I did a short telephone interview with BBC Radio Newcastle today about the DfT Consultation suggesting that under the new CrossCountry franchise, trains should not call at the smaller, intermediate stations such as Morpeth, Alnmouth & Berwick. The DfT suggests this as a possible way of reducing overcrowding on CrossCountry trains (which are mostly just 4 coaches long). My point is that such a policy can not be achieved without a massive boost in local services to replace the 50% loss of trains at Alnmouth & Berwick, and that Morpeth needs significantly more than an hourly local service. And neither the local operator nor the DfT has the available rolling stock to do this. Even if more local trains could be procured, it is unlikely there is sufficient spare capacity on the rail network for them to run. A much simpler alternative is to keep the CrossCountry stopping pattern much as it is, but buy more rolling stock for this operator so that all its services can be 8, 9 or 10 coaches long. SENRUG will also be responded formally to the DfT consultation.
