SENRUG, the group that campaigns for better rail services in South East Northumberland, advises there is both good news and bad news for rail travellers in the area.

Firstly the good news. Northern Rail has announced they will again be running a Sunday train service from Morpeth and Cramlington to Newcastle and MetroCentre in the run up to Christmas, for the benefit of Christmas shoppers.

Trains will leave Morpeth at 10.30, 12.35 and 16.35, call at Cramlington 8 minutes later and return from MetroCentre at 11.25, 15.20 and 17.20.

Dennis Fancett, SENRUG’s Chairman, welcomed the Sunday trains that will run up to 23rd December. “There have been recent reports of all the car parks at MetroCentre being full, and long queues sometimes up to 40 minutes just to get out of the car park at busy times” he said. “So, with parking at Morpeth and Cramlington stations being free, and plenty of space at weekends, why not park at the station and let the train take the strain?”

A second piece of good news is that Northern Rail is also introducing a new evening train to and from Cramlington and Morpeth from 8th December. This is on an indefinite basis, not just for Christmas. The train leaves Newcastle at 21.05 on Mondays to Fridays and at the earlier time of 20.24 on Saturdays. The return journey leaves Morpeth at 21.34 on Monday to Fridays and 21.15 on Saturdays calling at Cramlington 8 minutes later. “This is the beginnings of an evening service” said Dennis. We hope it will prove successful and eventually be supplemented by other, later trains, so people can have a night out in Newcastle and still get home by train afterwards”.

But the bad news is that Arriva, who took over the Cross Country franchise a few weeks ago, are planning to reduce the number of trains that stop at Morpeth from 4 each way per weekday to 3, from December 2008 (12 months time). Moreover, they plan to retime the trains and some of them will run only a few minutes behind the Northern service, thus reducing choice for Morpeth passengers yet further although the Cross Country Sunday service will be improved.

The proposed cutbacks to the Monday to Friday service have drawn a sharp response from SENRUG. “We think this is a madness” said Dennis. “It’s happening just as the market for rail at Morpeth is starting to establish itself again. Moreover, our calculations indicate there is no technical advantage for Arriva in cutting out Morpeth. Their trains still won’t reach Edinburgh any faster, nor are they stopping anywhere else instead. So, they are just throwing away the Morpeth fare revenue for no reason at all”.

SENRUG has written a robust letter of objection about the cuts in Monday to Friday trains, as have both Castle Morpeth Borough Council and Northumberland County Council. It is hoped Arriva will see sense and reverse their decision.

Meanwhile, SENRUG continue to campaign for the re-opening of the Ashington Blyth and Tyne line to passenger traffic. This is a fully maintained freight railway and it would be relatively inexpensive to bring back passenger trains. SENRUG have a small exhibition on the scheme at the Ticket Office at Morpeth station for the next few weeks. They have collected 750 signatures on their online petition to 10 Downing Street but want many more people to sign before it expires at the end of March. The address is petitions.pm.gov.uk/ABTreopening