Northern drivers preparing to operate passenger services on new Northumberland Line ahead of opening

Brian Terry, from Walker in south-east Newcastle, is qualified to drive Class 158 trains along the 18-mile route and he will now support other colleagues in their training.

Northern has a long-term plan to ensure there will be more than 100 drivers who can safely operate passenger trains on the Northumberland Line, which runs from Newcastle to Ashington.

The train operator has recruited 20 new drivers to bolster the existing team that is preparing for the line to open to passengers in December – for the first time in 60 years – following a £298.5m redevelopment.

Northern will run two daytime services an hour from Monday to Saturday and one train per hour in the evenings and on Sundays​. A journey along the entire route will take around 35 minutes and a single fare will cost no more than £3.

“It’s really exciting," said Mr Terry. "They’ve been talking about this line for a long time and now it’s about to open.

“There’s a lot of enthusiasm for it locally. Everyone is looking forward to it opening.

“With it being a new line, everything is bang up to date and the signalling is well sighted. It will be one of our best routes.

 “There are slight gradients and a few curves, but when you know where they are it’s all reasonably straight forward.”

Northern has recruited 43 people to work on the Northumberland Line so far, including 15 conductors, two revenue protection officers, two fitters, two train presentation operatives, a driver team manager and a conductor team manager.

The drivers and conductors have been completing test runs since August, to ensure they have an in-depth knowledge of the route and can safely run passenger services.

The rail line, which has only been used by freight trains in recent years, will open to passengers following the completion of an ambitious project involving the Department for Transport, Network Rail, Northumberland County Council and Northern.

When the line opens, services will call at stations in Ashington, Newsham, Seaton Delaval, Manors and Newcastle.

Councillor Glen Sanderson, leader of Northumberland County Council, said: "This is great to hear and congratulations to Mr Terry for the honour of being the first driver qualified to drive the new route - we know he'll be the first of many.

"We're very much on the final run-in for this fantastic new service, with finishing touches being put to the first stations and teams from all our partners working hard to ensure a smooth start when passenger services start running again in the next couple of months. It's a very exciting time for both the county and the wider region."

Stations in Bedlington, Blyth Bebside and Northumberland Park are under construction and due to open to customers next year.

Northern has introduced a simplified single-leg pricing structure to make sure customers using the Northumberland Line can always find the cheapest option for their journey. It means they can buy a single ticket for half the price of a return.

The maximum peak-time single fare, for the full line from Ashington to Newcastle, is £3 and a return trip costs £6.

Northern has also worked with Nexus, the public body which runs Tyne and Wear Metro and Northumberland County Council to provide integrated fares for multi-modal journeys.

Customers will be able to seamlessly switch between Metro and Northern services by using the North East’s successful Pop ‘Pay As You Go’ payment system to purchase smart fares.

Northern is the second largest train operator in the UK, with 2,500 services a day to more than 500 stations across the North of England.