The final Open Meeting of 2019 will take place on

Thursday 5 December 2019 at 7.15pm,

in the Reading Room of The Athenaeum Club,

Church Street, Hartlepool.

Our Guest Speaker will be

Mr Sean English, Chief Operating Officer,

Grand Central Railway Company Ltd.

Sean has visited us on several occasions over the years and we know from experience that he will provide us with an in-depth update on matters Grand Central combined with a number of pertinent observations about the overall railway scene.  Please come along and enjoy an interesting presentation which will, no doubt, embrace ample opportunity for comments and questions.  Also – you never know – as Christmas approaches, there may be some mince pies to add a seasonal tone to proceedings.

Grand Central has finally received permission to operate an additional service from Sunderland to Kings Cross and return every day of the week. This is expected to start in the New Year when refurbishment of the current Adalante train fleet is completed.

Monday to Saturday the new service will leave Sunderland around 10.00 and return from London at around 14.30. This should give a train north from York at about 16.30 – very handy for a day out in the minster city.

On Sundays the extra train will leave Sunderland around 10.30 and Kings Cross about 15.30.

The next Open Meeting of the Coastliners Rail User Group will take place on Thursday 17 October 2019 at 7.15pm in the Reading Room of The Athenaeum Club Church Street, Hartlepool   We will be welcome to use the bar until it closes soon after 10.30pm.  This will be an important discussion meeting and will be used to formulate our response to the Draft Tees Valley Combined Authority Strategic Transport Plan.  Responses must be submitted by 20 November 2019. Visitors welcome.

The full Draft Plan and its summaries including the Draft Rail Implementation Plan may be found here . though you don’t need to have read these. You can still come to the meeting to react to what others have to say.