SENRUG hasn’t been formerly advised by the project team of any further delays to these stations. At time of writing, the last date advised to us was “December 2025”. However the BBC reports here that it will now be 2026. Trouble is, Bedlington station looks like just one more long weekend’s work and it would be completely finished. It’s mind boggling to think the outstanding construction work could take another 7 months. We are told, in fact, both stations will be technically complete a few months earlier, but there is then a lengthy regulatory sign-off process that has to be undertaken before the station enters public service, and the dates now quoted allow for that. This too is surprising. I’m not aware of a backlog of stations across the country waiting to open. Why does the regulatory sign-off take so long? Have you ever wondered what the air crash investigation team do between plane crashes?
