Bedlington Drop In Update

After our recent presentation in Bedlington, we thought we'd share some of the questions and answers that came during the event as well as sharing some images from the presentation and our fly-through video of what the station will look like when it's completed.

Let's take a trip along both station platforms and see what the station at Bedlington will look like when it's completed;

Here's a selection of the questions that the panel were asked;

Question	Answer
Will the car park being used as a works base return to being a car park ?	Yes, when the station construction has been completed.
Will there be ticket machines at the station ?	Yes, there will be ticket vending machines at each platform on the station. Machines will take card payments only, but you can get a free "promise to pay" ticket if you want to pay cash on the train.
Freight trains are very noisy around Barrington Road level crossing	We're aware of this and raised it with Network Rail and they installed greasing equipment on the 3rd/4th August to reduce the noise.
Concerns that traffic lights for the Ravensworth Street/Station Road junction were removed from the project	When the junction was modelled with traffic lights, it put the junction over capacity, so the proposed table junction was the only way to manage the road and keep all access roads open. Concerns on traffic using the wrong side of the road have been passed onto Northumbria Police.
Concerns on the crossing gate at Bedlington North foot crossing being very heavy and not easy to use in a mobility scooter	A new gate is to be fitted, with stronger hinges to be installed on both gates. The gates are designed to be opened by mobility scooter users (Class 2 & Class 3 mobility scooters).
Will the trains have 4 coaches or 2 ?	Most trains will have 2 coaches, but the ability is there to run 4 coach trains on the line if needed.
Will Bedlington be the last station to open ?	No, we anticipate that Northumberland Park will be the last station on the line to open.
What is to stop people parking on West View ?	The car parks at each station will be free for at least the first year of operation and if parking becomes an issue in local streets, we will take action to introduce residents parking measures.
Will the station be safe and secure ?	Safety is the key priority and that has been built into the design, along with CCTV.
Will I be able to use my bus pass and travel free ?	No, but the ticket prices are great value with an off peak single from Bedlington costing only £2.60 with railcard discounts available - full details at Ticketing | Northumberland Line
Will the station have a public toilet ?	No, but there are toilets on the trains.