A recent article in The Chronicle states that since opening in December 2024, the Northumberland Line has now carried 920,000 passengers!
This is a phenomenal success for the line, and gives a daily average of approximately 2,520 passengers being carried everyday on the route.
Today, Monday 15th December marks the first full year of the Northumberland Line, running from Ashington, Northumberland to Newcastle Upon Tyne, which opened on Sunday 15th December 2024.
On that day, only two stations of the six stations were opened, Ashington as the terminus of the line, and Seaton Delaval, with Newsham opening a few months later on Monday, 17th March 2025, and later joined by Blyth Bebside on Sunday 19th October 2025.
As of today, there is still not an official announcement for the opening of either Bedlington, or Northumberland Park stations.
Whilst the line is still not fully completed with two stations remaining to be opened, the Northumberland Line has proven to be a HUGE success story in terms of ridership, with many hundreds of thousands of passengers having used the line since it opened, with the total figures quickly heading towards one million; hopefully a precise number may be released later today or in the coming days to show exactly how many have made use of the line in this first year?
UPDATE: 920,000 passengers have used the Northumberland Line to date, with trains running a cumulative 380,000 miles, with 110 drivers and 84 conductors trained on the route.
If anything, the line is something of a victim of its own success, as due to shortages of rolling stock, some trains are only made up of two carriages, resulting in far more people trying to use the line than there is capacity available
Our solution for this is the Northumberland Coast Loop, which would expand the types of train running via a large part of the route (Newcastle to Bedlington, therefore only omitting Ashington station), by running additional rail services from Newcastle to Berwick/Edinburgh via Blyth Bebside and Northumberland Park, which would provide additional seats towards Newcastle, but importantly also give direct links north from SE Northumberland into North Northumberland and Scotland, further increasing the estimated £450m economic gain the line has brought to the area.
As of this morning, our petition for the Northumberland Coast Loop route, from Newcastle to Edinburgh via Blyth Bebside and Northumberland Park has reached 1,043 signatures; showing a strong demand for such a service to be at least trialled, and bearing in mind the SENRUG petition in 2007/8 gained 1098 signatures to reopen the Northumberland Line as a whole (then called the Ashington, Blyth and Tyne Line), then hopefully the Northumberland Coast Loop can be given strong consideration as a solution to both the crowding problems on the Northumberland Line, as well as offering a new rail link connecting the highly successful Northumberland Line to North Northumberland and Scotland?
As we start the second year of the Northumberland Line, lets look forward to it’s continued success, and also how services could be expanded to meet the huge demand for trains to serve the area!
With the recent publication of passenger figures for all of the existing railway stations in Northumberland in the Northumberland Gazette, a little analysis reveals the current and potential volumes of passengers who use these twelve stations between Berwick and Manors.
The table above shows the stations on the proposed Northumberland Coast Loop from Berwick Upon Tweed to Manors, and station entry/exit data from April 2024 to March 2025; with the stations at Seaton Delaval, and Newsham opening during this ‘ticketing year’, they represent only partial figures, as they were only open for 107 and 15 days respectively during this data period.
Blyth Bebside, opened in October 2025 does not feature in this data set, though from other announcements is proving to be very busy; a partial data set will not be available until the 2025/26 ticketing year. Bedlington and Northumberland Park will hopefully open before March 2026, and allow a similar comparison to above to be made in December 2026, but if they open in April 2026 or later, similar data won’t be available until December 2027.
To help make a more fair comparison between the stations a very rudimentary ‘average per day (passenger total ÷ number of days open during the 2024/25 ticketing year) gives a relative comparison, with Newsham almost exactly as busy as Alnmouth station as an example of this. This isn’t a perfect measure as no stations get services 365 days per year (i.e. Christmas Day), and some do not receive a service 7 days per week either (for example those only served by the Chathill Flyer).
To extrapolate this further, a simple prediction of 2025/26 data is a multiplication of this average by 365, thus allowing stations like Newsham and Seaton Delaval to be compared to other stations more directly in potential total numbers by December 2026, and is based on an assumption of all stations simply carrying on as they are now, but will all except Pegswood having seen passenger growth this year, it is most likely that these numbers will be underestimated and be below the real numbers in December 2026.
