Sunderland railway station.

[PhilY]

Kim likely won’t get involved

It’s her job.

NECA have already agreed that direct rail links for Sunderland are inadequate (after lots of emails). Now they’re saying that they can’t do anything because of capacity constraints, which isn’t completely true.

I’ll give the Mayor a fair hearing when she attends the Users’ Group in November.

 

[TB22]

Every time ive used Grand Central from Sunderland to go South (without going to Newcastle) its surprised me that the trains leave and return to Sunderland almost empty . Yet, its a really pleasant line down to York though Hartlepool Eaglescliffe, Northallerton. Thirsk and York ( 1 hour 40 mins ) where the line joins the main North East Line . After York most Grand Central trains are non stop to Kings Cross .

Also the Northern Trains service is just not fit for purpose with overcrowding at peak times in out of date rolling stock.

Im sure the miserable Central Station has a major effect on customer bookings.

 

[Shandy drinker]

Every time ive used Grand Central from Sunderland to go South (without going to Newcastle) its surprised me that the trains leave and return to Sunderland almost empty . Yet, its a really pleasant line down to York though Hartlepool Eaglescliffe, Northallerton. Thirsk and York ( 1 hour 40 mins ) where the line joins the main North East Line . After York most Grand Central trains are non stop to Kings Cross .

Also the Northern Trains service is just not fit for purpose with overcrowding at peak times in out of date rolling stock.

Im sure the miserable Central Station has a major effect on customer bookings.

No it’s just typical Sunderland syndrome
Moan about something but never use it

 

[BlackHoleSun]

Craft fair on today with a lass playing depressing music on the violin next to the bogs

She was getting animated when we were in there. I'd already given my last coins to a kid singing though

Little market is a welcome addition. Made the place feel like a decent public space for once

 

[SAFCTEES]

Every time ive used Grand Central from Sunderland to go South (without going to Newcastle) its surprised me that the trains leave and return to Sunderland almost empty . Yet, its a really pleasant line down to York though Hartlepool Eaglescliffe, Northallerton. Thirsk and York ( 1 hour 40 mins ) where the line joins the main North East Line . After York most Grand Central trains are non stop to Kings Cross .

Also the Northern Trains service is just not fit for purpose with overcrowding at peak times in out of date rolling stock.

Im sure the miserable Central Station has a major effect on customer bookings.

1 hour and 40 minutes to get to York (from Sunderland) is why the trains are probably empty!

Quicker to get a taxi to Durham and go from there.

Even getting a northern train to Newcastle (or darlo) seems to take forever

 

[Zimba]

Did Grand Central do that before they started a totally unsubsidised service to London in 2007?

No? Hmmm…that would almost run counter to your point, wouldn’t it?

How have public transport links within the city of Sunderland fared since then? They certainly haven’t improved - and yet GC continues to operate incredibly successfully.

Believe whatever you want. There's no extra trains coming either way...

Like someone has replied to you for most people it's already quicker to go via Durham and since the public transport, which obviously means nothing, is so crap, your driving either way.

 

[Billie Cheemus]

It’s her job.

NECA have already agreed that direct rail links for Sunderland are inadequate (after lots of emails). Now they’re saying that they can’t do anything because of capacity constraints, which isn’t completely true.

I’ll give the Mayor a fair hearing when she attends the Users’ Group in November.

Would love to see the 05:39 LNER to Kings Cross operating again.

It still runs from Newcastle, and the extra leg from Sunderland can’t have cost too much, but being able to get a train from town and be in London for 09:15 was great.

 

[PhilY]

Believe whatever you want. There's no extra trains coming either way...

Like someone has replied to you for most people it's already quicker to go via Durham and since the public transport, which obviously means nothing, is so crap, your driving either way.

That’s a poor response from you Zimba, but have a nice evening.

Would love to see the 05:39 LNER to Kings Cross operating again.

It still runs from Newcastle, and the extra leg from Sunderland can’t have cost too much, but being able to get a train from town and be in London for 09:15 was great.

