The Campaign
The case for re-opening the Leamside Line
Transport North East is working on the reopening of the Leamside Line, a disused 21-mile railway line which runs from Gateshead to County Durham, connecting with the East Coast Main Line (ECML).
The Leamside Line is the most important piece of infrastructure for the economic future of the North East, which is why Transport North East, cross party politicians and business leaders have been leading the campaign for its re-opening.
The re-opening of the Line would provide critical connections – both passenger and freight – to towns and cities across the North East, helping to drive the economy and growth of the region using existing infrastructure.
Re-opening Leamside will enable parts of the region – who have no access to rail – to be connected with Newcastle, Sunderland and Teesside, as well as with significant employers like Nissan and Amazon.
The Leamside Line is the missing connection between recent Government investment in the north and south of the region and would connect South East Northumberland to Washington, Durham and Teesside.
Improving Connections in the North East
Work is currently underway on an Outline Business Case for the 'Washington Metro Loop', the next step in building a robust business case for the full re-opening of the Leamside Line.
This will build on the previously completed Strategic Outline Case and earlier engineering feasibility and demand forecasting work undertaken as part of the wider suite of corridor studies funded through the Joint Transport Committee.
The Government has now also provided funding to progress the Strategic Outline Case for Leamside South. This is the second phase of the planned full re-opening of the line, which would see the expansion of the line from South Hylton to Ferryhill.
The full re-opening of the line is vital in order to increase capacity on the East Coast Main Line (ECML). The Leamside Line could be used to divert slow moving freight trains off the ECML, which runs in parallel, therefore providing a major national connectivity boost and removing the long-standing bottleneck on this vital connection.