Ranking 2024/25
Berwick Upon Tweed takes a very clear first place with 707,310 passengers in 2024/25. It is followed by Alnmouth in second with 378,954, third place is taken by Seaton Delaval, which despite being only open 107 days, was used by 73,076 passengers.
Manors takes fourth place with 63,914 passengers but is a near doubling of the 35,892 carried the previous year 2023/24, likely due to the Northumberland Line having increased the service frequency to this station significantly.
Newsham takes fifth place with 15,576, but an important caveat is that the station was only open for 15 days at that point.
Sixth place goes to Widdrington with 2,652, seventh to Chathill with 1,580, eighth to Pegswood with 1,468, and in last place is Acklington with just 856 passengers, the final three, Bedlington, Blyth Bebside, and Northumberland Park take joint last place with zero passengers as they were not open during that time period.
In total, the nine stations open within this ticketing year, with two only open for part of the year, saw 1,245,386 entries and exits together, and averaged out, represented 5,582 passengers per day, every day across all nine stations.
Predicting 2025/26
From the above table, and extrapolating the potential for the future of these nine stations, the ranking would change significantly.
Berwick would remain number one, but Newsham is likely to just get the number two spot with a predicted 379,016 passengers, pushing Alnmouth into third, Seaton Delaval would then take fourth place with a predicted 249,277 passengers, with Manors in fifth.
Based on the predicted volumes, the total passenger loads from these nine stations would rise by 539,641 passengers, to give a total of 1,785,027 per year up from the 2024/25 total of 1,245,386. This again is likely to be an underestimate as passenger use has been growing at almost all of these stations, so figure could well be above two million by December 2026, especially considering that Blyth Bebside numbers are not featured at all, even an estimate, and by then Bedlington and Northumberland Park may also be contributing passengers significantly too.
The data for Blyth Bebside, though not released yet is likely to be very strong, and could potentially exceed Manors for even a partial year, meaning it may take fifth place on the route, and possibly even fourth from Seaton Delaval, but only time will tell in December 2026.
Bedlington, serving not only the town of Bedlington itself but also other communities like Choppington, Guide Post, Stakeford, Cambois etc is likely to have a higher passenger total than Seaton Delaval, though only time will tell on this.
The station that might in the longer term take second place, and possibly even first could be Northumberland Park, which will provide an easy interchange between the Tyne and Wear Metro and national rail services, with Heworth, in Gateshead seeing 1.1m passengers a year.
If the proposed Northumberland Coast Loop (N.C.L.) was implemented, Northumberland Park would then mirror Heworth in Gateshead, in giving easier access along the Northumberland Coast, with places like Alnmouth, Berwick, and perhaps even Edinburgh directly connected from N’land Park. Even without the proposed N.C.L. route, Northumberland Park is still likely to prove to be an immensely busy station, but with it, it could almost certainly be a rival to Heworth.
The smaller stations of Widdrington, Chathill, Pegswood and Acklington are likely to remain at the lower end of the list unless future timetable changes allow more services to call at these stations.
The case for the Northumberland Coast Loop
As can be seen above, both actual recorded use, as well as the huge potential usage of the new Northumberland Line stations easily puts them on a par with some of the busiest stations in the whole of Northumberland, with Morpeth station having 622,614 passengers, and Hexham having 431,278.
What is worthy of note is that the four busiest stations are all on ‘InterCity’ routes, Berwick, Morpeth, and Alnmouth are all on the ECML that links multiple cities from London to Aberdeen, whilst Hexham is on the Tyne Valley Line that links Carlisle to Newcastle.
These four stations all have rail services linking at least two cities either side of them calling there, which is likely why the passenger figures dominate the tables, a clear example of a station linked really to only one city directly is Cramlington, which saw 183,856 passengers in the 2024/25 year, which based on the predictions above, would see it fall behind Seaton Delaval in passenger usage assuming no changes in the timetable.
Blyth Bebside as an interchange for SE Northumberland?
Blyth Bebside is selected as the major station for Blyth, the largest town in Northumberland, due to its strategic location just off Cowpen Road, a major bus route into Blyth, as well as the closest station to many major businesses there, whereas Newsham is situated in the much more residential area of South Blyth, further away from its commercial and business areas.
