Northumberland Council To Campaign For Better Rural Train Services
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Rail Advent.
These are the first three paragraphs.
In response to the reduction in the number of trains serving Morpeth and Berwick in the new East Coast Main Line timetable, Northumberland County Council has pledged to continue campaigning hard for improved rail services for communities along the line and beyond.
Councillor Glen Sanderson said the new timetable “Sacrifices the North east’s rail connectivity in order to improve it for the rest of the country.”
The new timetable was due to be introduced last May 2023, but was deferred after the North East Joint Transport Committee said that it was wholly unacceptable. However, the new timetable shows very little improvement from the original. Although more frequent trains will operate between London and Edinburgh, not all of them will stop at Morpeth or Berwick, which are the services the council has been fighting hard for as they are key population centres.
The problems are that between Newcastle and Edinburgh are.
- The railway is only double-track all of the way, with a passing loop South of Berwick.
- The maximum speed is 125 mph for about 40 % of the track, 100/110 mph for another 30 %, with the rest slower.
- Berwick, Morpeth and the new stations at East Linton and Reston are only two platform stations.
The capacity needs to be increased, so that more trains can use the line.
These are my thoughts.
Install Digital Signalling
It has been claimed that digital signalling will add another train per hour (tph) between Stevenage and Doncaster.
So if it was able to do the same between Newcastle and Edinburgh, it might be the first solution to try.
All Passenger Trains Capable Of Running At 125 mph
In Call For ETCS On King’s Lynn Route, I outlined the problem with fast services to Cambridge, Ely and Kings Lynn, where the rains will need 125 mph capability to keep out of the way of LNER’s Azumas on the East Coast Main Line.
There will be a similar problem between Newcastle and Edinburgh.
Improve The Tracks
This would improve more sections of 125 mph running and perhaps better turnbacks at Morpeth and Berwick.
Conclusion
Quite a bit of work will need to be done to get the timetable to the standard the customers require.
The Anonymous Widower 
Berwick pretty well gets a half hourly service all day which many towns of comparable size in other parts of the UK would love to have. TPE are also providing the semi fast service with the 802’s which are capable of 125mph. The stopping service upto Cramlington is covered by 150’s when its all under the wires and there are plenty of surplus EMUs that could be deployed so they could at least tighten up the sectional running times.
There are solutions its the will of the industry to provide them thats the true problem as its become too paranoid about having a timetable with too much resilience in it. Dont see digital signalling helping its already 4 aspect now with a 3min headway for 125mph trains now.
Comment by nickrl | December 18, 2023 |
I really can’t see the need for Northern Trains to get 125 mph trains; its high acceration that you need for a stopping service more than absolute speed and there are many 100 mph emus available.
Comment by fammorris | December 18, 2023 |
But TransPennine already have the 125 mph trains, so Northern could probably get away with 110 mph units.
Some trains could also use the Northumberland Line to go to Berwick, where they would rejoin the ECML to the North of Morpeth.
Could it be a freight route?
I also suspect, Hitachi’s battery-electric Azumas could use that route as a diversion.
Comment by AnonW | December 18, 2023 |
I agree with the comments about using EMUs with good acceleration on the stopping services.
Since one end of this line is Edinburgh, why not use Scotrail emu types that serve North Berwick and rotate said units into Edinburgh for servicing.
The line also needs more passing loops – surely a cheaper option than signalling upgrade.
Comment by chilterntrev | December 18, 2023 |
The expensive part of the signalling upgrade is fitting out the trains. But that will be done for increasing speed on the East Coast Main Line and the TransPennine routes.
Comment by AnonW | December 18, 2023 |