Rail chiefs have been accused of doing “major damage” to Sunderland, despite a U-turn over heavily-criticised plans to shut the city’s railway station over the festive period.
Operator Northern sparked uproar on Friday when it suddenly announced that Sunderland station would be shut to the public for most of the run-up to Christmas. It has now backtracked on those closures, which were blamed on staffing shortages during industrial action, after an outcry from passengers and politicians.
Instead, the station will only be closed after 2.30pm on Tuesday and Wednesday and after 2.45pm on Christmas Eve. It will also be closed all day on Christmas Day. Despite the reversal, local leaders still have concerns that the incident has already been harmful to Wearside businesses and to people’s trust in the rail network.
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Gateshead Council leader Martin Gannon told a meeting of the North East Joint Transport Committee on Tuesday afternoon that the situation “probably had a real negative impact in terms of confidence in Sunderland and the retail and hospitality industry in Sunderland”. He added: “We have made substantial political statements about this and I am pleased that they [Northern] have managed to rectify some of the problems. However, why they didn’t do this in the first place has to be the question.
“Why was it not so simple for them or why did they think it was right to suddenly declare on Friday without any notification or consultation that they were closing Sunderland railway station at a crucially important period. The fact is that they could have done better and they have now demonstrated that.”
In a joint statement issued by Coun Gannon and Sunderland Council leader Graeme Miller, the duo added that “the situation remains far from perfect and major damage has been done to the public’s perception of rail services in the city”. The council leaders said they would now be asking the Government, which owns Northern, to “review what has happened and to fix it”.
Kerry Peters, regional director for Northern: “Despite industrial action impacting staffing numbers, Sunderland station will remain open for a majority of the Christmas period and up to New Year’s Eve. Unfortunately, the station will operate reduced hours today (Tuesday) and Wednesday. We’re sorry for the disruption this will cause for some of our customers.
“Sunderland is Northern’s only underground station and legislation requires at least two people who are suitably trained in case of the need for evacuation. On the days of reduced hours or closure, passengers needing to travel to Sunderland from Newcastle should use the Tyne and Wear Metro and alight at St Peters or Park Lane. Anyone travelling north on the Durham Coast will need to go to Heworth and change for Tyne and Wear Services to/from St Peters or Park Lane.”
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