Northumberland Line: Road bridge costs spiral to £30m

Six new stations will open on upgraded track between Newcastle and Ashington, transport chiefs said

Construction costs for a road bridge on a passenger rail line due to reopen in 2024 have trebled to £30.6m, figures have revealed.

The 18-mile Northumberland Line between Newcastle and Ashington is set to be revived six decades after it was shut.

The cost for the bridge at Newsham was estimated at just over £11m in 2021 but inflation has been blamed for the rise.

Northumberland County Council cabinet has now commissioned an "urgent" report agreeing a new funding package.

The council's decision comes after the Department for Transport declined to provide funding to close the existing crossing and divert the A1061 across a new bridge over the railway.

The North of Tyne Combined Authority has also agreed to provide £5m for the bridge, while a further £7.5m is to be released from the Northumberland Line Reserves, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

Papers presented to the cabinet proposed plugging the gap of just over £4m with money from the council's capital contract price inflation budget.

'Press the button'

Council leader Glen Sanderson said the money had to be found urgently if the line was to open on schedule in August next year.

"We need to press the button on a number of parts of this scheme to reach the opening," he said. "We need to just get this decision into the system.

"This is the most fantastic project, one that has been talked about for a long time but nothing much has happened until now."

Half-hourly services are set for the new line, which will also stop at Blyth Bebside, Bedlington, Newsham, Seaton Delaval and Northumberland Park Metro station.