The challenge of Cramlington station is that InterCity services are unlikely to call at both Cramlington and Morpeth, so a choice has to be made of one or the other; with Morpeth tending to be seen as the main stop of the two.
That being said, the settlement of Cramlington more broadly could be better served by a combination of both Blyth Bebside and Northumberland Park acting as InterCity stations alongside Morpeth, as these two new stations are sited with much easier access to them, for example Blyth Bebside is sited near a main bus route between Blyth and Cramlington (Arriva X9 running via Front St, Bebside), which runs approximately half hourly.
The close proximity of the A189 Spine Road also makes access by taxi, getting a lift from friends/family, or driving easy, and even from an active travel perspective, Hathery Lane connects the former Three Horseshoes pub, just off Horton Road to Front Street at Bebside as a low traffic route, and a shortcut to Errington Street at Bebside via the ‘Little Wood’ could make this route even better.
Blyth Bebside is also ideally suited to serving Bedlington (which also is connected by rail as well, just one stop along the Northumberland Line), but again shares easy links by bus, car or active travel (both over the Kitty Brewster Bridge, or via Furnace Bank).
Whilst further away, Ashington, and the proposed extension to Woodhorn and Newbiggin stations, would respectively be only 2, 3, and 4 stops away from Blyth Bebside too, and again easy existing or new bus links, as well as easy access from the A189 makes this station very easy to reach.
Northumberland Park as a hub for North Tyneside?
As mentioned above, Northumberland Park has the potential, given the proposed N.C.L. service being implemented, to become a major interchange similar to Heworth, which has usage of over one million passengers a year.
Heworth has relatively long distance services calling there that travel directly to places such as Hartlepool, Middlesbrough, even as far as Whitby, as well heading west to places like Hexham too.
With a direct link into North Northumberland, and perhaps as far as Edinburgh, it is highly likely that this would become an incredibly well used interchange for services.
If you support this expansion of services, please support the petition for a Newcastle to Edinburgh Rail Service via Blyth Bebside and Northumberland Park, which now has 1042 signatures.
Thanks, RH.
Chathill Station has rising passenger numbers, and a great example of ‘bus meets train’ working well!
A recent article in The Northumberland Gazette ‘Campaigners call for better train service as new figures show more passengers using Chathill railway station‘ shows that stations only served by the so-called ‘Chathill Flyer’, which runs twice a day from Newcastle Central Station to Chathill, then runs as an empty train to the sidings at Belford, before heading back Chathill empty, and forming the return service to Newcastle.
Between April 2024 and March 2025, the Office for Rail and Road (ORR) has recorded 1,580 passengers using the station, an increase of about 25% on the previous year, 2023/24, which saw 1,264 passengers using the station.
It is considered that a connecting bus service, the 0918 bus service, from Belford to Chathill via Bamburgh and Seahouses, operated by Borders Buses, has helped by providing a public transport connection to this small, rural station.
This is a clear example of how proper bus and rail integration can work successfully, despite the very infrequent rail service that Chathill presently receives (only the twice daily ‘Chathill Flyer’).
The Chathill Rail Action Group (CRAG) states that this increase in passenger numbers, whilst modest shows the latent demand for a better rail service calling at Chathill station, and that stopping other trains at the station, that presently fly through would work to improve connections to this station.
Looking at the wider picture of the Chathill Flyer, it has actually seen a significant rise in overall use looking at the figures, with increased passenger loadings at Chathill, Acklington and Widdrington stations compared to the preceding years (see below), with the only station noting a small fall being Pegswood.
The larger stations on the route of the Chathill Flyer, those at Alnmouth for Alnwick, Morpeth, Cramlington and Manors have been omitted as data does not specify the exact train, whilst these stations are only served by the ‘Flyer’, so it can easily be determined that these trains are busier.
Chathill Station: 1,264 passengers in 2023/24, rising to 1,580 in 2024/25.
Acklington Station: 550 passengers in 2023/24, rising to 856 in 2024/25, and recently featured in another blog post which suggested a closure threat in a Northern Echo article.
