With the fourth station on the line at Blyth Bebside due to open tomorrow (19th October 2025), and already around 700,000 passengers having travelled on the Northumberland Line since it opened less than a year ago (15th December 2024), there have been many of the two carriage trains becoming overwhelmed by the volume of passengers using the services, with occasionally passengers being unable to board due to how full the trains are.
To help ease this problem (in many ways a good one, in that the line is being far more successful than was predicted, and proves the ‘build it, and they will come’ of major public transport investment), the operator of trains, Northern, is putting on extra carriages where possible at peak times to provide added capacity, but a shortage of diesel multiple units (DMU’s) like the Class 156 and 158 used on the route, as well as others across the UK nationally is an issue.
The statement in the article that ‘Northern have introduced extra carriages on some of its services and will continue to closely monitor capacity with a view to meeting demand wherever possible.‘ is an encouraging one, but does suggest that what might be possible could be limited in scope, due to the availability of old units like the Class 156 and 158 trains, which are stretched thinly across the UK.
Encouragingly, the article does also state that ‘Programme partners will continue to explore all options to provide more capacity for customers, while acknowledging the real practical difficulties because of the shortage of suitable vehicles nationally.‘ so perhaps our suggestion of using other trains, such as the TPE Nova 1 fleet, CrossCountry or other diesel/bi-mode units to run the Newcasyle to Edinburgh via Bedlington route, and thus augment the Northumberland Line services (run alongside the Northern trains) has happily not been ruled out, and the other major advantage of this would be offering direct services from this immensely popular reopened line serving south east Northumberland, into North Northumberland and Scotland.
Map of the proposed Northumberland Coast Loop, showing the possibility to return to the ECML near Pegswood via the existing freight line from Bedlington Junction to Morpeth North Junction
With the fourth station on the line at Blyth Bebside due to open tomorrow (19th October 2025), and already around 700,000 passengers having travelled on the Northumberland Line since it opened less than a year ago (15th December 2024), there have been many of the two carriage trains becoming overwhelmed by the volume of passengers using the services, with occasionally passengers being unable to board due to how full the trains are.
To help ease this problem (in many ways a good one, in that the line is being far more successful than was predicted, and proves the ‘build it, and they will come’ of major public transport investment), the operator of trains, Northern, is putting on extra carriages where possible at peak times to provide added capacity, but a shortage of diesel multiple units (DMU’s) like the Class 156 and 158 used on the route, as well as others across the UK nationally is an issue.
The statement in the article that ‘Northern have introduced extra carriages on some of its services and will continue to closely monitor capacity with a view to meeting demand wherever possible.‘ is an encouraging one, but does suggest that what might be possible could be limited in scope, due to the availability of old units like the Class 156 and 158 trains, which are stretched thinly across the UK.
Encouragingly, the article does also state that ‘Programme partners will continue to explore all options to provide more capacity for customers, while acknowledging the real practical difficulties because of the shortage of suitable vehicles nationally.‘ so perhaps our suggestion of using other trains, such as the TPE Nova 1 fleet, CrossCountry or other diesel/bi-mode units to run the Newcasyle to Edinburgh via Bedlington route, and thus augment the Northumberland Line services (run alongside the Northern trains) has happily not been ruled out, and the other major advantage of this would be offering direct services from this immensely popular reopened line serving south east Northumberland, into North Northumberland and Scotland.
In a Facebook post today (16.10.25) from Northumberland County Council, council leader Glen Sanderson stood at Blyth Bebside, the next station due to open on the Northumberland Line, which will mark four of the six stations new completed and opened to passengers, showcasing what the completed station will look like ahead of opening.
In the same post, he also announced that 700,000 passengers had been reached in 10 months since the opening of the line on 15th December 2024, 306 days ago to be more precise.
A simple average of the total passenger volume (700,000) shared by the number of operating days (306) means an average per day of 2,288 passengers per day (rounded up to nearest whole number) using the line daily.
At that rate, a MILLION passengers on the line should be achieved in late 2025/early 2026, phenomenally beyond even the most optimistic expectations of the most optimistic people backing the project, and showing clearly the ‘build it, and they will come‘ analogy has rung very true with regards the Northumberland Line.
Next steps?
With such a roaring success comes an issue; the often two carriage Class 158/156 units are often struggling to carry all the passengers desiring to use the line, and there aren’t any easy options to get more similar carriages to make trains up to four on every train.
Our route map for the proposed Northumberland Coast Loop
Our proposed solution is to redirect some current East Coast Main Line (ECML) services via Bedlington, possible along the existing route from Morpeth North Junction (w3w: ///insects.hamsters.issuer), curving off the mainline coming from Pegswood heading south, passing through Hepscott, then joining the Northumberland Line at Bedlington Junction.
