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Wednesday 20 Aug 2025

Passengers urged to plan ahead with rail upgrade work taking place north of Newcastle

Region & Route:

Eastern

| Eastern: East Coast

A raft of rail improvement projects will bring changes to passenger journeys over two weekends in September.

Network Rail teams will be working at locations around the North-East, meaning various lines will close over the weekends of 13-14 and 20-21 September.

The engineering work includes new track, drainage systems, switches and crossings – also known as points – and improvements to overhead line equipment.

Nearly 1km of the drainage pipe system at Killingworth will be renewed. There will be 120 staff working on the project, using 900 metres of pipe, 1,100 tonnes of ballast and 800 tonnes of pea shingle.

This location has suffered from flooding for several years, with an incident in April 2024 leading to delays costing £1.1m. The renewal project will mean fewer delays because of flooding or drainage issues, as well as reduced maintenance costs and environmental benefits through improved water management.

Also taking place will be track renewal at Belford and Stannington; switches and crossings upgrades at Belford and Berwick; renewal of ballast at Newham level crossing; and improvements to the overhead line equipment between Pegswood and Widdrington.

CrossCountry and TransPennine Express will have replacement bus services in place of trains between Newcastle and Edinburgh over both weekends.

LNER services will divert and operate an hourly train in each direction, via Carlisle. While trains will still operate, the alternative route means that journey times will be longer. Rail replacement coaches will connect LNER customers at Morpeth, Alnmouth, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Reston and Dunbar with Newcastle and Edinburgh Waverley.

There will also be changes to other LNER services across both weekends, including alterations to stopping patterns on northbound services, impacting Peterborough, Doncaster and Durham. Customers are encouraged to check LNER Travel Alerts and journey planner pages for full details.

All Lumo services will be between London King’s Cross and Newcastle only. On both Saturdays, the 20.56 Edinburgh to Newcastle service will not run.

Northern trains between Carlisle/Hexham and Morpeth/Chathill will terminate/start at Newcastle. Replacement bus services will operate between Newcastle and Morpeth/Chathill. Northumberland Line services between Newcastle and Ashington are unaffected.

ScotRail trains between North Berwick/Dunbar and Edinburgh will be replaced by buses on the Saturdays only.

Sam MacDougall, Network Rail operations director, said: “We’re investing in the future of rail in the North-East by carrying out these essential upgrades to track, points, drainage and overhead line equipment. These improvements will help deliver more reliable journeys for passengers and freight in the years ahead.

“We appreciate that this work will mean a couple of weekends of disruption, with some journeys taking longer than usual, and we’d like to thank passengers for their patience while we carry out these improvements.”

A spokesperson on behalf of CrossCountry, TransPennine Express, LNER, Lumo, Northern and Scotrail said: “Our teams will be working hard to keep passengers on the move towards their destination as quickly and efficiently as possible during this work. Latest travel information, including how customers’ journeys may be affected, can be found on our websites, social media channels, or at our stations.”

Check details of your journey at National Rail or with train operators before travelling.