Widdrington Station: 2,270 passengers in 2023/24 rising to 2,652 in 2024/25, making it the most popular small station in Northumberland.
Pegswood Station: 1,500 passengers in 2023/24, falling modestly to 1,468 in 2024/25
Together in 2023/24, these four small stations accounted for 5,584 passenger entries and exits based on the above figures, this growing to 6,556 passengers in 2024/25; almost a thousand extra passengers using these smaller ECML stations, and not counting potential use of the train to and from the larger stations such as Almmouth, Morpeth, Cramlington, and Manors.
Again, this data indicates a latent demand for a better rail service at these smaller stations; perhaps operating the ‘Chathill Flyer’ three, maybe four times per day is one option, or as CRAG suggests, stopping other services at these smaller stations to give them a wider range of trains to choose from is another solution?
A recent article in The Chronicle ‘Northumberland Line has developers ringing council’s planning department ‘off the hook’ since launch last year‘ has some interesting data contained within it, as the line approaches its first full year of operation on Monday 15th December 2025, and the millionth passenger is expected in 2026.
In a presentation ‘Councillors from across the North East were presented with an update on the success of the Northumberland Line, ranging from a new influx of Ashington pupils now attending Newcastle College to the carbon emissions saved with fewer car journeys. In addition, elected members at Monday morning’s North East Combined Authority scrutiny committee were informed about a huge surge in interest from developers since the line’s first year in operation.‘
This shows how the Northumberland Line has worked well to take people to education and work, reducing the number of car journeys (and therefore surely easing the issues on junctions such as Moor Farm Roundabout etc if people are taking the train rather than driving), and that land around the Northumberland Line is now primed for development opportunities with such a good rail link being provided, with the planning department having ‘the phone ringing off the hook’, implying a surge in demand for developments in the area.
‘The line is also expected to unlock around £450m in economic benefits through boosting employment and connecting the South East of Northumberland to Newcastle, and vice versa.‘
For an investment of £336.4m to date, the expected unlocking of £450m in economic benefits represents a longer term ‘profit’ from the route of £113.6m, a very sound return on the investment made, and suggests a benefit:cost ratio BCR of around 1.34, weaker than an earlier expectation of around 1.5, but perhaps unavoidable due to the difficulties and delays in opening the route, with stations at Bedlington, and Northumberland Park, whilst largely complete, still awaiting their opening dates.
That being said, by almost every metric of use, the Northumberland Line has been an enormous success, passenger numbers have been HUGE for the line compared to forecasts, with trains struggling to cope with passenger loadings, and happily proving the projects critics wrong by a huge margin.
When the next stations at Bedlington, but especially Northumberland Park open, the line is likely to see another surge in use, as the interchange with the Tyne and Wear Metro is highly likely to prove very useful for passengers travelling to and from places in North Tyneside via Northumberland Park.
While the Northumberland Line is a sure success as a route plying to and from Newcastle Upon Tyne, it could also be, as this campaign has long set out, a secondary route between Newcastle and the Scottish city of Edinburgh if the existing link from Bedlington towards Pegswood was brought into use, presently only used for a handful of railfreight services, but bringing into passenger use could be a relatively low-cost boost to the region?
If some stopping trains running between Edinburgh and Newcastle were to be diverted over a large portion of the Northumberland Line (Bedlington to Newcastle, so only omitting Ashington), this could be a further major boost to communities along the line of route.
Towns such as Blyth, which is the largest in Northumberland could then boast of direct rail connectivity to Edinburgh, making it much more attractive for business investment into the town, thereby creating more jobs and wealth, working towards lifting the area out from being one of the most economically deprived in the county of Northumberland.
A wider set of direct rail connections, especially InterCity ones would bring towns such as Blyth more on par with its smaller neighbour several miles away at Morpeth, which has long benefitted from its suberb range of rail connections, as headlines such as ‘Lumo reveals that its journeys between Morpeth and London have increased by 50 per cent in the past two years‘
Services to Morpeth in the above article were described by Cllr Richard Wearmouth as “Punctual, fast and cost effective, they are such an asset for our town.”, and arguably a service using the Northumberland Coast Loop would give similar benefits to towns such as Blyth, as well as areas such as North Tyneside? Maybe in the near future, councillors from towns such as Blyth may be able to make similar statements?
