Last date of train service confirmed

LNER trains will stop serving Sunderland station in December

A train operator has confirmed the date of its final service between Sunderland and London.

LNER's service will call at the Wearside city for the last time on 13 December.

The company announced in April it would be scrapping the weekday service because of low passenger numbers. It will start in Newcastle instead.

The firm blamed dwindling customer numbers for the cancellation.

Grand Central trains between Sunderland and London will continue to run.

An LNER spokesperson said: "In recent years, the once daily service in each direction has seen substantially fewer customers on board as travel trends continue to show a shift towards leisure from business."

'Little consequence'

Critics of LNER's plans had previously said journey times were the reason for the low passenger numbers.

The service departs Sunderland at 05:39 and returns to the city at 23:22.

It calls at Newcastle, Durham, Darlington, York and Peterborough before arriving in London.

But rail user group North East Coastliners said it would not "lose much sleep" over the withdrawal.

Group spokesman Peter Walker said only the Sunderland part of the route was being axed and there were other services connecting the city to the capital.

"The discontinuance of LNER's one daily direct link to London is of little consequence to the people of Sunderland, or indeed to anyone else in North-Eastern England," he said.

Mr Walker added that the evening train from London had "very occasionally" been cancelled from Newcastle to Sunderland "at little or no notice".

The decision to axe the service was taken after LNER carried out a consultation in 2021.

Respondents, including politicians, had called for the operator to increase its number of services to cover more popular journey times.

But LNER said it was not possible to increase the number of services, or amend the timetable, because of "limited track capacity" and lack of trains.