SENRUG is a voluntary organisation that promotes rail travel and campaigns for better rail services in Northumberland and beyond, representing the interests of both existing and potential rail travellers in the area.
By ‘potential’, SENRUG means those who would use rail services if only the trains went where they want to go, at the time they want to go, at a price they can afford, and in a clean, safe, secure, accessible and easy to understand manner.
Please look through our website to find out more about our current campaigns and how we pursue them. Use the Contact button below to let us know if you agree or advise us of ideas of your own.
The more people we speak for, the louder our voice is heard. If you support our objectives, we invite you to add your voice to ours and join SENRUG, to help us achieve our campaigns and develop new ones.
SENRUG has been campaigning for the re-opening of the Ashington Blyth & Tyne Line, now known as The Northumberland Line, linking Newcastle to Ashington, since March 2005. The first phase opened on 15th December 2024. See the history of the campaign to date at our AB&T Campaign History Page. However, SENRUG is not a single issue campaign group, and you can check out our other campaigns and the progress we are making on our Campaigns Index page here.
LATEST NEWS
Northumberland Line 1 Million Customers: The milestone is expected to be achieved this week even before the opening of the final 2 stations, and there will be a short celebration to commemorate it on Friday 23rd January, 14:00 at Blyth Bebside station.
Lumo Launches to Glasgow: Some Lumo trains now extend beyond Edinburgh to Haymarket, Falkirk High and Glasgow Queen Street. On Mondays to Fridays, this is the 15:21 and 17:22 from Morpeth (15:08 and 17:08 from Newcastle). On Sundays it’s 19:21 from Morpeth (19:07) from Newcastle. There’s only 1 return journey per day at present: On Mondays – Fridays departs Glasgow Queen Street at 18:18 and 09:22 on Sundays. See the full Lumo timetable here.
Minor LNER Timetable Tweak (May 2026): Following a request from SENRUG, LNER have advised they will be re-establishing the connection from the first morning southbound train from Berwick, Alnmouth and Morpeth on to the Flying Scotsman service to London (now also calls at York). It has not been possible to buy through tickets since December as the connection time at Newcastle had been cut from 8 minutes to 7 – and the ticket booking software requires a minimum of 8 minutes to offer a through ticket. We are grateful to LNER for their positive response to SENRUG on this point..
Art Opportunity For Schools or Other Community Groups: It’s possible that funding might be available from Northern to create some artwork to be displayed on the northbound platform at Morpeth station, enhancing the station environs for the benefit of both visitors to the town and regular rail travellers. This is to replace the beautiful work provided by Newminster School in 2019 – see here. If you are a representative of a school or other community group in the Morpeth area that would like to apply, please contact the SENRUG Chair for more details.
