SENRUG, the group that campaigns for better rail transport in South East Northumberland, has announced it is delighted that Northern Rail will once again be running special trains on Sundays for Christmas and New Year shoppers.

These Sunday trains, which are in addition to Northern Rail’s formal franchise requirement, were first introduced following a request from SENRUG 2 years ago. They run from stations on the Morpeth line to Newcastle and MetroCentre. SENRUG points out that with free car parking for rail customers at key stations such as Cramlington and Morpeth, travelling by train can be a stress-free way of doing that important Christmas and New Year shopping.

“The MetroCentre offers an excellent range of shops but on peak shopping days there can be significant queues just to get out of the car park and back on to the A1”, said Dennis Fancett, SENRUG Chairman. “But the train from MetroCentre station which is connected directly to the shopping malls will get you back to Morpeth in just 30 minutes” he said.

“Similarly, for those shopping in Newcastle, you can beat high parking charges and traffic congestion in the City Centre with a short train ride to Central Station”.

New for this year is that the special trains will also run the Sunday after Christmas (28th December) for the New Year Sales. And that for the first time two of the trains are extended beyond Morpeth to run from and back to Pegswood, Widdrington, Acklington & Alnmouth. Pegswood Widdrington and Acklington do not normally have any train services at all outside of peak hours, so these communities are being given a daytime rail service for the first time in several years.

The special Northern Rail Sunday trains can also be used to connect with a wide range of inter-city train services at Newcaste. Passengers travelling north to Edinburgh will also be able to use the trains to change on to long distance trains at Alnmouth, in certain cases (check times before travelling).

SENRUG hopes plenty of people will use these special trains. “We want them to prove commercially viable so that the train company will repeat them in future years” said Dennis. “It also helps us progress our campaign to get a regular local train service on Sundays every week of the year” he added.

SENRUG are also campaigning for the Ashington Blyth and Tyne line to be re-opened to passengers and for a host of other issues such as level access to Morpeth’s northbound platform. The group welcomes more members, and details can be found at www.senrug.co.uk.