Northumberland Line reopening: progress updates

[InkyScrolls]

Northern have just started advertising for conductor roles at the new Ashington depot.

 

[androdas]

Noticed that the Fort William - Blyth alumina tanks are shown as using the reinstated Bedlington Furnaceway sidings from 12th December to run around rather than doing it on the main lines at Newsham. Would this mean the resiganlling of the line will be due to be finished then?

 

[androdas]

Picture taken this morning of progress on Ashington, precast platform edges being installed. Apologies for the quality but it was on my phone stuck through the fence, seems that the extent of the platform demolition was just enough to fit the new bay platform in rather than wholescale removal of the old down platform.


View attachment 123725

1 year later at Ashington, Taken from other side of the bridge as the top gates on the ramp were closed, car park also almost complete with a few bays closed off as a compound on the station side. Hard to see in the phot but works are concentrated around the new conductor depot (By the orange digger in the distance)

 

[swt_passenger]

Newsham Bridge Taking Shape

Over the weekend of the 18th & 19th of November, there was some huge progress in the Northumberland Line project as the installation of the new road bridge at Newsham took place.

The road bridge will carry the A1061 South Newsham Road over the new station at Newsham and will save traffic delays as the level crossing will be removed.

Link to full article including photos here:

Newsham Bridge Taking Shape

Over the weekend of the 18th & 19th of November, there was some huge progress in the Northumberland Line project as the installation of the new road bridge at Newsham took place.The road bridge will carry the A1061 South Newsham Road over the new station at Newsham and will save traffic delays...

www.northumberlandline.uk

 

[androdas]

Another update to the project website shows all of the stations in various stages of construction, it is noted they are a little old as Newsham has its bridge spans now and the Ashington car park is open mostly but gives a good idea of how the project is progressing.

As work progresses on all 6 of our new stations for the Northumberland Line, we thought we'd share some aerial pictures from each of the station sites. So let's take a trip down the line from North to South...........

Link to article:

https://www.northumberlandline.uk/post/new-stations-a-view-from-above

 

[nairb]

Northumberland line: Delay to expected 2024 opening

The 18-mile Northumberland Line - between Newcastle and Ashington - was due to open in summer 2024.

www.bbc.co.uk

Northumberland line's re-opening faces delay​

Image caption,
Network Rail has been working on the Northumberland line at Bedlington South
James Robinson
Local Democracy Reporting Service

• • Published
    3 December 2023

The long-awaited reopening of a passenger rail line shut in the 1960s may be delayed, it has been revealed.
The 18-mile Northumberland Line - between Newcastle and Ashington - was due to open in summer 2024.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands work to build new stations in Bedlington and Blyth Bebside is running behind schedule.
Northumberland County Council leader Glen Sanderson said the project will be completed next year but it was “too early” to say when.
In mid-November, the council said the project remained on track to open in summer 2024 after footage of the new road bridge being installed at Blyth was released.
But Conservative Mr Sanderson has since confirmed there have been "some delays with some of the key partners".
The council was hoping to have the line running "by this time next year" but might not have all the stations finished by then, he said.

IMAGE SOURCE,NORTHERN
Image caption,
The Northumberland Line will run half-hourly services between Newcastle and Ashington seven days a week
Initial plans for the line drawn up by the previous Labour administration proposed it ran from Newcastle to Woodhorn.
However, Woodhorn and Seghill stations were removed from the project by the Conservatives in 2019.
Mr Sanderson said there had been engineering, subsidence and inflation issues.
“To be honest, it is out of our hands," he said.
"We have waited 70 years to get this line running, another few months is nothing."

IMAGE SOURCE,NORTHERN
Image caption,
New stations will open on upgraded track between Newcastle and Ashington
Wansbeck Labour MP Ian Lavery said the news of potential delays was "the latest kick in the teeth for passengers who have been waiting far too long to see services reintroduced".
Labour Sleekburn councillor Alex Wallace said it was a "disaster" for people living in Bedlington.
“Once again people in Bedlington are made to feel like second class citizens with the station they have been promised designated as not as important as those elsewhere,” he said.
Blyth is due to have two stations on the line - one in the south of the town at Newsham and one in the north at Bebside.
However, Labour councillor Anna Watson, who represents Blyth's Isabella ward, said failing to open Bebside would "lead to more people using rat routes across the town".

 

[Nicholas Lewis]

Northumberland line: Delay to expected 2024 opening

The 18-mile Northumberland Line - between Newcastle and Ashington - was due to open in summer 2024.

www.bbc.co.uk

They must be able to get pretty decent access at the station sites compared to a railway with a much more intensive service to put a couple of platforms up.

 

[Mikey C]

I imagine the Conservatives will be very keen to have this open before the next election. Perfect levelling up photoshoot opportunity!

