Northumberland line's re-opening faces delay

Network Rail has been working on the Northumberland line at Bedlington South

The long-awaited reopening of a passenger rail line shut in the 1960s may be delayed, it has been revealed.

The 18-mile Northumberland Line - between Newcastle and Ashington - was due to open in summer 2024.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands work to build new stations in Bedlington and Blyth Bebside is running behind schedule.

Northumberland County Council leader Glen Sanderson said the project will be completed next year but it was “too early” to say when.

In mid-November, the council said the project remained on track to open in summer 2024 after footage of the new road bridge being installed at Blyth was released.

But Conservative Mr Sanderson has since confirmed there have been "some delays with some of the key partners".

The council was hoping to have the line running "by this time next year" but might not have all the stations finished by then, he said.

The Northumberland Line will run half-hourly services between Newcastle and Ashington seven days a week

Initial plans for the line drawn up by the previous Labour administration proposed it ran from Newcastle to Woodhorn.

However, Woodhorn and Seghill stations were removed from the project by the Conservatives in 2019.

Mr Sanderson said there had been engineering, subsidence and inflation issues.

“To be honest, it is out of our hands," he said.

"We have waited 70 years to get this line running, another few months is nothing."

New stations will open on upgraded track between Newcastle and Ashington

Wansbeck Labour MP Ian Lavery said the news of potential delays was "the latest kick in the teeth for passengers who have been waiting far too long to see services reintroduced".

Labour Sleekburn councillor Alex Wallace said it was a "disaster" for people living in Bedlington.

“Once again people in Bedlington are made to feel like second class citizens with the station they have been promised designated as not as important as those elsewhere,” he said.

Blyth is due to have two stations on the line - one in the south of the town at Newsham and one in the north at Bebside.

However, Labour councillor Anna Watson, who represents Blyth's Isabella ward, said failing to open Bebside would "lead to more people using rat routes across the town".