Sending some trains, such as the Transpennine Express Nova 1 fleet (which is capable of running on either a diesel engine or from overhead wires, and can achieve 125mph when on the ECML) could be one solution: it would add valuable extra seats on the Northumberland Line to/from Newcastle if ran in addition to the Northern trains, but would also give direct northbound connections from towns like Blyth into North Northumberland (i.e. Blyth to Berwick Upon Tweed direct), or ideally into Edinburgh Waverley, linking the Scottish capital to Newcastle via south east Northumberland proper.
This would have the side benefit of developing diversionary route knowledge for train drivers; which potentially might have been needed during the issues with Plessey Viaduct in October 2023 and the ensuing repairs required had both lines been closed entirely.
Fortunately, the damaged viaduct remained partially open until repairs were completed, but driver knowledge of the diversionary route via Bedlington would certainly be of benefit in added resilience for rail services, and one of the best ways to achieve, and to maintain route knowledge is regular running of trains over the route.
Our petition for a Newcastle to Edinburgh via Bedlington service is steadily growing, standing at just under 1000 signatures so far, if you’d like to sign it too, please do so here: https://c.org/J8DxHqpWdf
To quote directly from the above sale annoucement however, ‘Mike Cooper, CEO of Arriva Group, said: “We want to see a future where people choose to leave their car at home, a future with less traffic congestion and cleaner air.‘ So surely serving Newsham station (and other railway stations) better is surely a clear way to achieve this goal?
Improved connections to and from the railway station, delivered through a fully integrated bus service, is likely to help with the choice of ‘leaving the car at home‘, which especially in a town as congested as Blyth, would make a huge difference almost immediately, and especially to the parking problems being experienced around the new station Newsham due to high demand for rail services, but the relatively poor inward or outward public transport connections mean that many view driving to the station as the only viable option.
Whilst the existing bus stops may, or may not be far away from the station depending on your own opinion, an ‘ideal’ situation surely is an ‘as close as possible‘ interchange between rail and bus services; so where feasible, a dedicated station bus stop on a turning circle or within a station car park is clearly the preferable option to be served compared to a ‘nearby street’.
For everyone, but especially those with mobility issues, travelling with items of luggage, small children etc, or even just in poor weather conditions such as rain, snow, or wind; a close interchange is obviously of huge benefit, and worth the minor detour (as shown below) of the bus service itself to serve the station directly. Even in perfect weather, an easily visble bus stop near the platform is more obvious than needing directions to a bus stop a few streets away.
Whilst Arriva can be forgiven to some extent for Newsham being a relatively ‘new’ station, it having been open for less a year (opened in March 2025), and thus sticking with its existing bus routes for a while; now that the station, and the Northumberland Line more broadly is proving so popular, with over 650,000 passengers, it is perhaps time to adapt to this major change and begin running there directly?
As the major operator of buses in Northumberland, it is clear that more could be done throughout the county by Arriva to ensure better bus and rail integration, which has multiple benefits for local residents, but also for the many tourists to our region, there is literally a zero downside to a better integrated public transport system.
Another recent article highlighting tourism issues identified by Mayor McGuinness is a good case in point; buses linking to rail services in a co-ordinated fashion would help make many attractions easier to visit, especially as a bus can act as a mobile billboard for them, such as the ‘Poison Garden’ branded bus, as seen in Alnwick Bus Station below.
Could there be ‘Blyth Battery’ or ‘Bamburgh Castle’ branded bus services too?
Public Transport: Integration is better than false competition.
This is an issue that stems more broadly from the privatisation and deregulation of buses back in the 1980’s, so that rather than co-ordinated and integrated system, public transport still takes a Victorian ‘competitive’ approach that the bus services are attempting to compete with trains, when really both would benefit from working as part of a single larger system.
Buses are advantageous in providing access to places a train cannot viably reach; central Blyth is unlikely to ever again see rail services due to the loss of the branchline into the centre and the development on the routes into the town since then have probably precluded it being rebuilt, but an integrated system of buses linking both Newsham and Blyth Bebside station into the town centre is a reasonable alternative.
Similarly, other stations such as Morpeth or Alnmouth, that act as hubs for a much wider area, and offer UK wide connections are relatively poorly connected by buses, which is an absurd situation in many ways.
Indeed, better integration of buses and rail would likely boost Arriva by additional ticket sales; more than compensating for the tiny additional distance and time required.
As an example, the fastest Blyth Bus Station to Haymarket service, the X10, takes 54mins for its trip end to end; but would three minutes extra, to run via the Newsham Station bus stop make that much difference?
X10 route from Blyth Bus Station to Newcastle HaymarketExisting loop in the X10 route via Walsham Close, why can’t a second smaller loop be made via Newsham Station?
How far away are the alternative stops?