That was a purely abstractive move from LNER and it’s predecessor - designed to send a message to GC to stop expanding operations - but we should have far, far more direct rail options from Sunderland.

 

[Cappuccino Kid]

Would love to see the 05:39 LNER to Kings Cross operating again.

It still runs from Newcastle, and the extra leg from Sunderland can’t have cost too much, but being able to get a train from town and be in London for 09:15 was great.

There was barely anyone using that service, same with the one back. Which is why they scrapped it as it was losing them money.

Similar to when there used to be Transpennine services starting at Sunderland, and they got scrapped as they weren’t being used enough.

I don’t think Grand Central is a hugely in demand service from Sunderland aswell. They make their money on the York-London bit. It won’t get scrapped though, as it’s part of their operating deal that they must cover non-main line stations. And as they use the depot in Newcastle it makes sense to start here.

 

[TB22]

No it’s just typical Sunderland syndrome
Moan about something but never use it

Or moan because you used it and it wasn't good enough.

 

[Billie Cheemus]

There was barely anyone using that service, same with the one back. Which is why they scrapped it as it was losing them money.

Similar to when there used to be Transpennine services starting at Sunderland, and they got scrapped as they weren’t being used enough.

I don’t think Grand Central is a hugely in demand service from Sunderland aswell. They make their money on the York-London bit. It won’t get scrapped though, as it’s part of their operating deal that they must cover non-main line stations. And as they use the depot in Newcastle it makes sense to start here.

I’m sure if the option was to include the Sunderland to Newcastle leg, or lose the whole slot on the timetable to someone else, Lumo for example, they’d make it work.

 

[Bladecat]

1 hour and 40 minutes to get to York (from Sunderland) is why the trains are probably empty!

Quicker to get a taxi to Durham and go from there.

Even getting a northern train to Newcastle (or darlo) seems to take forever

The new GC timetable from December has quicker trains coming back from Kong's Cross. Most currently take 3,5 hours plus but on the new timetable most are 3 hours 17 mins.

 

[TB22]

1 hour and 40 minutes to get to York (from Sunderland) is why the trains are probably empty!

Quicker to get a taxi to Durham and go from there.

Even getting a northern train to Newcastle (or darlo) seems to take forever

Drive to York at average speed takes 1 hr 30 min . Then parking is expensive . So train is s good option. Go to Newcastle by metro 30 mins then connect to LNEL 10.mins . Then LNER 1 hour 20 to York. So Grand Central wins every time? Use it or lose it.

Drive to York at average speed takes 1 hr 30 min . Then parking is expensive . So train is s good option. Go to Newcastle by metro 30 mins then connect to LNEL 10.mins . Then LNER 1 hour 20 to York. So Grand Central wins every time? Use it or lose it.

In fact its. ONLY 1 hr 31 minutes Sunderland via to York by GC. So going via Durham of Newcastle is longer more hassle and pointless.

 

[Zimba]

Drive to York at average speed takes 1 hr 30 min . Then parking is expensive . So train is s good option. Go to Newcastle by metro 30 mins then connect to LNEL 10.mins . Then LNER 1 hour 20 to York. So Grand Central wins every time? Use it or lose it.

That car comparison is just wrong, unless you live within walking distance of the station (which not many people do).

For someone from somewhere like Doxford Park you've got to add another 40 minutes plus interchange or a taxi / car parking fares.

That's why for someone like that it makes more sense to go to Durham as it's only 5 minutes longer by car, has a huge car park and you save 40 minutes on the train aswell.

 

[cfg]

1 hour and 40 minutes to get to York (from Sunderland) is why the trains are probably empty!

Quicker to get a taxi to Durham and go from there.

Even getting a northern train to Newcastle (or darlo) seems to take forever

I travel up from York for our matches, it takes around 1h 40m coming via Ncl with LNER as well, maybe longer depending on Metro and train you catch from York. GC is cheaper than LNER/Metro.

