Amid the euphoria of the opening of the Northumberland line came a less welcome announcement: that the new East Coast Main Line timetable has been approved, and will be implemented from December 2025. SENRUG has strongly opposed this timetable since it was first published in 2021 – see our response to the consultation here. The finalised version does give some improvements: the number of TPE services running between Newcastle and Edinburgh increases from 5 to 8 each way per day, and there is a later weekday return service from Edinburgh to Northumberland stations (leaving Edinburgh at 22:00). But Morpeth still loses all its off-peak LNER services and crucially the morning service to Aberdeen, as well as direct Northern trains to Carlisle – in future all Northern trains will terminate at Newcastle. Alnmouth is set to lose a key southbound CrossCountry service at 08:10, much used by commuters and young people going to college in Newcastle. The first southbound LNER service of the day, which connects with the “Flying Scotsman” at Newcastle permitting an arrival in London at 09:40 is retained – but arrival in London slips back to 09:50 – adding 10 minutes to the journey and crucially being just too late for most business meetings starting at 10:00 – no doubt pushing some people back to flying – precisely the opposite of what the new timetable is trying to achieve. All this to cut 10 minutes off a London – Edinburgh journey, an objective which can’t be justified by the service cuts Northumberland will see. But difficult to know what else SENRUG can do about it, having fought the cuts so hard and so long. the BBC and the Northumberland Gazette have contacted me for a response,. which I’ve provided, and today I was interviewed by ITV Tyne Tees, which was broadcast around 17:50.