 

[androdas]

That may well be their thinking behind the 'Not all stations are open at once' strategy. Ashington is almost ready to go when the resignalling is done so if they can start the service with a couple of stations they can say they have 'delivered' and get their photoshoots and campaign on it. Most people don't read beyond the headlines, especially nationally, so they can easily say that Bedside etc. is 'Coming Soon'

Though it may be the next local elections they have in mind as Northumberland is a very marginal council and has swung between Lib Dem, Labour and Conservative administrations over the last 10 or so years.

 

[swt_passenger]

This bit seems a completely unrelated digression:

“Initial plans for the line drawn up by the previous Labour administration proposed it ran from Newcastle to Woodhorn. However, Woodhorn and Seghill stations were removed from the project by the Conservatives in 2019.”

I think Woodhorn & Seghill removal was part of the normal development process. Options suggested early on in the normal course by the local proposers, and local decisions rather than something imposed from above?

As I pointed out somewhere earlier in the thread:

Northumberland Line reopening: progress updates

With all respects. We really do not know Some of us know more than others.

www.railforums.co.uk

…they originally intended a phased opening, but by about 2021 they’d decided to open all six stations and all track additions at once. That was very much a positive change by the county council - so probably wouldn’t have been reported.

 

[Oxfordblues]

When Labour came to power in 1964, after 13 years of Tory rule, one of their first acts was to close the Blyth & Tyne Railway to passenger trains. It didn't matter electorally because the area had always been staunchly Labour. So it was ironic that the only way for local people to get their trains back 55 years later was to vote Tory in 2019. It worked of course, and Brexit might have played a part, but there's an even deeper irony that the reopening might well be after Labour win back the local seats next year!

 

[Acfb]

When Labour came to power in 1964, after 13 years of Tory rule, one of their first acts was to close the Blyth & Tyne Railway to passenger trains. It didn't matter electorally because the area had always been staunchly Labour. So it was ironic that the only way for local people to get their trains back 55 years later was to vote Tory in 2019. It worked of course, and Brexit might have played a part, but there's an even deeper irony that the reopening might well be after Labour win back the local seats next year!

Blyth and Ashington should be very secure for Labour again. It would have had a Labour majority of 5% even in 2019 while Morpeth (which has generally had a stronger Conservative vote) is moving into safely Conservative Berwick constituency.

I suspect paradoxically this sort train link to a nearby conurbation is more likely to benefit Labour anyway, the same might even be true of somewhere like Portishead in future.

I would expect in 2019 that a much larger proportion of Lab and LD voters of working age would have been using trains regularly than Tory voters. Tory voters in rural areas and red wall areas (at least in that election) being more likely to use their cars.

 

[lukedicko31]

Apologies if this already been discussed, new here. Is there any word on what the new station at Northumberland Park is going to be named? There is already a NR station of the name in London so was curious.

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

Apologies if this already been discussed, new here. Is there any word on what the new station at Northumberland Park is going to be named? There is already a NR station of the name in London so was curious.

It will just be Northumberland Park? there are two Swinton’s, two Charing Cross’s etc

 

[Tetchytyke]

Is there any word on what the new station at Northumberland Park is going to be named?

Northumberland Park. There are countless examples of stations in the network with identical or very similar names.

It'll be noted in the system as something like Northumberland Park (T&W), in the same way the two Swintons are distinguished from each other.

 

[androdas]

Its already a metro station: Northumberland Park (Metro) so essentially all they are doing is adding a mainline platform even though it will be separate in terms of entrances and tracks it is still the same site.

 

[swt_passenger]

Apologies if this already been discussed, new here. Is there any word on what the new station at Northumberland Park is going to be named? There is already a NR station of the name in London so was curious.

They’re obviously going to have to rename the one in London…

 

[Wolfie]

They’re obviously going to have to rename the one in London…

Northumberland Park (oop North) and Northumberland Park (civilisation) l assume.....

Seriously if you've ever been to the one down South, or indeed the surrounding area, you know how big a peetake my statement is....

 

[urbophile]

Obviously the one actually in Northumberland (or formerly so) has more claim on the name than the London one.

 

[Haywain]

Obviously the one actually in Northumberland (or formerly so) has more claim on the name than the London one.

The one you think is in Northumberland actually isn't, it's in North Tyneside.

 

[Andymo]

Yeah but the location has been in Northumberland county since the 12th century until recently and the kingdom of Northumbria since 654.

 

[Wolfie]

Obviously the one actually in Northumberland (or formerly so) has more claim on the name than the London one.

Not really. The former is a Johnny Come-Lately as a station name. The latter has had the name since 1923.

 

[InkyScrolls]

There is a lot of confusion over counties but the historic counties do still exist, alongside the administrative ones, something which the government has confirmed multiple times. So Northumberland Park is in Northumberland (by one measure).

