An unproductive meeting with LNER today. There have not been either able or willing to make any changes to the cut-backs Morpeth will experience from this December, though there will be a minor concession for Berwick. Encouraging noises about engaging more closely with Northumberland stakeholders for the next timetable revamp, but I think we all knew this could be 10 years at least before implementation. So all the benefits of the May 2011 Eureka timetable, where SENRUG worked closely with LNER’s predecessor East Coast Trains to develop, are to be undone, including the ability to arrive in London for 09:40. Amazingly, there were a few basic facts LNER didn’t seem to appreciate – such as there’s little benefit to Northumberland passengers of having 3 trains from Newcastle to London per hour, if there’s only 1 local service per hour to Newcastle. LNER’s own ticketing system puts you on the next available train, and if either of the other 2 trains are cheaper, you’d need to split ticket to get that advantage. Also a failure to appreciate the needs of 1st class passengers, or those travelling to places such as Peterborough.