Using Google Maps, an approximate journey time can be ascertained for the walking distances to and from Newsham station to both the Blagdon Drive bus stops (for the X8 service to/from Blyth Town Centre), and the Park Farm Villas bus stops (for the X10 and X30 buses).
Whilst neither of the current stops could be described as ‘a million miles away’ from the station, they are still a fair walking distance away, and especially for a disabled person or someone unfamiliar with the area could present issues, for the fairly for a simple and very modest short re-routing of a bus service to obviate the whole issue entirely.
Blagdon DriveBus Stop to Newsham Station
The bus stops on Blagdon Drive for the X8, which are located just to the east of the new roundabout to the east of Newsham station (map below orientated east up), are the closest stops to the new bus stop within the station car park, but would also mean the smallest detour of bus route to serve the station bus stop, as the route already crosses to/from the east side of the Northumberland Line.
Location of Blagdon Drive bus stop relative to Newsham Railway Station. Approximate walking distance to Newsham Station from Blagdon Drive bus stop to the east of the station.
As can be seen above, the Blagdon Drive bus stop is a fairly modest 4 minute, 290m distant, and mostly flat walking route for passengers changing between the X8 bus and trains calling at Newsham station, but as can be seen below, a deviation of the bus route would represent an approximate two minutes of additional time compared to present situation of ignoring the stop.
The direct route between Laverock Hall Farm and Blyth Battery ignoring the station bus stop is an 8 min expected journey time for a car.The same start and end points via Newsham Station would represent circa two minute diversion, and extra 400m of bus route.
With such a minor diversion of the bus route (c.2 mins) in exchange for a much improved connection between the X8 and Northumberland Line rail services, then hopefully Arriva will change their mind about this route being amended to serve the station, especially if requested as part of the subsidy arrangements that companies like Arriva receive for operating buses at reasonable cost.
Park Farm Villas to Newsham Station
The current bus routes of the X10 and X30 run near to the Northumberland Line, but instead of passing over the line near Newsham station, instead head north and in parallel along the B1523, passing near to the station.
Walking distance from Park Farm Villas to Newsham Station (Railway Cottage Retreat used as a proxy due to Google Maps suggesting an unduly long route)
As can be seen, again a circa 4 minute, 300m walk isn’t a huge distance, but for those with mobility problems, heavy luggage, small children, or even those simply being unfamiliar with the area, a bus stop well out of sight of the station is not a welcoming way to encourage use.
Example route avoiding Newsham Station, from Laverock Hall Farm to Co-op Food, New Delaval. Route between Laverock Hall Farm and the New Delaval Co-op, but running via Newsham Station bus stop, a c.3min diversion and extra 600m on the bus route.
As can be seen from the maps above, diversion of the X8, X10, and X30 buses to serve Newsham Station is not an outrageous request, it would represent a matter of under 4 minutes to run the bus via Newsham Stations own bus stop, even for those having to cross the new bridge and go back again, yet would provide massively better bus & rail integration.
Hopefully Arriva may test out a diversion of the bus routes to at least assess the impact of the change as a compromise?
In this article from the Northumberland Gazette, which discusses the opening of the fourth station on the line at Blyth Bebside next Sunday, the 19th October 2025, gave great news for passenger figures on the line.
So far, two stations, one at Ashington, and the other at Seaton Delaval, opened with the line itself on 15th December 2024, and the third station at Newsham, opened shortly afterwards on the 17th March 2025.
Tickets to travel to and from Blyth Bebside are now available to purchase, and to quote the article itself:
‘It comes after the Northumberland Line reopened to passengers – for the first time in 60 years – in December 2024. Since then, they have used it to make more than 650,000 journeys.
Services, which are run by Northern, have proved to be very popular during weekends and school holidays. But the train operator has also seen a growing number of commuters and students using weekday services in recent months.‘
With the first anniversary of the line fast approaching on 15th December 2025, perhaps it is not outlandish to suggest that the volume of journeys will be fast approaching a three quarters of a million by then, with a simple average of 650,000 passengers in 302 days (15.12.24 to 12.10.25) meaning that 2,152 passengers/day are using the line on average, and if the same rate is maintained in the coming 60 days, it would add approximately 135,000 additional journeys onto the 650,000 already made.
A huge success, but one that could be boosted even further if the Northumberland Coast Loop is added as an option for direct connections to North Northumberland and Scotland?
A recent Northumberland Gazette article has detailed how Sella Controls is intending to install two post mounted displays, one on each platform, to upgrade the passenger information systems at the station.
Please click the link above for further information.
North East Mayor Kim McGuinness, alongside MP’s Ian Lavery, and Emma Foody, have published on Facebook an open letter yesterday to Ellie Burrows, Regional Managing Director, Eastern of Network Rail to request the earliest possible opening of the last two stations under construction on the Northumberland Line scheme, those at Bedlington, and Northumberland Park, with Blyth Bebside due to open in just over a week on Sunday 19th October 2025.
