Thursday October 30th 2025
It has been confirmed that the local authority had not received prior notice of the changes from LNER
Written by Local Democracy Reporter, Paul Kelly
A reduction in train services to Berwick-upon-Tweed which will cause “massive inconvenience” to commuters from the Borders has been highlighted.
A new rail timetable for the East Coast Main Line will come into effect from December.
Whilst there are positives – including more TransPennine Express (TPE) trains per day between the Newcastle, Morpeth, Alnmouth, Berwick, Reston, Dunbar, East Linton and Edinburgh Waverley stations, and more later trains on a evening – there is also a reduction in LNER services calling at the Berwick and Morpeth stations that have been described as “significant” by the rail campaigners.
The issue was raised at a meeting of Scottish Borders Council on Thursday, October 29.
In a response to a question from Councillor Euan Robson, Jenny Linehan, SBC’s executive member for Environment, Sustainability and Transport, confirmed that the local authority had not received prior notice of the changes from LNER.
She said: “I think we should have better communication between LNER and Northumberland Council to ensure this does not happen again and cause massive inconvenience to numerous people across the Scottish Borders.”
Councillor Robson responded: “It is a severe loss of service, and it is particularly odd to introduce this in early December in the run up to the holiday period.
“I think we could write to LNER and ask them formally to keep this council in the loop if they decide to alter any other services.”
An LNER spokesperson said: “LNER will continue to serve Berwick-upon-Tweed with services throughout the day. We’ve also worked closely with other rail operators to make sure there is strong local and national connectivity.
“We recognise the changes may not satisfy everyone, but the industry timetable will be of benefit to the greatest number of customers across the north. Under the plans, LNER will operate 11 direct services a day from Berwick-upon-Tweed to London King’s Cross, with nine services in the opposite direction.”
A Network Rail spokesperson added: “The new East Coast Main Line timetable’s introduction follows £4 billion investment over the past decade and will mean over 60,000 more seats a week and 10,000 new services a year on the route.
“A new timetable of this scale is a complex undertaking and is never without trade-offs, but we have worked collaboratively with the broader rail industry to ensure that changes are part of a wider effort to support network performance and increase reliability, setting us on the path to provide further journey improvements in the future for the passengers and communities we serve.”
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