Mackem, we come bearing unfortunate news. LNER has announced that it’s made the ‘difficult decision’ to ditch its route from Sunderland to London Kings Cross due to low passenger numbers.
LNER’s KGX-Sunderland route has had a low passenger count since it was introduced in 2015, in large part due to its length and unpopular journey times. The service runs once daily, leaving Sunderland at 5.39am and returning back for 11.22pm. Not exactly peak times.
Once the route is cancelled, passengers wanting to head down south from Sunderland with LNER will have to catch a train from Newcastle. Or you can just travel direct from Sunderland to London with Grand Central, which offers six services up and down per day and isn't going anywhere.
An LNER spokesperson said: ‘The once-daily services in each direction, outside of peak hours, typically see substantially fewer customers onboard as travel patterns have shifted in recent years from business to leisure.’
In a report, the train company added that it couldn’t introduce a new service from the city or tweak its timetable because of ‘limited track capacity’ and a limited number of trains. However, it said that the proposed changes will ‘enable LNER to deliver a more efficient and reliable timetable of services for our customers now and into the future’.
Travel updates with Time Out
There’s no point in us reporting on what’s going on up and down the UK if you don’t have a way of getting around. That”s why we try to keep you up on all the goings on in world of planes, trains and automobiles. In the latest news, Wales is scrapping its controversial 20mph speed limits, Belfast is getting a massive new train station, Liverpool might be getting a brand-new high-speed railway link and a British airline has been crowned the best in Europe.
Did you see that VisitScotland is closing all of its tourist information centres?
Plus: Wales is scrapping its controversial 20mph speed limit.
Stay in the loop: sign up to our free Time Out UK newsletter for the latest UK news and the best stuff happening across the country.