The
restored


Northumberland
Line
between
Newcastle
upon
Tyne
and
Ashington
will
welcome
its
first
passengers
for
60
years
on
15
December.

The
route
is
opening
later
in
the
year
than
had
been
hoped,
and
four
stations
are
unfinished.

When
passenger
services
were
withdrawn
in
November
1964,
Ashington
was
an
intermediate
station
and
trains
continued
to
Newbiggin-by-the-Sea,
but
Ashington
will
now
be
the
terminus
for
trains
from
Newcastle,
which
will
also
call
at
a
new
station
at
Seaton
Delaval
and
the
existing
station
at
Manors.

Four
more
stations
still
under
construction
at
Bedlington,
Blyth
Bebside,
Northumberland
Park
and
Newsham
are
set
to
open
in
2025.

When
the
project
to
upgrade
the
freight
line
to
Ashington
was
first
proposed
in
2020,
the
cost
was
put
at
£160
million,
but
the
final
price
will
be
close
to
£300
million.
The
budget
for
a
single
road
bridge
at
Newsham
alone
has
almost
trebled
from
£11
million
to
£30
million.

Northern
has
been
recruiting
staff
to
work
the
new
route,
where
trains
will
run
every
half
hour
during
the
day,
taking
about
36
minutes
to
complete
the
29km
journey.
The
peak
single
fare
will
be
£3.00,
reduced
to
£2.60
off-peak.

Neil
Blagburn
is
Northumberland
Line
programme
delivery
director
at
engineering
consultants
AECOM.
He
said:
‘This
milestone
has
not
come
easily
but
we’re
almost
there
thanks
to
the
determination
of
the
people
working
tirelessly
on
the
programme
–
from
the
people
on
site
who
have
tackled
extremes
of
weather
to
the
people
who
have
pulled
together
all
of
the
documentation
that
satisfies
the
many
legal
requirements
to
enable
passenger
services.

‘At
Newsham,
although
it’s
very
close
to
completion,
it
is
our
biggest
and
most
complex
site
and
there
have
been
a
number
of
power,
engineering
and
regulatory
challenges.’