A rail campaigner won the chance last week to press the case for rail reopening with Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon.

Railfuture member and chairman of the South East Northumberland Rail User Group met Mr Hoon to discuss the campaign to reopen the Ashington Blyth & Tyne railway line.

The meeting on Thursday 26 March, instigated by Wansbeck MP Denis Murphy, was preceded by a tour of the line, in which Dennis Fancett and Denis Murphy took Mr Hoon to the former stations at Bedlington and Ashington, both of which still have their platforms intact, before proceding to a reception at Woodhorn, Northumberland's premier tourist attraction.

The line runs alongside the Woodhorn site and SENRUG argues a station should be built at Woodhorn, the country park and colliery museum, giving the line a dual function of carrying passengers to and from  Newcastle to access employment in the peak hours, as well as taking leisure passengers from Newcastle to Woodhorn during off-peak hours.

Also at the reception was Jeff Reid, leader of the new Northumberland unitary council, and senior representatives from Association of North East Councils, One North East, North East Assembly, Wansbeck District Council and Northern Rail.

At the Woodhorn reception, SENRUG chairman Dennis Fancett gave a 10-minute illustrated presentation to Mr Hoon on the case for reopening the line. A shorter five-minute presentation on the Wansbeck area was also given by Wansbeck Council officer Susan Smith.

Geoff Hoon was non-committal about government funding for reopening but the tour and presentation provided an opportunity to influence his view of the regional transport funding case that will be submitted to his department shortly.

It is however frustrating that the “GRIP 3” study from Network Rail has not been completed, so the actual reopening costs of the main section through Newsham were not available for discussion with the minister.

We warned that Network Rail might “gold-plate” the scheme by including the costs of signalling upgrades not actually essential for an hourly passenger service, thus adding to the cost unnecessarily.

Last year, SENRUG successfully chartered a passenger train from Northern Rail which made three trips round the line, adding significant momentum to its re-opening campaign.

Information from: Dennis Fancett, SENRUG: The South East Northumberland Rail User Group. Email: dennis.fancett at btopenworld.com

More info: www.senrug.co.uk

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