Whilst it is important to have these stations up and running as soon as possible, it must also be done safely and not unduly rushed despite the delays of potentially a year or more since the opening of the line on 15th December 2024, which itself was a slipped deadline from the original ‘Summer 2023’ opening of the line.
Crowding and More Carriages Comments, and TPE via the Northumberland Coast Loop route a solution?
Of note on the Facebook post was the comments calling for more carriages to be provided on the Northumberland Line due to issues of crowding being experienced due to the high popularity of the route, some examples are shown below (anonymised)
The problem is that the Northern units (Class 156/158) that are used on the Northumberland Line are around 30 year old British Rail trains, and are thinly stretched across all of the Northern routes; pulling a unit from one route would make another one short of trains – very much ‘robbing Peter to pay Paul’.
There simply isn’t anywhere to get new units of the same design, and whilst new trains for Northern are in the pipeline, it’ll be quite some time until they are seen on the network.
Transpennine Express (TPE) via Blyth?
What I would propose is a re-routing of some Transpennine Express (TPE) units (the Nova 1 bi-mode fleet), which are short, 5-car trains which currently run Newcastle to Edinburgh via Morpeth and Cramlington to alternatively run via Blyth and Northumberland Park. These could add around 320+ seats, with some in First Class to the route.
As a bi-mode train, they can run on both the overhead electric wires, but also have an onboard diesel engines, which would allow them to come off the East Coast Main Line at Morpeth North Junction (https://w3w.co/insects.hamsters.issuer), then travel through Hepscott, over Choppington Level Crossing, and join the Northumberland Line at Bedlington, and could augment the Northern operated Northumberland Line trains by providing more trains, and thus more seats to/from Newcastle, but also to give a connection northwards to places like Alnmouth, Berwick Upon Tweed, and Edinburgh direct.
Alternative operators could also serve the route if TPE is unable to; CrossCountry for example uses diesel ‘Voyagers’ (Class 220) in four car sets, which could run via Blyth rather than via Morpeth and Cramlington.
A further example could be Grand Central trains extending their current London – Sunderland ‘North Eastern’ route through Newcastle and to Edinburgh via Blyth, again providing more seats, but also offering a new direct link between the Scotland and the Northumberland Coast onto the Durham Coast and Teesside.
Indeed a combination of different operators would be possible, but any additional trains running via the Northumberland Coast Loop and serving the stations would ease the crowding experienced on some services, whilst also offering new northward connections.
As of today, the petition for the Northumberland Coast Loop currently stands at near 1000 signatures, suggesting a strong demand for the route exists, so hopefully Mayot Kim McGuinness, and MP’s Ian Lavery and Emma Foody might put forward this route to help ease the crowding on the Northumberland Line, and give these new stations even better connections to the rest of the UK?
A recent Facebook post from John Lamont MP, who represents Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk just over the border in Scotland gave an update on a recent meeting held at Berwick Upon Tweed railway station.
While Berwick station is within Northumberland, and therefore in the Consituency of David Smith MP, who represents North Northumberland, it is great to see the cross-party collaboration between both elected representatives to work for the people on both sides of the Anglo-Scottish border, who pass between both countries regularly.
Like many other campaigners and organised groups, the land between Edinburgh Waverley and Newcastle Central is not just there to rattle through non-stop and admire the splendid views from the line; it should also be there to serve the local communities who live along it’s length, or nearby to it (including myself as an Alnwick resident), but also to serve the growing market for tourism in the areas served by the East Coast Main Line (ECML) between Edinburgh and Newcastle.
As John succinctly puts it, we need to push for investment in the infrastructure to deliver BOTH a fast InterCity service between Edinburgh, Newcastle, York, and London, alongside a strong set of local services calling at the intermediate stations like Berwick, but also Chathill, Belford, and hopefully, a route via Blyth, Northumberland to further link Northumberland together as one county.
Lets hope that LNER, and the other train operators, alongside Network Rail can help deliver BOTH a fast service between the cities, alongside the slower ones to serve smaller, but still vitally important places in-between.
If you’d like to join the 958 people who are supporting an Edinburgh – Blyth Bebside – Northumberland Park – Newcastle rail route becoming established, please do so here: https://chng.it/zThXj8HBpY
Following a recent announcement on the expansion of the facilities at Newsham station on the Northumberland Line, which largely comprising of additional car parking being completed, has raised comments about the lack of buses serving the new station.
Announcement by Northumberland County Council (NCC) of the opening of the west car park at Newsham station, the third station opened on the Northumberland Line in March 2025.
The huge success of the Northumberland Line, which has had over 500,000 passengers announced some time ago (meaning the current passenger total is likely now far higher given how busy many trains continue to be) has meant that this additional west car park being opened will ease some of the strain on the east car park, as well as the streets of local residents to the station.
