Bedlington railway station

Bedlington railway station was a railway station that served the town of Bedlington, Northumberland, England from 1850 to 1964 on the Blyth and Tyne Railway. The station was closed by British Railways in 1964, but it has been the subject of a reopening campaign since at least the 1990s.

Bedlington
View northward, towards Ashington and Newbiggin (curving right at North Box), and Morpeth (left at Box). Colliery line shown in left foreground 12 May 1965.
LocationBedlington, Northumberland
England
Coordinates55.1404°N 1.567°W / 55.1404; -1.567
Grid referenceNZ275829
Platforms1
Other information
StatusDisused
History
Original companyBlyth and Tyne Railway
Pre-groupingNorth Eastern Railway
Post-groupingLNER
British Rail (North Eastern)
Key dates
3 August 1850 (1850-08-03)Opened
2 November 1964 (1964-11-02)Closed completely
2024Proposed reopening

History

The station was opened on 3 August 1850 by the Blyth and Tyne Railway. The station was situated on the north side of the level crossing on Station Road, west of the junction with Palace Road. Nearby was Bedlington Colliery. In 1911, NER statistics showed that a population of 14,755 was served by the station in that year. In the inter-war years, residential development grew in the vicinity of the station, thus the number of users who used it grew. The station closed to both passengers and goods traffic on 2 November 1964.[1]

Reopening proposals

Proposals to reintroduce passenger rail services to the currently freight-only section of the former Blyth and Tyne Railway system have been discussed since the 1990s.[2][3][4]

In the early 2010s, Northumberland County Council (NCC) became interested in the proposals, commissioning Network Rail to complete a GRIP 1 study to examine the best options for the scheme in June 2013.[5] This report was published in March 2014 and was followed in June 2015 with the commissioning of a more detailed GRIP 2 study at a cost of £850,000.[6] The GRIP 2 study, published in October 2016, confirmed that the reintroduction of a frequent seven-day a week passenger service between Newcastle, Ashington and possibly a new terminus to the east, at Woodhorn, was feasible and could provide economic benefits of £70 million with more than 380,000 people using the line each year by 2034.[7] Despite a change in the political leadership of Northumberland County Council following the 2017 local elections[8] the authority continued to develop the project,[9] encouraged by the Department for Transport's November 2017 report, A Strategic Vision for Rail, which named the line as a possible candidate for a future reintroduction of passenger services.[10][11] Consequentially, NCC commissioned a further interim study in November 2017 (dubbed GRIP 2B) to determine whether high costs and long timescales identified in the GRIP 2 Study could be reduced by reducing the initial scope of the project, but the report failed to deliver on this.[12]

The former platform and station buildings at Bedlington station, 1 April 2006. It has been suggested that subject to condition inspection and permanent way alignment, this platform could be refurbished if the station was to be reopened (though a new down platform would still be required).[13]

Nonetheless, the county council has continued to develop the project, hiring AECOM and SCL Rail as contractors to develop the scheme on their behalf in 2018[14] and allocating an additional £3.46 million in funding for a further business case and detailed design study[15] (equivalent to GRIP 3)[12] in February 2019.[15] Revised plans were revealed in July 2019 which were reduced in scope from the 2016 GRIP 2 study and proposed 4-phase project[16] to reduce the initial cost of the scheme. Phase 1 (at an estimated cost of £90 million)[15] would have seen Bedlington station will be reopened as the penultimate stop for hourly passenger trains[14] on the Newcastle to Ashington Northumberland Line while later phases would have added additional stations and the infrastructure upgrades required elsewhere on the line[16] to provide a half-hourly frequency.[14] However, in August 2020, it was reported that these four proposed phases might be merged into a single one.[17]

The North East Joint Transport Committee's bid for £377 million of funding from the UK Government's £1.28 billion Transforming Cities Fund, submitted on 20 June 2019, includes £99 million to fund the reintroduction of passenger services between Newcastle and Ashington,[18] while further work is ongoing to secure additional public and private investment for the project.[19]

