A rail user has insisted that it would be a 'slap in the face for County Durham' if train companies go through with axing some timetabled routes in the region.
Andrew Rice, from Durham, is just one of many passengers who would be impacted if the likes of LNER and other rail operators went ahead and scrapped more than 10 weekday services to Edinburgh and London.
Proposed timetable changes from rail companies, including LNER, mean Durham could lose almost half of its direct trains to Edinburgh and several to London, which also call at Newcastle on the East Coast Main Line (ECML).
Mr Rice, who is required to travel for work as an offshore assessor in Lowestoft, in Suffolk, several times per month, says that his already six-hour journey will be extended by a couple of hours each time he travels.
This is due to the proposed timetable changes blocking his usual trip to Peterborough and meaning he will have to change at York and get another train on top of the three that are required to get to Lowestoft.
LNER has said that the new timetable will create "faster journey times between the Scottish capital, Newcastle, and London, introducing 16,000 extra seats per day".
The rail company also said that Durham won’t be losing any services to London.
Currently, it has 19 trains to London, from December, this will be 22.
Durham will also have an hourly service to Edinburgh, LNER said.
He said: "I already got three trains - the proposed changes mean that I will have to get a fourth one.
"It's worth pointing out that I'm not alone in being affected by these changes - it will affect hundreds of people, whether it's people visiting family, people travelling for work or those travelling to visit different places."
The County Durham resident has said that, under the new proposals, LNER will offer three journeys going towards London - one at 4.49am, another at 6.09am and another at 6.39am - but the return journey from Peterborough won't be until 5.21pm - leaving what Mr Rice claims as "a massive gap in the train market".
The proposals for rail changes will go to industry bodies in June, before going for a consultation with the public in July, with Mr Rice calling on other rail users to "object in numbers".
"People need to write to LNER and their MP and make their voices heard.
"If not, people will sleepwalk into these changes, and when they need a train down to London or up to Edinburgh, it won't be there for them."
As well as calling other rail users to "vote with their voices," the Durham resident has highlighted the impact on the region if these rail services were lost.
He said: "I believe that train companies want London, Newcastle and Edinburgh and everywhere in between will be cut.
"It'll be a slap in the face for County Durham.
Since the proposed rail service cuts were announced, Mr Rice has been in contact with Durham City MP Mary Foy, who is campaigning rail operators to keep all of their services in the city.
She said: “As the MP for City of Durham, I’m committed to fighting for Durham’s rail connectivity and ensuring my constituents’ voices are heard.”
“Under these proposed changes, my constituents would face significant challenges due to unreliable early morning trains to Newcastle, alongside considerable cuts to direct Edinburgh and Peterborough services.”
“I want to hear from passengers directly to ensure their voices and experiences shape my case to both LNER and the Department for Transport”.
Recommended Reading:
- Air ambulance called to ‘person injured’ after incident 'involving bus'
- Teenager avoids jail for police officer assault and failing to show up at court
- Teachers at to strike in long-running dispute over school day extension
In response to the concerns raised by Mary Foy MP and Mr Rice, the Department for Transport has insisted that numerous services will stay on the timetable.
A Department for Transport spokesperson said: “Transport is an essential part of our mission to secure our future by delivering the Plan for Change, and we are absolutely committed to improving connectivity across the North.
“There will continue to be an hourly direct service from Durham to Edinburgh, and the gap in the timetable at 8.22am from Durham to Newcastle is being addressed by the industry, so there will be an equivalent service in the new timetable.”
The spokesperson added that following a public consultation in 2021, the Department agreed with the rail industry’s recommendation to implement the new timetable in December 2025, which includes an hourly direct service from Durham to Edinburgh on the CrossCountry network.
LNER added that Mr Rice's claim that the journey to Lowestoft will be extended by several hours isn't the case.
A spokesperson said: "While customers would change at York, the total journey time will remain almost identical, with wait time at Peterborough for onward connections reducing from 56 mins to 33 mins."
The spokesperson also revealed that the Durham to Peterborough route is one of LNER's least travelled, with only 0.13 per cent of all LNER journeys between the two cities (in both directions) between April 2024 and March 2025.
Share