High cost of the ‘free’ car parks; £6k+ per space!
Such has been the demand for the new rail services, social media comments have suggested that local streets are acting as an overflow car parking facility for station users, which obviously causes tensions, but car parking spaces are surprisingly expensive to provide, especially when they are often desired to be free at point of use.
Therefore, to build an additional 200 space car park at Newsham; a guide price of at least £1.25m would be likely (£6,120 x 200).
Given the cost overruns on the Northumberland Line, and the recent commitment of additional funds to complete the stations on the line, more being requested to provide more parking is going to be challenging to find.
‘Bus Meets Train’ a fix for Blyth?
A clear solution to this problem would be to make access to Newsham (and other stations) without using a car at all easier, and one option would be to use the already existing bus stop in the east car park, conveniently almost adjacent to the southbound platform.
‘Bus Meets Train’ signage at Alnwick Bus Station, a town a fraction of the size of Blyth, and now without its own railway station.Photo of the new, but little used bus stop at Newsham station, taken on 20th March 2025
Whilst the bus stop has been used for rail replacement buses, to my knowledge few, if indeed any service buses have called at this bus stop, with comments on the original post by NCC below suggesting strongly that no bus companies, including Arriva, the main bus operator in the area, has been willing to serve this new bus stop.
A good example of a bus that could serve this bus stop is the Arriva X8 service, that passes over the Northumberland Line itself, and then calls at the nearby Blagdon Drive bus stop, which would need to only make a tiny diversion through the car park to serve the station. Running from early morning to late evening, an interchange with the X8 would be a potentially ideal way to improve bus/rail integration at Newsham station.
This case is perhaps a good example of where the deregulation of buses is a clear policy failure; and that organisations such as NCC should have more power to compel companies like Arriva, who are in receipt of subsidies to provide bus services, to actually serve a multi-million pound new railway station that is on their bus route?
The deregulation of buses is based on flawed principle that bus services like the X8 should be ‘competing’ with the Northumberland Line services as a route into Newcastle from Blyth, where in reality, they should collaborate to their respective strengths.
The strength of the train is a fast, comfortable way to transport large volumes of people, whilst that of the bus is to carry smaller volumes nearer to origin and destination points; few streets in Blyth would be able to have a railway station at the end, but many could and indeed do have a nearby bus stop, with the inherent flexibility to run many varied bus routes to serve different areas of town.
Another comment on the Facebook post suggested running a dedicated shuttle bus between the Town Centre to Newsham, which could be an alternative option, or more ideally a mix of both could be employed?
The Northumberland Line is likely to continue being a massive success with or without bus connectivity, but ‘bus meets train’ is an obvious quick, inexpensive solution to ease traffic problems more broadly; people driving in/out of Blyth to head to Newsham station, or Blyth Bebside when it opens still contributing to congestion within the town just as much as if they drove all the way to their workplace or leisure activity. A simple swap away from their own car, to a short bus trip to the nearby station as an integrated bus+train trip would be a far better solution, especially if ticketing can be changed to a single through ticket too…
Enhancing the Northumberland Line: Beyond Newcastle, and the Edinburgh Extension?
Hopefully, if successful, the Northumberland Line will see this MetroCentre link become a permanent feature on more days of the week, and maybe more routes south beyond Newcastle might prove possible, with the Durham Coast route to Sunderland and Teesside a potential contender too.
Northumberland Coast Loop
The other option is to also look north, and use the route linking Bedlington to Pegswood to give direct access to North Northumberland and Scotland, only built in the 1980’s, and largely for coal to reach the now long-gone Blyth Power Station, this link could see a new rail service to put Blyth on a through route between Edinburgh and Newcastle, making the Northumberland Line into the Northumberland Coast Loop?
Public footpath over the Morpeth North Curve, part of the direct link from Blyth to Edinburgh. (Have a look for yourself by visiting it at what3words location: ///plea.refuses.shepherdess)Route map showing the proposed Northumberland Coast Loop allowing passage from Newsham and Blyth Bebside to Pegswood, Alnmouth, Berwick Upon Tweed, and Edinburgh. The route of ‘The Seven Counties Rambler’, which did the Newcastle – Blyth – Edinburgh route back on 8th March 2025, and hopefully could be a regular route in future!
Today is Saturday 27th September 2025, and 200 years ago marked the official opening of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, an important moment in railway history, and one that is good to reflect on both the railways of the past, but it is also ESSENTIAL to look towards the railways of the future.
Bedlington was an important player in the success of the early railway, the malleable iron rails developed by Birkinshaw being used extensively on the S&D (around ⅔ of all the rails), but Bedlington is also, in my view a key part of the future; the passenger railway returning there hopefully marks a turning point of where investment is made, and using the railway routes through Bedington better could make a massive difference to the fortunes of my hometown and surrounding area.
