East Coast Main Line timetable changes postponed

Controversial timetable changes proposed for the East Coast Main Line which were due to come into operation later this year have been postponed.

Rail industry chiefs previously said they wanted to run a third fast service per hour between London and Newcastle but critics said there would be fewer trains stopping at Durham and stations in Northumberland and the loss of a direct service between Morpeth and Carlisle.

South East Northumberland Rail Users Group (Senrug) described the plans as "levelling down" and the leader of Northumberland County Council Glen Sanderson called them "mad."

Network Rail said there were "too many outstanding issues" for the timetable to be delivered in December as expected, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Reducing the number of stations trains call at would help reduce journey times between London, Newcastle and Edinburgh.

But Senrug said it would mean fewer trains stopping at Morpeth, Alnmouth and Berwick in Northumberland and Durham, with Carlisle losing its direct service to Morpeth.

Senrug chairman Dennis Fancett said the group was not opposed to an extra train but it should not be done at the expense of existing services.

He said the group was "pleased" with the delayed implementation but added the "poor timetable doesn’t serve the needs of northern communities and should be scrapped completely".

Chris Curtis, director of network performance at Network Rail, said: "Following lessons learned from introducing major new timetables, the industry steering group that oversees timetable introduction has concluded that there are too many outstanding issues to have confidence that the new East Coast Main Line timetable can be delivered robustly in December.

"We are all committed to working urgently together to find a way to deliver the benefits to passengers and freight users as soon as we can."

Conservative councillor and deputy leader of Northumberland County Council Richard Wearmouth said: "We welcome the delay in the implementation of the new timetable and will be continuing to make the case for a timetable that is optimised for Northumberland, both now and in the future."

The Department for Transport said it was "disappointed" with the timetable's deferral but would "continue working on improvements as we seek to bolster transport more widely across the region".

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