 

[Trestrol]

It's actually virtually on the site of Backworth station so they could rename it. Northumberland Park is the newish housing estate. Although North Tyneside was part of Northumberland until boundary changes created it as a separate entity. Backworth remained part of Northumberland until redrawn boundaries gave it to North Tyneside. Vice versa New Hartley went the other way. That's why Backworth has a Northumberland postcode NE27 and New Hartley has a Whitley Bay postcode NE25 one. The Northumberland Line is a marketing name anyway to make it sound sexy. Every railway man knows it's called the Blyth and Tyne after the company that built it

 

[Napier]

The one you think is in Northumberland actually isn't, it's in North Tyneside.

Northumberland Park Metro station opened in 2005

When Labour came to power in 1964, after 13 years of Tory rule, one of their first acts was to close the Blyth & Tyne Railway to passenger trains. It didn't matter electorally because the area had always been staunchly Labour. So it was ironic that the only way for local people to get their trains back 55 years later was to vote Tory in 2019. It worked of course, and Brexit might have played a part, but there's an even deeper irony that the reopening might well be after Labour win back the local seats next year!

Quite an interesting read if you like the NE rail history, although the Beeching report was commisioned by the Tory government, delivered by March 63 but it was indeed Labour who moved forward with it the seconf tranche was deliver in 65.

What wasn't made public knowledge was with a few methods of rationislation a lot of the routes that were axed could of been saved and provided a better service than the bus routes.

However Dr Richard Beeching was on the board of ICI britians biggest tarmac producer, he took a 5 year sabatical from ICI but clealry had the tarmac interest at heart during his cull of the railways.

Blyth and Tyne Railway - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[lachlan]

Some railway stations could open six months after rest of Northumberland Line

Bedlington and Blyth Bebside could open much later than the rest of the stations

www.chroniclelive.co.uk

The construction of two new stations on the Northumberland Line could be delayed by up to six months, it has been revealed.

The leader of Northumberland County Council, Coun Glen Sanderson, confirmed that the entire railway line was unlikely to be up and running until the end of 2024.

"They will be open six months after the trains start running. I don't want it to be late, but it is not the county council or the Government's fault.

News that the line plus some stations may be delayed.

 

[androdas]

Been rumbling around lately locally on Facebook groups and whatnot. Had multiple messages from my local councillor in Bedlington East about it along the lines of 'Ashington Trains will sail past Bedlington while they are still building it (Sorry cant post link / quote as I cant access facebook where I am but if you can search for Councillor Alex Wallace - Sleekburn Ward and you can see the posts). The fact is this thing happens with these sort of projects and it would make no sense if say Ashington, Bedlington and Northumberland Park were finished and the resignalling done and they dont run trains until the rest are all finished.

 

[swt_passenger]

Been rumbling around lately locally on Facebook groups and whatnot. Had multiple messages from my local councillor in Bedlington East about it along the lines of 'Ashington Trains will sail past Bedlington while they are still building it (Sorry cant post link / quote as I cant access facebook where I am but if you can search for Councillor Alex Wallace - Sleekburn Ward and you can see the posts). The fact is this thing happens with these sort of projects and it would make no sense if say Ashington, Bedlington and Northumberland Park were finished and the resignalling done and they dont run trains until the rest are all finished.

Phased opening of the stations and certain track changes at the loops was the plan around 2020 or so, it was slightly later they decided to go for an ‘all at once’ opening. So it’s probably a case of realism superseding optimism…

 

[Snex]

It's actually virtually on the site of Backworth station so they could rename it. Northumberland Park is the newish housing estate. Although North Tyneside was part of Northumberland until boundary changes created it as a separate entity. Backworth remained part of Northumberland until redrawn boundaries gave it to North Tyneside. Vice versa New Hartley went the other way. That's why Backworth has a Northumberland postcode NE27 and New Hartley has a Whitley Bay postcode NE25 one. The Northumberland Line is a marketing name anyway to make it sound sexy. Every railway man knows it's called the Blyth and Tyne after the company that built it

Not sure where you're getting this history from as the boundary has always been the same since day one when North Tyneside was formed with the split of the old Seaton Valley Urban area between Blyth Valley (Northumberland) and North Tyneside. There's never been any movement beyond that and North Tyneside didn't exist at all before 1974. The rest of it coming from the boroughs of Tynemouth and Wallsend, the urban district of Longbenton and half of the borough Whitley Bay, the other half going to Blyth Valley and now part of the current day Seaton Valley minus Cramlington which is it's own parish now.

NE27 is also a North Tyneside postcode exclusively, only NE23/NE25/NE26 are cross boundary around here and work downwards from Bedlington which is NE22, upto NE30 which is Tynemouth.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

It's actually virtually on the site of Backworth station so they could rename it. Northumberland Park is the newish housing estate.

Was the site of the now-closed Backworth station about a twenty minute walk away from the Northumberland Park Tyne and Wear metro station?