THE leader of Northumberland County Council has insisted that Monday marked a “great day” for the landmark Northumberland Line project despite the fact half of its stations will be delayed.

It comes after months of speculation was ended by an announcement from the council that passenger trains would run on the line this summer after all.

However, stations at Northumberland Park, Blyth Bebside and Bedlington are unlikely to open until 2025.

Previously, there had been fears the entire line’s opening would be pushed back until the end of the year.

Speaking at Wednesday’s meeting (January 17) of the county council, Conservative leader Glen Sanderson insisted that all the stations would open and urged residents “not to worry”.

He said: “It is a great day, because we have released the timetable for the opening of the Northumberland Line which we have all been waiting for, for years and years.

“The incredibly challenging engineering challenges that have faced our contractors mean we have had to pause things slightly. But, don’t worry – all of the stations will open and they will be open as soon as they can be.

“The trains will be running in just a few months time.”

The council blamed a number of factors for the delays at the aforementioned stations. These included contamination and buried services, inflationary pressures and historic mine workings.

Furthermore, there are also ”complex interfaces with signalling and access to the railway which remains open to freight trains”.

The news has been particularly poorly received in Bedlington. Cllr Malcolm Robinson, the independent councillor for the Bedlington West ward, said the move was a “kick in the teeth” for the town's residents who were being treated as “second-class citizens”.

The Northumberland Line will see passenger rail return to the southeast of the county for the first time since the 1960s, when the original line was closed as part of the swinging Beeching cuts. It is hoped that economic growth and employment will be driven by slashing journey times between towns such as Ashington and Tyneside.