If you’d like to see Blyth Bebside and Northumberland Park gain a direct rail link to Edinburgh, please sign the petition here to show our local leaders how strongly such a service is desired, with 1040 at the time of writing, but more always welcome to sign it!
A recent article in The Northern Echo ‘Acklington among Britain’s quietest train stations in UK‘, shows that whilst still in the 50 least used stations in the UK, with just 856 entries and exits in the 2024/25 railway ticketing year, this was a major increase on the previous year, which had 550 in 2023/24.
This growth is significant as the services to/from Acklington would be considered by very many as ‘poor’, the station having a total of three trains per day Monday to Saturday, and no Sunday services at all.
These comprise entirely of the ‘Chathill Flyer’, which calls once heading southbound in the morning, and in the evening calls northbound, then southbound again on its way back to Newcastle.
Considerations of closure?
A concerning statement at the bottom of the article reads: ‘However, like many rural stops, it faces increasing pressure as operators and government bodies consider the viability of extremely low-usage stations, a topic that regularly resurfaces whenever ORR data is published.‘
This ‘viability of low-usage stations’ is a veiled threat of total closure, and it is a genuine concern for many smaller stations, where services have been reduced to pretty minimal levels for decades, resulting in very low passenger figures; not just at Acklington, but other small stations like Pegswood, Chathill, and Widdrington, all smaller stops between the more major ones at Morpeth, Alnmouth, Berwick Upon Tweed.
Closure of rural stations like Acklington would, however likely prove a backward step, when opening of new stations such as Belford are being proposed elsewhere on the East Coast Main Line (ECML), and the recent reopenings of stations such as East Linton, and Reston in Scotland have proven highly successful.
What is instead needed is an uplift in the services that call at the smaller stations such as Chathill, Acklington, Widdrington, and Pegswood.
The recent rise in passenger volumes at Acklington is an encouraging sign of more people using rail, but the phrase ‘use it, or lose it’ is clearly apt for the situation seen here; a station carrying less than 1000 passengers per annum, year after year, will always have an axe looming above it.
Therefore, to help keep these stations, and to help push smaller ones like Acklington out of the ‘least used 50’, a simple solution is to go out and travel by train to or from that station; it might not be the most convenient way to go somewhere, or get back, but the only way to prove that these stations are wanted by the community is for the community to use them.
When you can, travel to/from Chathill, Acklington, Widdrington, and Pegswood by train.
With the 2025/26 year already several months in, try and travel to/from or between from these stations by train as soon as you can, invite friends and family to travel with you too, every trip makes a difference with such small numbers, so hop on the train (with your tickets of course), and help save the stations.
In addition, write to your local councillors, and your local MP (David Smith MP for North Northumberland covers all stations between Morpeth and Berwick, so if you live in his constituency, please write to him), to help make the case to keep the stations we already have, as well as get more trains serving them, and even opening more new stations at places like Belford, and Beal.
So as part of your Christmas 2025, and New Year 2026, please travel by train and write to your local elected representatives!
Let’s hope that enough people can take part to push the small stations like Acklington over 1000 passengers a year for the next round of data, so please jump on the train as soon as you can, even if just for a jolly!
The petition for the proposed Northumberland Coast Loop, a new rail service from Newcastle to Edinburgh via Blyth Bebside and Northumberland Park has now reached 1040 signatures
The Route
The maps below illustrate the wider context of the rail routes through Northumberland, with the Newcastle to Berwick (and on to Edinburgh) section shown in purple on the top right of the map below.
Zooming into the top right quarter of the map, it can be seen that the current Ashington to Newcastle ‘Northumberland Line’ has been extended to Newbiggin as a potential ‘future network’ diagram, but also shows the existing link west from Bedlington towards Morpeth, but also the Morpeth North Curve that offers a direct Bedlington to Pegswood route too.
This latter link is what enables the Northumberland Coast Loop, so a train from Newcastle to Edinburgh could run up the Northumberland Line route as far as Bedlington, before turning west and running along the route parallel to Barrington Road, over the level crossing at the former White Swan pub at Choppington on the A1068 and heading to Hepscott, the line splits in two at Hepscott Junction (shown below), where the left hand line heads to Morpeth Station, whilst the right hand line is the Morpeth North Curve towards Pegswood.
