"Growing The Railways" is about to face its first major challenge (links below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cumbria/5398068.stmhttp://www.transport2000.org.uk/news/maintainNewsArticles.asp?NewsArticleID=327"Re-open the Leamside line ─ to complement both passenger and freight services on the East Coast Main Line and as a diversion route during its closure for engineering and maintenance work."
Network Rail wants to remove all track from the Leamside Line , which runs from Gateshead to the East Coast Main Line at Ferryhill , near Durham.
The line has not been used since 1991 , when a freight terminal at Washington , near Sunderland , closed.
But the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Authority (PTA) said the line had "huge potential for growth".
There are also hopes the line could be used to transport coal imported into Tyneside to power stations in Yorkshire.
Now PTA bosses and officials from Nexus , which runs the Tyne and Wear Metro , are appealing to Network Rail to halt the plans.
According to the link below , the track will still be lifted , but the land wont be sold.
http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2006/12/hopes_raised_that_rail_line_wi.html#moreTyne and Wear transport executive Nexus commissioned a report into the possibilities of reopening the line, with trains running between Middlesbrough and Newcastle – and bringing a rail service to Washington for the first time (link below.)
http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2008/02/rail_campaign_is_hotting_up.html#moreStations could open at Washington North, Washington South, Penshaw, Fence Houses and Gateshead East. It is estimated that the route could carry up to 2,000 passengers a day.
Houghton and Washington MP Fraser Kemp has been spearheading a campaign to reopen the route. Now Sunderland councillors are to try to bring a minister from the Department for Transport to the city to look into the proposals.
Mr Kemp is to host a high-powered meeting at the House of Commons on Monday with representatives from the Department of Transport, Network Rail, Sunderland Council, One NorthEast and Durham County Council.
The plans now have the backing of councillors and MPs from all parties, and the line was one of the issues looked at by shadow transport minister Theresa Villiers when she visited Sunderland in 2007.
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