Will Northumberland Line success help more open?

On 29 March the final station, Bedlington, opens on the Northumberland Line marking the completion of the project to reopen the route from Newcastle to Ashington.

With passenger numbers exceeding predictions, could its success give new impetus to other projects to reopen former railways across northern England?

Dennis Fancett, chair of the rail users group Senrug, which campaigned for the Northumberland line for 20 years, hopes so.

He believes the obvious next step is to extend it along the existing freight tracks to a new station at Woodhorn and from there to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea.

The county council has confirmed it is looking at it as a possibility.

But Senrug's ambitions do not end there.

"There is also a case to extend the Newcastle to Morpeth local service, along the existing freight tracks to Bedlington with a new station at Choppington," Fancett says.

Among its other aims, the group would like to see a link between Ashington and Alnmouth and a new station at Seghill.

Ian Walker, Chair of Railfuture North East, an independent organisation which campaigns for better rail services, believes the Northumberland Line strengthens the case for reopening other former railway lines or the creation of new ones.

"I think an extension of the metro, what they call the Washington loop, will definitely happen," he says.

Among his other hopes for the future are the Leamside Line which runs from Pelaw in Gateshead to Tursdale in County Durham which he says "would really open up East Durham".

An agreement to do so has been signed by the transport secretary, subject to the assurance that it delivers good value for money.

Then there is the Stillington route, a 10 mile (16km) stretch, currently used as a freight route, from Norton South junction north of Stockton station to Ferryhill South junction on the East Coast Main Line.

He says it could "could really help reduce journey times between Newcastle and Middlesbrough if used for passengers".

He also says some of these schemes are "closer than they have ever been" but accepts funding is an issue.

Across the border in Scotland, the chair of the Campaign for Borders Rail, Marion Short dreams of seeing it reopened all the way to Carlisle.

"We don't say extended we say completed," she says.

Both the Scottish and UK governments agreed to equally fund the £10m feasibility in 2021 as part of the Borderlands Growth Deal.

The original 98-mile (158km) Waverley Route between Edinburgh and Carlisle closed in 1969 as part of the Beeching cuts to the UK rail network.

A 30-mile (48km) section, between Edinburgh Waverley and Tweedbank, was officially reopened in 2015, at a cost of £294m.

As with the Northumberland Line, it has had greater than expected passenger numbers, which strengthened calls for the tracks to continue to Carlisle.

"We've got a long way to go but it would bring so many benefits we think it's a no brainer," Short says.

Although disputes over releasing funds have prevented progress, she says the feasibility study "is finally underway".

Tony Miles from Modern Railways Magazine says the real challenge for most schemes was financial.

In January 2020, the government pledged £500m for the Restoring Your Railway (RYR) Fund, but this was cancelled in 2024.

"You've really got to prove it's going to work and that's hard," Miles says.

"Even when the tracks are still there, the stations are horrendously expensive.

"Added to that is the cost of buying the new trains and getting slots into some of the busier stations."

He says the treasury "talks a good talk" about railways but "really the political will just isn't there".

The Department for Transport said this was "demonstrably untrue and unfounded".

A spokesperson added: "We are committed to any scheme where there is a proven value for money and the community.

"For example, we're working with the North East Combined Authority, to progress the Leamside Line."

Dennis Fancett who has spent much of his life campaigning for better services for rail users believes "there's much more to be done".

"Having been proved so right with the Northumberland Line, I'm musing back to all the meetings I sat in years ago with people shaking their heads saying it will never happen," he says.

"I just wish people would start paying a bit more attention to us so we don't have to jump through all the hoops again."

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