Despite being a year of celebrations of the railways as a transport system, and recognition of their importance, they seem to still take a backseat compared to road schemes, and get the very undeserved reputation of being ‘staggeringly expensive’ to quote a local resident, when in reality it is many of the road schemes that are hugely expensive for little overall gain.
These roundabouts are undoubtedly busy ones, with heavy traffic at almost all times, but cost of ‘upgrades’, which range in scope and price from a £300m design through to a £775m one are staggeringly vast sums of money.
The costs of roads are huge, but they don’t necessarily bring the prosperity that politicians promise; a dualled A1 is often said to be key to unlocking growth and the economy, yet towns like Blyth and Ashington, long connected by the long dualled A189 Spine Road are amongst the most deprived communities in the UK, with the return of the passenger railway being perhaps the real catalyst for positive change. Perhaps roads are not the promised path to prosperity, maybe it is a way made of steel?
This rail scheme has seen the reopening to passengers of an 18 mile long freight railway, with six new stations (even Ashington and Bedlington, which retained platforms since the 1964 closure of the line have been so heavily rebuilt as to be classed as new, not just reopened).
The Northumberland Line, despite its issues with delays and cost overruns can be clearly defined as a success already; with over 500,000 people using it so far, and trains being so well filled as to actually suffer from crowding, despite only having half of its stations open so far.
Could it be said that rail might be both cheaper and better to build?
Northumberland Line: Approx £18.7m per mile
This gives an approximate cost per mile of the Northumberland Line of £336.4m ÷ 18miles = £18.7m (rounded up), and with being an average, would represent 1 mile of freight railway upgraded, and ⅓ the cost of a station.
That would roughly work out at £56.1m for three miles of track upgrades from freight only to passenger carrying, plus a completely new station built alongside.
The caveat with this would be that three miles of track, and a new station in one place could cost substantially less per mile (i.e. a single line and single platform station), compared to a double track section (line in each direction) and a double platform station, which might cost more, but would be heavily dependent on circumstances at the specific sites such as ground conditions.
This very much a ‘best guess’, as with no highly detailed breakdown of prices for the individual elements of the Northumberland Line which has a mix of both single and double lines, as well as single and double platforms at different stations, which prevents information on the cost of each individual station, and of each individual mile of track, an average cost as produced above is the only reasonable comparison available.
Two Roundabouts, or 16 to 41 Miles of Railway with five to thirteen new railway stations?
The low-end cost of the A19 roundabout upgrades at Seaton Burn and Moor Farm is expected to be approximately £300m, and if £300m is divided by the above £18.7m cost per mile of the Northumberland Line, it would allow for approximately16 miles of similar freight line to be reopened for passenger use, including five new stations if the money was instead invested into the rail network, rather that the the road network.
At the high-end estimate of £775m, and again using the Northumberland Line cost per mile of £18.7m, this could result in approximately 41 miles of line reopened to passengers, including the cost of up to thirteen stations.
Northumberland Line extensions to Woodhorn, Newbiggin by the Sea, & Lynemouth, Cambois for Blyth, and the Northumberland Coast Loop?
Whilst there isn’t now a singular freight line in Northumberland/North Tyneside of 16 to 41 miles long that is awaiting an upgrade to become passenger carrying, there are several shorter sections that could be upgraded, including new stations to provide further enhancements to the Northumberland Line itself.
Ashington to Lynemouth, 4 miles of line for c.£71m?
One of the obvious contenders is to extend the Northumberland Line northwards and eastwards from Ashington to connect the Woodhorn area (near the popular Woodhorn Museum), the seaside town of Newbiggin by the Sea and the former mining town of Lynemouth (presently the end of the line where Lynemouth Power Station stands).
Woodhorn Colliery Museum is about 1.25miles/2km via the existing rail route from Ashington, the likely site of a new station serving the eastern side of Ashington around the A189 Spine Road.
The line then curves northwards towards Lynemouth, passing over the A197 near the former Church of St Mary, Woodhorn at 2.2miles/3.6km from Ashington, a possible site for a station to serve Newbiggin by using the existing line, rather than rebuilding the branchline towards the coast (somewhat constrained now by a new school adjacent to the trackbed, and the significant civil engineering works needed to adjust the embankment heights to clear the A189 at the Woodhorn Colliery end).
The current headshunt of the Lynemouth Power Station, adjacent to Albion Terrace is reached at 3.5miles/5.7km from Ashington, but might reasonably be extended a few hundred yards towards Bridge Street (former railway cutting, now infilled), which would extend the line slightly (0.3miles/400m) to 3.8miles/6.1km from Ashington, giving Lynemouth an ‘edge of town’ station alongside the Lynemouth Miners Welfare Institute.