Once back on the East Coast Main Line, trains would use the same route as all other mainline trains between Newcastle and Edinburgh already do, but the modest ‘loop’ taking trains nearer the Northumberland coastal towns like Blyth gives the route its name, and could serve the many major settlements in that area well, giving them a direct route to Edinburgh alongside the highly successful route to Newcastle already in operation for nearly a year.
If you would like to support the petition, please do so here: https://www.change.org/p/start-a-newcastle-edinburgh-rail-service-via-blyth-bebside-and-northumberland-park/exp/cl_/cl_sharecopy_490421148_en-GB/4/679068674?recruiter=679068674&recruited_by_id=f8c66ca0-ee1b-11e6-b726-5dfd818fd527&utm_source=share_petition&utm_campaign=share_petition&utm_medium=copylink&utm_content=cl_sharecopy_490421148_en-GB%3A4
A post today in The Chronicle ‘Call for more matchday carriages and better parking on Northumberland Line‘ quoting Cllr Daniel Carr of Newsham rightly points to the need for more capacity on this thriving new line as it is approaching its first anniversary on the 15th December 2025.
The Northumberland Line, which is, as yet only partially complete with four of the six stations open, has despite this carried over 800,000 passengers; with many trains packed to standing room only, and in a few cases being so full as to having to leave passengers on the platforms, clearly capacity is a pressing issue and needs to have extra carriages or trains to resolve it.
Does the Department for Transport have an answer?
The train operator, Northern Trains, which has been run directly by the DfT since February 2020 (previously Arriva Rail North from 2016 to 2020), provides the current Northumberland Line trains, but there is the issue that there is effectively a shortage of the British Rail built Class 156 (built 1987 to 1989) and Class 158 (built 1989 to 1992) trains used on the line, with the youngest examples being 33 years old now, and used widely around the UK.
To try and bring more of these trains in from elsewhere would leave other lines short, and building brand new trains takes time.
For the most part, each 156/158 ‘unit’ is just two carriages (as shown in image above), and a train is formed of either one unit on its own, or two coupled together to give a four carriage ‘set’, but depending on how many units are available, some Northumberland Line trains only run as single units, but where possible, many are strengthened to two units (forming a four carriage train). Three carriage units do operate in some places around the UK, but do not usually get used on the Northumberland Line.
Transpennine Express Trains via Bedlington?
One answer could be to use a totally different type of train to the Class 156 or Class 158 on a large part of the Northumberland Line, and a possible contender could be the Transpennine Express (TPE) Nova 1 fleet, such as 802213 shown below at Edinburgh.
Like Northern, Transpennine Express (TPE) is now run directly by the DfT, so although the two trains look radically different in their design, and have a different colour, in reality they are run by the same operator: the Department for Transport.
Plying up and down the East Coast Main Line (ECML) between Newcastle, Morpeth and Edinburgh daily, could these TPE units instead take a small diversion off the ‘mainline’ to augment the overcrowded Northumberland Line trains?
As can be seen from the map above, a train between Newcastle and Edinburgh has the option of two through routes between the cities; it can either run along the current ‘mainline’ through Cramlington, Morpeth and on to Berwick, the border and Scotland, or the lesser used route via Northumberland Park, Seaton Delaval, Newsham, Blyth Bebside, and Bedlington, then rejoin the ECML near Pegswood.
Running the route via Bedlington would allow these trains to form two important functions; firstly they would offer additional seats on the Northumberland Line if operated alongside the Class 156 & Class 158 trains already running, but also would provide a direct connection into North Northumberland and Scotland, assuming a similar stopping pattern to that currently employed by TPE.
As can be seen below on the fleet data sheet, each train has 342 seats, with 318 of those in Standard class, and 24 in First class, but perhaps most importantly, they can operate on both electric power, but also diesel, meaning that the unwired Northumberland Line is no barrier to operating them over these lines.
