Thousands of school children have been taught how to stay safe on the new Northumberland Line.

It will reopen to passengers for the first time in many years following the completion of a £298.5million project involving the Department for Transport, Network Rail, Northumberland County Council and Northern.

Freight services already use the 18-mile line, which runs between Newcastle and Ashington, and Northern is now running trains on a regular basis as part of its traincrew training programme.

Northern, Network Rail, the construction contractors Morgan Sindall, the county council and Nexus have visited almost all of the schools in a two-mile radius of the route over the last year to teach pupils how to stay safe on the railway.

An image of school children commuting to school.

placeholder image — An image of school children commuting to school.

They have spoken to more than 14,000 children about the dangers of trespassing on a busy railway line – where trains weighing more than 400 tonnes travel at speeds of up to 75mph – and explained that anyone who is caught can be fined £1,000.

The pupils have also been warned that throwing or firing objects at trains can put the safety of everyone on board at risk and told that police officers use drones and covert cameras to catch offenders.

Jason Wade, regional director for Northern, said: “It’s fantastic to see that the pupils have responded so well to these sessions and many of them understand that trespassing on the railway can have devastating consequences.”

Coun Glen Sanderson, leader of Northumberland County Council, said: “There's been a massive effort to reach out to schools, with thousands of children getting information about the dangers of the line.”