400 years by putting the investment in today!
GLO-BED-RAIL Sculpture by Tom Maley, Bedlington Ironworks, BedlingtonGLO-BED-RAIL by Tom Maley information plaque, Bedlington Ironworks, Bedlington
This blog post from Bus and Train User states that the Northumberland Line, opened in December 2024 has just surpassed 350,000 passengers since opening, a huge success for the new line, despite only three of the six stations being open.
These strong figures suggest that 500,000 or more could be reached by the first anniversary of the line on 15th December 2025.
Northumberland Coast Loop
The Northumberland Coast Loop is a proposed expansion of the Northumberland Line by using the line that links Bedlington directly to Pegswood via Hepscott.
This route uses the relatively little known Morpeth North Curve, which passes just east of Hepscott Care Centre under the A196, passes alongside Coca Cola’s Morpeth factory and Storage24 before joining the East Coast Main Line (ECML) at Morpeth North Junction, not far from Pegswood Viaduct.
The Morpeth North Curve from Hepscott Care Centre (bottom right), passing around the edge of Coopies Lane Industrial Estate, and rejoining the ECML at Temples Bridge/Morpeth North Junction.
This route would offer a new, direct connection between the large south-east Northumberland towns such as Blyth to places like Alnmouth (for Alnwick, Amble etc), Berwick-Upon-Tweed and beyond to places like Edinburgh.
Petition Progress
The petition for this proposed route is continuing to perform strongly, with 561 signatures to date. If you’d like to add your signature, please do so here: https://chng.it/zThXj8HBpY
The Northumberland Coast Loop 