What is the Leamside Line? And why is support for its reopening growing?

To the west of the city of Sunderland just upstream from Cox Green, adjacent to Penshaw and Washington, sits Victoria Viaduct. This beautiful arched bridge was built in 1836 and was designed to provide for a railway route which spanned southwards from Pelaw in South Tyneside down to the City of Durham, and then southwards onto the East Coast mainline. Its name was the Leamside Line.

Spanning off from the Leamside Line eastwards was the Sunderland-Durham Railway, this line in the 19th century used to be the primary railway route for Wearside before Monkwearmouth Railway Bridge was built. In Sunderland itself, there was once no river railway crossing and Monkwearmouth Railway Station constituted a separate line.

Instead, what is now the Metro Route spanning across Millfield, Pallion and South Hylton was Sunderland’s primary railway passage which connected to the Leamside Line at Penshaw. The Leamside and Sunderland-Durham lines were both scrapped as part of a massive railway cut in 1964 known as the Beeching Axe, which scaled back railways throughout the country. The former public footpath which continues onwards from South Hylton Station and spans towards Cox Green its remnant.

With the demise of the Leamside Line, the former Victoria Viaduct has stood as a vacant bridge which continues to have track across it. A great deal of the former Leamside Line track also still remains, although it has become rusty, overgrown with grass and some of it has even been subject to theft by thieves, with two miles of it being stolen in a notorious incident in 2003.

In recent years, support for the reopening of the Leamside Line in the North East has gained momentum. However, the Conservative government have not taken it seriously and have even been accused of making false promises. The primary reason its reopening has been eyed is because it is seen as a valuable route to facilitate the expansion of the Tyne and Wear Metro.

Why so? Because it is capable of creating a new “circle” line. With the reopening of the Leamside Line, a continuous route can be created from South Hylton, through to Cox Green and Penshaw, then upwards to Washington and connecting back into Pelaw. From there, it can then span back round into Sunderland itself. This makes it a critical nexus (no pun intended) of regional transport infrastructure which would more readily integrate Sunderland and Washington.

However, this project has been talked about for years and the Conservative government have been accused of U-turning on a pledge to do so just 24 hours after announcing it. It seems the current administration neither has the political will or interest to do so, and with a general election ahead the Tories appear destined to lose, it might be worth asking if a Labour government led by Keir Starmer would be prepared to deliver for the North East