More TPE trains, but Northumberland rail campaigner says new timetable is 'a disaster' due to reductions in other services

Whilst there are positives – including more TransPennine Express (TPE) trains per day between the Newcastle, Morpeth, Alnmouth, Berwick, Reston, Dunbar, East Linton and Edinburgh Waverley stations, and more later trains on a evening – there is a reduction in LNER services calling at the Berwick and Morpeth stations that is described as “significant” by the SENRUG pro-rail group that campaigns for better rail services in Northumberland and beyond.

And with changes to Northern services also impacting on Morpeth, the group says that the new timetable “will be a disaster”.

A rail campaigner in Berwick has also had her say and her comments include calling on the Government to support a new local service between Edinburgh and Newcastle.

A website has been set up to summarise the changes at each station.

SENRUG chairman Dennis Fancett said: “The timetable will be a disaster for Northumberland, significantly decreasing LNER services at both Morpeth and Berwick.

“The additional TPE services, whilst warmly welcomed, do not mitigate for the loss of through services to Peterborough (for Morpeth) and London, particularly for business customers needing to work on the train.

“Morpeth and Hexham, two of Northumberland’s key market towns, will also lose their direct service as Northern will be severing their trains at Newcastle. Morpeth and Cramlington passengers working at MetroCentre will now find it more difficult to get to work by train.

“Those in Northumberland needing to reach London for a 10am business meeting will once again be obliged to fly, undoing the good work of the Eureka timetable, introduced after consultation with SENRUG, several years ago.

“The direct morning service from Morpeth to Aberdeen is withdrawn, adding an hour or so to this journey, making it more difficult for oil industry workers in south east Northumberland on their weekly commute to Aberdeen.

“It’s all very well for LNER saying they’ll now have three trains per hour rather than two from Newcastle to London, but their own ticket booking software only allows selection of the next train. Thus, if you only have one local train an hour to Newcastle, you only have a choice of one train an hour to London.

“This timetable has placed the needs of capital cities in London and Edinburgh above the needs of medium sized market towns in Northumberland who have up till now benefited from a reasonable number of though trains to Peterborough and London.

“With good wi-fi on board trains, there’s no longer any need to cut a few minutes off through journey times between London and Edinburgh.”

The Northern changes in relation to Morpeth also include the service between Newcastle, Cramlington and Morpeth on Sundays will be hourly, instead of every two hours, and the last local service from Newcastle to Morpeth and return will run later.

Georgina Hill, Northumberland County councillor for Berwick East and rail campaigner, set-up a petition a number of years ago advocating later trains to Berwick. Today, it has almost 4,000 signatures.

She said: “There is really good progress with getting later trains back to Berwick.

“From December, the 10pm from Edinburgh will run Monday to Friday, currently this service to Berwick just runs on a Friday. There will also be a 11.05pm service back from Newcastle from Monday to Friday.

“A campaign focus remains to have a train back from both Edinburgh and Newcastle to Berwick at or after 11pm and later services at the weekends, as the new timetable is only a slight improvement on the current situation for Saturdays.

“However, the number of services to and from Berwick is reduced – in particular, those back from London.

“Rail users from Berwick travelling from the south are going to have to make more changes at Newcastle, which is a problem especially for those with mobility issues or travelling with lots of luggage.

“The Government has a London and southern centric viewpoint and a misplaced belief that the priority should be reducing travel times. This is not what rail users prioritise, especially when shaving 10 minutes or so off travel times between Edinburgh and London means reduced connectivity for users elsewhere.

“If the Government is going to persist with this, then they certainly should support a local service between Edinburgh and Newcastle and fund the infrastructure improvements to allow this to happen.”

In its announcement about the new timetable as a whole, as well as the faster journey times between Edinburgh and London, LNER says it will see nearly 10,000 new services per year and more than 60,000 extra seats each week.

In response to the comments of the campaigners, a LNER spokesperson said: “We have worked closely as an industry to make sure that there is strong local and national connectivity as the East Coast Main Line timetable changes in December 2025.

“We recognise the changes may not satisfy everyone, but the proposed timetable will be of benefit to the greatest number of customers across the north.

"Both Berwick-upon-Tweed and Morpeth will continue to be connected with a good service throughout the day. There will be 11 LNER services a day from Berwick to London King's Cross and nine from King’s Cross to Berwick, totalling 20 per day.

“Morpeth keeps the vast majority of its existing services to and from London King's Cross. There will also be an increase in services locally on the Newcastle to Edinburgh corridor.”