Train drivers would need to learn the route, and trains would need to be checked that they are OK to run on the line (route clearance), but give that this route is a known potential diversionary route for times of engineering work or closure of the line (as happened at Plessey Viaduct in October 2023 due to bridge damage), this route being used regularly would therefore have wider benefits in making the railway more resilient and capable of dealing with disruptions by keeping driver knowledge fresh and current, and by maintaining route clearance for trains too.
Running 125mph capable trains via Bedlington is nothing new, as in the 1980’s and 1990’s, Class 43 HST’s were to be occasionally seen on passenger carrying diversions via this route, the only significant change today is that with reopened stations, it is possible for the successors to these fast trains to stop to pick up and drop off passengers while going around the Northumberland Coast Loop route…
… as of today, Wednesday 3rd December 2025, the petition for the proposed Northumberland Coast Loop service to run between Newcastle and Edinburgh via Blyth Bebside and Northumberland Park stands at 1037 signatures, so might Cllr Carr, and others in Northumberland call on the DfT to at least look at TPE trains via the Northumberland Coast Loop to ease the crowding issues, as well as further expand the reach, and the success of the Northumberland Line by using the existing link line between Bedlington and Pegswood to make a large part of the Northumberland Line a through route, not just a dead end branch from Newcastle, but instead an alternative route between Newcastle and Edinburgh?
If you agree with this, please sign the petition here: https://c.org/zThXj8HBpY
Thanks, RH.
The petition for a dedicated bus connecting the towns of Alnwick and Amble to Alnmouth Railway station currently stands at 826 signatures, can you help it reach 1000? Please click this link to view and sign the petition: https://c.org/B4RwwtHnJc
An outline of the proposed route, as well as the service pattern is explained below.
The intended route of this service would broadly follow that of the existing Arriva operated X20, but it would be truncated to just the Alnwick – Alnmouth – Amble rather than continuing to Ashington and Newcastle, which should help the service to maintain time and avoid disruption caused by traffic elsewhere.
Alnwick Bus Station – Alnmouth Rail Station – Warkworth Castle – The Amble Inn
Starting from at Alnwick Bus Station, this route runs via Green Batt to reach the B6346 (Bondgate Without), passes The Plough, then Alnwick War Memorial, Barter Books until it reaches the A1068 at The Oaks Roundabout, and from there, the route continues along the A1068 Alnmouth Road, crosses over the A1 to exit Alnwick.
The route then runs past Alndyke, over the River Aln, then passes Hawkhill, then goes under the East Coast Main Line (ECML), passes Lesbury Road End, over the River Aln again at Lesbury, turns up Curly Lane to serve Alnmouth Railway Station.
Leaving Alnmouth Railway Station then down South View to Hipsburn Roundabout, from there rejoining the A1068 towards High Buston Road End, Shortridge Hall Road End, then Birling, Coquet Bridge, and into Warkworth, going along Bridge Street and Castle Street to reach Warkworth Castle and Beal Bank Top, leaving Warkworth via Beal Bank and continuing along the A1068.
Entering Amble via The Wynd, the route passes along High Street, Queen Street and Bridge Street, then joins Percy Drive to head towards the edge of town at the Amble Inn and the adjacent roundabout. At the Amble Inn Roundabout (Percy Drive-Industrial Estate), it is intended the service would turn around to form the return bus service to Alnwick, following the same route back to the bus station.
Due to the high variation of train arrival and departure times at Alnmouth over the course of the working day, as well as potential for trains to be delayed, the buses will not be timed to meet specific services, but instead are proposed to run to a regular, half-hourly ‘clockface’ or ‘drumbeat’ timetable throughout the day so in a worst-case scenario of just missing the bus, the maximum waiting time is just 30 minutes. This is directly based on the highly successful Northumberland Line train timetable which runs to a 30 minute frequency most of the day.
The first and last buses are also early/late enough to meet the first and last trains, with an option for the last buses to hold until the last train has arrived, allowing passengers from the train to catch the final bus back to Alnwick or Amble.
The Monday to Saturday service is half hours with clockface departures from Alnwick Bus Station on the hour and half past the hour (i.e. 06:00, 06:30, 07:00, 07:30 and then at XX:00 and XX:30 until 19:30, after which, the service could reduce to hourly).