Again using the Northumberland Line average cost of £18.7m per mile, Ashington to Lynemouth, a rail route 3.8miles/6.1km long would cost in the ballpark of c.£71m; a quarter of the cost of the low-end A19 roundabout works, and near an eleventh of the high-end A19 roundabout cost (Ashington to Lynemouth Bridge Street could be done 11 times over for the same amount of money).
There is an amount of variability due to the possibility of three proposed stations relatively closely spaced at Woodhorn Museum, St Mary’s, and Lynemouth Institute, which would possibly put upward pressure on the price, as might a short bypass line around the Power Station sidings, but a generous £100m budget would still be third of the cost of minor roundabout upgrades, and around a seventh of the high-end costing.
Cambois for Blyth Town Centre for £60.7m – £101.4m?
A branch from the Northumberland Line between Bedlington and Ashington could be another contender for investment too; whilst the population of Cambois and North Blyth itself is relatively small, the line extends well into the north side of the Port of Blyth, which, when and if combined with a revival of a pedestrian ferry service across the port, similar to those used on the River Tyne, could provide a great link for central Blyth.
The rail route into central Blyth is likely now lost to development, and would likely now be truncated to near Gilbert Ward Academy, as well as the issues likely to arise from the level crossing being reopened on Plessey Road (near Plessey Chippy) likely to preclude a reopening on the Blyth side of the river.
While on the opposite bank of the River, the railway has the advantage of already being open, and whilst the level crossings at Winning, Freemans, and Unity Terrace/Foster Terrace might need upgrades, these already exist and are in regular use.
Tyne Ferry ‘Spirit of the Tyne’ in September 2025 at the dock in South Shields. Sailing aboard ‘Spirit of the Tyne’ bound for North Shields
Taking the distances from West Sleekburn Juncton (the direct route from Newcastle & Bedlington into Cambois), the site of the former Cambois Diesel Depot (stabling point for locomotives), where a station serving the township of Cambois could be built is only around 2.1miles/3.4km from the West Sleekburn Junction with the Northumberland Line.
Assuming a new landing station for a revived ferry might be built near the roundabout for Battleship Wharf, a station near to Worsdell Street might be constructed (clear of a run-round loop for the ‘Alcan’ alumina dock) which would be around 3.25miles/5.2km from West Sleekburn Junction.
Using once again the average price of the Northumberland Line per mile of £18.7m, this 3.25mile line could cost in the ballpark of £60.7m, a fifth of the price of the low-end roundabout upgrades.
This above figure does not take into account the costs of a ferry and/or new landings on each river bank, which would need to be separetely costed and accounted for, but there may be some scope to ‘pool’ the Tyne and Blyth ferries, so that a third ferry would work on the River Blyth, with the existing ‘spare’ Tyne ferry providing cover when required.
As an indicator of costs, the Spirit of the Tyne, an ‘off the shelf’ ferry design was built in 2007 at a cost of £1.9m, so adjusted to 2025 prices would be approximately £3.3m today, and the proposed new landing in North Shields is expected to cost £18.7m, so multiplied by two would be £37.4m, giving an overall estimate for cost for a new ferry, and two landings of c.£40.7m.
This would give a ‘Cambois for Blyth Rail+Ferry’ link an overall price tag of c.£101.4m, but compares well when considered alongside road schemes such as the Blyth Relief Road at £59.9m, which will run on the outskirts of Blyth, and so will not ease traffic issues in the Town Centre itself, whereas a pedestrian ferry connection across the Port of Blyth to buses, and potentially to rail services if a passenger link was built would make access to/from Blyth Town Centre by public transport far easier.
To operate the Cambois Branch without the need for additional train paths on the Newsham – Newcastle section of the Northumberland Line which is constrained by single track; one option might be to use a pair of two-car units working as ‘portions’, with a northbound four car train splitting somewhere like Newsham/Blyth Bebside/Bedlington, with two carriages going to Ashington/Woodhorn/Lynemouth, and two carriages to Cambois/North Blyth, with the pair of two-car trains heading southbound combining again into one four-car unit at whichever station is best suited for this.
A second option could be to create a ‘shuttle’ between Cambois and Blyth Bebside (acting as an interchange onto other trains), with empty stock running towards Newsham, where it could use a rehabilitated third line next to Newsham Pond/Blagdon Drive as a reversing siding, which by measuring on Google Maps is approximately 400m long, ample long enough for a short shuttle train.
This latter option would require some infrastructure changes, but may be a better option for simplicity of operation, and could be used for other services too (such as a Newcastle – Morpeth – Blyth rail service), which adds to resilience if the Newsham – Newcastle section is closed for engineering work for example.
