Today was an exceptional day. I was invited by Northumberland County Council to join them on a special train they had organised with Northern to run round the Ashington Blyth & Tyne Line between Morpeth and Newsham. On board the train, in addition to Councillors and Senior Managers from Northern, were representatives from Network Rail, Transport for the North, Nexus, AECOM (Consultants working for the Council), a crew from ITV Tyne Tees News and … Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling.
The train left Newcastle at 08:20 coupled to Northern’s scheduled service to Morpeth. At Morpeth we uncoupled and proceeded on to Bedlington where a 5-minute stop allowed selected guests including the Secretary of State, Council Leader Peter Jackson and the ITV Crew (but sadly not myself) to alight on to the platform for a few minutes, still in tact despite the station closure 50 years ago under Beeching.
On the train itself, I was able to brief senior managers from Network Rail on the re-opening and renew my acquaintance with David Hoggarth of Transport for the North, who I had taken on a road tour of the scheme several years before. I was also asked to do a short interview for ITV Tyne Tees News.
There was a bit of a scrum as everyone wanted to talk to the Minister but I am grateful to Cllr Wearmouth, Northumberland Cabinet Member for Economic Regeneration who was very much in charge of the day, for ensuring that I, as a passenger campaign representative, got my 5-minute slot. We discussed my 14 years campaigning for this re-opening to date, and my frustrations with the Network Rail GRIP process and how this is now changing to a more market-led approach. I felt the Minister understood my concerns and appeared determined to make the process simpler, and listed a whole range of schemes across the country he wants to see go ahead. And of course, being on a train running along the line, with the Minister hoping off on to the platform at Bedlington for a photo-call, demonstrated how deliverable the scheme is.
Conversations with senior Network Rail managers also allowed me to stress the strategic importance of the Ashington – Butterwell corridor, added to the Newcastle – Ashington line, as a relief and diversionary route for the East Coast Main Line, and on the return journey into Newcastle I was pleased to note Cllr Wearmouth briefing the Minister on the possibility of re-instating the 4th track between Benton Junction and Newcastle to maximise the potential of using the Ashington and Butterwell lines to create a 4 track railway from Newcastle to Widdrington, a plan that SENRUG submitted to Network Rail’s Route Utilisation study.
Special thanks are also due to Mike Paterson, Northern’s Regional Director and his team, for making the event happen from a technical point of view – not as easy as it might appear – and for their hospitality of coffee and croissants on board the train, and to Stuart McNaughton from the County Council for all his hard work in organising the event and progressing the re-opening.
Moving forward with the Ashington re-opening was not the only positive thing that came out of the day. Whilst everyone was there together, I also discussed our aspiration for the local service to Berwick and SENRUG’s proposal for a feasibility study and it looks like we now have informal agreement for this to go ahead.
And finally, I got a cab ride! 20 years of pro-rail campaigning and that’s a first for me. Thanks, Northern. Overall, I was delighted to have been invited to be part of the event which represents a major boost in our campaign to get passenger services back to Ashington and indicates an appreciation of the hard work of campaign groups like SENRUG.
