Gateshead Council leader Martin Gannon standing by the disused Leamside railway line
NORTH-EAST transport chiefs say they are “rapidly” working to convince the government to commit to reopening the mothballed Leamside railway line, which runs by Ferryhill.
No passenger trains have run on the disused track since 1964 and its reopening is seen as one of the top priorities in local councils’ £7 billion vision to overhaul the region’s transport infrastructure.
Restoring the line, which runs from Pelaw in Gateshead and Tursdale Junction near Ferryhill in County Durham, would allow train services to return to places like Washington for the first time in decades and pave the way for a major extension of the Tyne and Wear Metro.