The ‘third line’ still in situ at Newsham adjacent to Blagdon Drive (shown by orange dots)
Lynemouth Branch and Cambois (for Blyth) Rail+Ferry Extensions for c.£172.4m-£202m
As can be seen from above estimates, the cost of extending the Northumberland Line to Lynemouth, as well as a potential extension to Cambois, including a renewed Blyth Ferry, with new vessel and landings would still only come to circa ⅔’s of the low-end costs for the A19 roundabout upgrades, and less than a third of the price of the high-end scheme of £775m.
Also to note is that other road schemes such as the £59.9m Blyth Relief Road adds to the road costs, and when included to the cost of the A19 upgrades, moves the prices to a new range of £359.9m to £834.9m, with the Blyth Relief Road likely to add pressure onto the Moor Farm and Seaton Burn roundabouts, even if upgraded, undoing the gains of increasing capacity by sending more traffic onto them.
Bedlington to Pegswood as part of the Northumberland Coast Loop: £89.8m for 4.8 miles
A third proposal, and my own preference with regards to further expansion of the railway in Northumberland, is to see the bulk of the Northumberland Line become a secondary through route between Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and Edinburgh.
Glasgow and Edinburgh are linked by four different lines; The Falkirk Line, The North Clyde Line, The Shotts Line, and finally The Carstairs Line. If Glasgow – Edinburgh can have four lines, surely Newcastle to Edinburgh can have two (essentially one and a loop through SE Northumberland and North Tyneside, hence the Northumberland Coast Loop name!).
This can be achieved using an existing route that links Bedlington Junction to Morpeth North Junction, allowing a train from Newcastle Central to travel up to Bedlington, and from the perspective of the train driver, turning left off the Northumberland Line at the Bedlington Junction, headed towards Hepscott. Just after passing over the level crossing in Hepscott, another junction is reached, the left hand route, again for a train driver coming from Bedlington, takes you into Morpeth station, and then to Cramlington and Newcastle Central; but turning right takes you towards Pegswood, Alnmouth, Berwick, and Edinburgh.
This right hand route is used by a handful of rail services, mostly the North Blyth to Fort William ‘Alcan’ train, which turns around (reverses) at Bedlington after coming from Cambois, into the sidings at Bedlington, loco off, onto the other end of the train and away to Scotland.
This line is the longest of the three, at 4.8miles/7.7km, and again using the per mile cost of the Northumberland Line of £18.7m per mile, would see an overall cost of around £89.8m, but which includes the likely cost of reopening Choppington Station, but unlike the other two schemes, could be a ‘track-only’ scheme to connect the current stations on the Northumberland Line to those in North Northumberland and Scotland, and therefore could be far less expensive as a result, indeed there are strong proposals for extension of the current Newcastle – Morpeth services to Bedlington once the latter station is opened, so running additional trains via the Northumberland Coast Loop should not prove to be problematic.
Capacity limitations on the ECML (East Coast Main Line), is likely to be the major factor in limiting the number of services that could run on the present infrastructure, but again other road schemes, such as dualling of the A1 provides a useful comparison, with a £500m price tag for 13 miles of road between Morpeth and Ellingham running at a cost per mile of £38.5m per mile, more than double the per mile cost of the Northumberland Line.
Investment in the ECML to increase its capacity is a virtually guaranteed success, whereas the benefit:cost ratio (BCR) for schemes like dualling the A1 is a known flop, with a BCR for that scheme of only 0.8, meaning for every £1 invested, a return of just 80p is expected back.
Both of these road routes run through rural areas and mixed single/dual carriageway, and both are paralleled by railways; wity a key difference between them being that the ECML is double track and already wired up, compared to the Highland Main Line which is mixed single/two track and has no wires up.
Conclusion
If all of the road schemes nearby to the Northumberland Coast Loop are taken together; the A1 at £500m, the A19 roundabouts at £300m to £775m, and the Blyth Relief Road at £60m, it gives a total between £860m and £1,335m (£1.3 billion).
A final division of these sums by the Northumberland Line per mile cost of £18.7m, would result in 45miles of line, inc 15 stations if rail investment was made vs road at the bottom of the road scheme price range (£860m), and for the top range price (£1,335m), would be equivalent to 71.4miles of line, with potentially 23 stations delivered, far greater than the distance between Newcastle and Berwick.
If the extensions to the Northumberland Line to Lynemouth, Cambois (for Blyth via Ferry), and the Northumberland Coast Loop are totalled up (£71m + £101.4m + £89.8m = £262.2m), then the cost of three rail major rail schemes could still come in below the cost of upgrading just the two A19 roundabouts (at a minimum cost of £300m)
Given the huge success of the Northumberland Line since opening last year, and the long running success of the ECML between Newcastle and Berwick, perhaps the £860m to £1.3bn proposed spend on road transport schemes would be better off being spent on railways and public transport, than on dual carriageways and roundabouts?
The Northumberland Coast Loop 