[AMcWhirter]

Launched a few years ago and considered part of the government’s levelling up project.

But a few hours ago today state operator LNER said it was axing the route from December 2024.

LNER blames “limited track capacity” and low passenger numbers for its decision.

Strangely LNER claims the decision is based on consultation carried out between June 11 and August 2021. (2021 not a typo)

That’s three years ago and when rail had not recovered from passenger decline during the pandemic.

Open access firm Grand Central will continue to serve the route although its 180 units are unreliable in service.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cv2xnlyr00zo

[SimonS1]

Of course the departure and arrival times in Sunderland (05.39/23.22) mean the services are probably of limited interest to travellers from/to Sunderland other than business people…..

[AMcWhirter]

Indeed I intended this news would be the corporate market.

I agree it’s an early start and a late arrival back into Sunderland but travellers could mix and match operators.

As I noted above Grand Central does deploy those unreliable 180s on some or most of its services.

Hardly a day passes without some schedule alterations as you can see from today’s X/tweet from this open access operator.

https://twitter.com/GC_Rail/status/1783768208098419070

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