Journey time via the current X20 timetable is 13 minutes from Alnwick Bus Station to Alnmouth Railway Station/Curly Lane. That would result in a reasonable expected arrival times at 06:15, 06:45, 07:15, 07:45, and then at XX:15 and XX:45 until 19:45, after which arrivals would be hourly), allowing an additional two minutes for any delays en-route such as traffic congestion or roadworks.
Leaving Alnmouth Railway Station, the route to the Amble Inn takes slightly longer at 21 minutes, so a departure from Alnmouth at XX:17, and XX:47 (two minute dwell at Alnmouth Station), would give an approximate Amble Inn arrival at XX:40 and XX:10.
Therefore the full run, starting from Alnwick Bus Station, through to Alnmouth Railway Station and ending at The Amble Inn would take approximately 40 minutes to complete by each bus, allowing an additional four minutes than current schedules for recovery of late running.
Departures from The Amble Inn to return to Alnwick would therefore be likely to be at XX:15 and XX:45, fourty-five minutes after their departure from Alnwick Bus Station. These buses would then be expected to arrive at Alnmouth Railway Station at XX:38 and XX:08, departing Alnmouth Railway Station at XX:40 and XX:10, to arrive back at Alnwick Bus Station for XX:55 and XX:25, ready for the on the hour departure back to Amble.
Three buses needed
To run a half-hourly service, this route would require three buses, as each would complete a full Alnwick Bus Station – Alnmouth Railway Station – Amble Inn – Alnmouth Railway Station – Alnwick Bus Station circuit in c.85 minutes, based on existing timetable and a total of 8 minutes of additional running time to allow delays to be absorbed.
Draft Timetable
Based on the above information, and timed to arrive before the first/last trains, and for the last to potentially wait until the passengers leave the train and board the bus, here is a potential timetable that could operate using just three buses to give a half hourly service from 05:15 to 19:30, and hourly from 20:00 until 23:00.
The above service could be taken on by any willing operator, either large or small, this campaign doesn’t have any preference for the colour of the bus, or its operator so long as the service is cheap to use (low fares), ns is comfortable, clean and reliable.
This time in two weeks, Monday 15th December 2025 will mark the first full year since the long awaited opening of the Northumberland Line to passengers. Starting with just the two stations at Ashington, and Seaton Delaval at the outset on 15th December 2024, there are now four of the six stations open, with Newsham opening in March 2025, and Blyth Bebside opening in October 2025. The next two stations at Bedlington, and Northumberland Park are due to open in ‘early 2026’, with no precise date yet announced.
Despite these issues with delayed opening of stations and of cost overruns, the line so far having cost £336.4m, the line has been a HUGE success with regards to passenger numbers, with over 800,000 now having used the line since opening, well ahead of any projections, and even the dreams of most optimistic advocates for the reopening.
Hopefully on the anniversary itself, or a few days afterwards, we can see just how close to carrying a million passengers that the Northumberland Line actually is, and that the remaining stations may at last be given a more precise opening date.
Expansions of the Northumberland Line
Plans for expansion of this highly successful line have already been put forward; such as the expansion of the line to Newbiggin by the Sea in this recent BBC article.
The proposed Newbiggin extension is very much welcomed, but ideally should also happen alongside the Northumberland Coast Loop, which as can be seen below, has now reached 1037 signatures on the petition in support of this route, which you can view here: https://c.org/wbhpn9ffpJ
Hopefully it’ll soon be possible to travel both to Newbiggin by the sea by rail again, after a now 61 year absence, as well as being able to travel directly from destinations around the ‘loop’ to North Northumberland and Scotland, something not yet seen, aside from special trains of the past and railtours.
An example from the past is this 4th August 1962 Whitley Bay to Glasgow train, which due to the Morpeth North Curve (M.N.C.) not existing, needed to awkwardly reverse at Morpeth station to head north, it not being possible until 1980 to head directly from the Choppington and Hepscott, run around the M.N.C. and pass through Pegswood to head directly north.
The Morpeth North Curve is photographed below, a route avoiding an awkward reversal at Morpeth station to head northwards from SE Northumberland or North Tyneside.
The Northumberland Coast Loop