Drive to York at average speed takes 1 hr 30 min . Then parking is expensive . So train is s good option. Go to Newcastle by metro 30 mins then connect to LNEL 10.mins . Then LNER 1 hour 20 to York. So Grand Central wins every time? Use it or lose it.

In fact its. ONLY 1 hr 31 minutes Sunderland via to York by GC. So going via Durham of Newcastle is longer more hassle and pointless.

Got to agree with driving, anyone who pays to park in York must have money to burn, P&R is best option to City centre. LNER journey time York/Ncl is around an hour not 1h 20m.

I find the GC service from Sunderland at around 0900 is always busy and pretty full when it gets to York, plenty get on at intermediate stops to York.

 

[diggers22]

There was barely anyone using that service, same with the one back. Which is why they scrapped it as it was losing them money.

Similar to when there used to be Transpennine services starting at Sunderland, and they got scrapped as they weren’t being used enough.

I don’t think Grand Central is a hugely in demand service from Sunderland aswell. They make their money on the York-London bit. It won’t get scrapped though, as it’s part of their operating deal that they must cover non-main line stations. And as they use the depot in Newcastle it makes sense to start here.

Grand Central don’t use the depot in Newcastle. They use Tyne Yard.

 

[PhilY]

There was barely anyone using that service, same with the one back. Which is why they scrapped it as it was losing them money.

Similar to when there used to be Transpennine services starting at Sunderland, and they got scrapped as they weren’t being used enough.

I don’t think Grand Central is a hugely in demand service from Sunderland aswell. They make their money on the York-London bit. It won’t get scrapped though, as it’s part of their operating deal that they must cover non-main line stations. And as they use the depot in Newcastle it makes sense to start here.

None of this is true.

 

[bunnyrabbit]

Every time ive used Grand Central from Sunderland to go South (without going to Newcastle) its surprised me that the trains leave and return to Sunderland almost empty . Yet, its a really pleasant line down to York though Hartlepool Eaglescliffe, Northallerton. Thirsk and York ( 1 hour 40 mins ) where the line joins the main North East Line . After York most Grand Central trains are non stop to Kings Cross .

Also the Northern Trains service is just not fit for purpose with overcrowding at peak times in out of date rolling stock.

Im sure the miserable Central Station has a major effect on customer bookings.

Because it's so unreliable. It's better to go to Newcastle and get a Lumo or LNER.

 

[Beau Peep]

I don’t think Grand Central is a hugely in demand service from Sunderland aswell. They make their money on the York-London bit. It won’t get scrapped though, as it’s part of their operating deal that they must cover non-main line stations. And as they use the depot in Newcastle it makes sense to start here.

They didn't decide to serve Sunderland because they used Heaton depot, obviously it was the other way round. Their plans were always to serve Sunderland and Northern were contracted to do the maintenance at Heaton. They now use Arriva Traincare at Tyne Yard (alongside the CrossCountry Voyagers) for light maintenance and Crofton in South Yorkshire for heavy maintenance, adjacent to their Bradford route (which was also busy throughout whenever I used it).

Sunderland was always the plan and they've made it work for almost 20 years through horrible rolling stock crises, attack from GNER NXEC East Coast LNER and a pandemic. As LNER has practically abolished "Any Permitted" tickets on the ECML, they get practically no "ORCATS" revenue from LNER passengers, and rely almost solely on their own tickets for revenue.

Always seemed fairly well used from Sunderland whenever I've used it and I'll always support them for offering Sunderland the service. It was a big deal to get proper trains back in 2006, and they are still here.

 

[PhilY]

That car comparison is just wrong, unless you live within walking distance of the station (which not many people do).

For someone from somewhere like Doxford Park you've got to add another 40 minutes plus interchange or a taxi / car parking fares.

That's why for someone like that it makes more sense to go to Durham as it's only 5 minutes longer by car, has a huge car park and you save 40 minutes on the train aswell.

40 minutes to get from Doxford Park to the train station?

You don’t half post some ill-informed, anti Ciry of Sunderland rubbish on here - and you’ve been doing it for years.