The Department for Transport allocated an initial grant of £1.5 million towards the project costs in January 2020[20] which was supplemented by an allocation of £10 million of funds from Northumberland County Council the following month.[14] This funding enabled AECOM to begin detailed on-site ground investigation works in October 2020.[21] The allocation of a further £34 million of UK Government funding for the project in January 2021 enables the necessary land to be purchased, detailed designs to be prepared and some early preparatory and site works to begin.[22] The UK Government is expected to fund the remainder of the project cost, estimated at £166 million as of January 2021, once the final phase of design works are complete.[23]

It is anticipated that the main construction phase might begin as early as June 2022,[14] enabling an opening date in 2024.[23]

References
  1. "Disused Stations: Bedlington". Disused Stations. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  2. Denis Murphy; et al. (10 January 2007). "Ashington, Blyth and Tyne Railway". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). United Kingdom: House of Commons. col. 135WH–139WH.
  3. "Connecting Communities – Expanding Access to the Rail Network" (PDF). London: Association of Train Operating Companies. June 2009. p. 17. Retrieved 7 September 2018.
  4. Graham, Hannah (24 January 2021). "'They said it was impossible': Campaigners celebrate success in 15-year Northumberland railway fight - Chronicle Live". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  5. "The Journal: Ashington Blyth and Tyne rail line restoration scheme gets green light". Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  6. "New Post Leader: Plans for rail line reach milestone". Archived from the original on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  7. "Chronicle Live: Reopening of Newcastle to Ashington rail link moves one step closer". Retrieved 10 March 2017.
  8. Kelly, Mike; Muncaster, Michael (5 May 2017). "Northumberland local elections results IN FULL - council held by Tories in 'straw draw' drama - Chronicle Live". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  9. Graham, Hannah (1 June 2018). "Northumberland's draft local plan unveiled: What it means for houses, jobs and the green belt - Chronicle Live". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  10. "Connecting people: a strategic vision for rail" (PDF). Department for Transport. November 2017. ISBN 9781528601252. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  11. Allen, Andrew (12 December 2017). "What's in the government's new rail strategy? | CityMetric". CityMetric. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  12. "SENRUG - South East Northumberland Rail User Group: Re-open Ashington Blyth & Tyne Line". SENRUG - South East Northumberland Rail User Group. Archived from the original on 8 April 2019. Retrieved 22 April 2019.
  13. "Ashington, Blyth & Tyne GRIP 2 Study" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 March 2017. Retrieved 24 March 2017.
  14. "£162m Northumberland Line scheme moves to design phase". The Construction Index. 14 May 2020. Retrieved 25 May 2020.
  15. O'Connell, Ben (28 February 2019). "Phasing of proposed Northumberland rail line explained after concerns raised | News Post Leader". News Post Leader. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  16. O'Connell, Ben (15 July 2019). "Six new stations could open if Ashington to Newcastle passenger trains resume - Chronicle Live". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  17. "Northumberland line could reopen in one phase | News Post Leader". News Post Leader. 15 August 2020. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  18. Holland, Daniel (19 June 2019). "North East's £377m transport funding bid confirmed - but leaders say there is more to come - Chronicle Live". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  19. "Northumberland Line could reopen for passengers in 2022 | Rail Engineer". Rail Engineer. 28 March 2019. Retrieved 22 July 2019.
  20. Sharma, Sonia (28 January 2020). "How plans to re-open Newcastle to Ashington railway line could boost region". North East Chronicle. Retrieved 26 February 2020.
  21. Kennedy, Catherine (26 October 2020). "Ground investigation underway to convert Northumberland Line for passenger services - New Civil Engineer". New Civil Engineer. Retrieved 25 January 2021.
  22. Burroughs, David (23 January 2021). "£794m package to reopen British lines unveiled | International Railway Journal". International Railway Journal. Retrieved 21 January 2021.
  23. O'Connell, Ben (23 January 2021). "Government confirms £34million for Northumberland Line - Rail Minister says he's 'lucky to be reopening train lines' | Northumberland Gazette". Northumberland Gazette. Retrieved 25 January 2021.

Sources
Preceding station   Disused railways   Following station
Bebside
Line open; station closed		   Blyth and Tyne Railway   Choppington
Line open; station closed
    North Seaton
Line open; station closed
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.