Business and civic leaders react to partial u-turn on Sunderland station Christmas closures as Northern Rail confirms revised opening hours

Rail chiefs had announced the station would be closed from Sunday (December 18) until Christmas Eve, except for a nine-and-a-half hour window on Tuesday (December 20).

The proposal meant no trains would be able to serve the city and Metro passengers would be forced to use St Peter’s or Park Lane stations.

But Northern Rail, which runs the station, reduced the closures after the news provoked an angry response, with Sunderland MPs Julie Elliott, Sharon Hodgson and Bridget Phillipson writing to urge Transport Secretary Mark Harper to take action.

Now the station will open:

*Wednesday, December 21 – until 2.30pm

*Thursday, December 22 – as normal

*Friday, December 23 – as normal

*Christmas Eve (Saturday, December 24) – until 2.45pm

*Christmas Day (Sunday, December 25) – closed all day

The station is scheduled to be open as normal from Boxing Day (Monday, December 26) for the rest of the Christmas period up to New Year’s Eve (Saturday, December 31).

Sunderland Central MP Julie said she was ‘delighted’.

She added: “Common sense has finally prevailed, and Northern Rail has ensured that Sunderland Railway station will continue to be open for most of the festive period – although it is clear that we should never have got to this point in the first place.”

Her Washington and Sunderland West colleague Sharon Hodgson said: "That Northern Rail thought it appropriate to shut Sunderland station over the festive period exposes a worrying disregard for businesses, families and shoppers.

"While I am glad Northern Rail have seen sense and the station will remain open, that it took immense pressure from many sides to force a rethink is deeply regrettable. I hope lessons will be learned from this fiasco and we will not see anything similar in future"

Sunderland City Council leader Cllr Graeme Miller and North East Joint Transport Committee chairman Martin Gannon issued a joint statement which said: “We welcome the news that, following pressure by ourselves and by Sunderland’s MPs, the level of closure of Sunderland station over the Christmas period has been reduced."

"However the situation remains far from perfect and major damage has been done to the public’s perception of rail services in the city.

“This impact on passengers follows many months of sustained poor performance by Northern Rail in the North East, and it cannot go on. We will be asking the Rail Minister to review what has happened and to fix it.

“This is another example of complete failure in management of the network by a rail operator that is simply not focused on delivering for Sunderland.

"Given that Northern Rail is now an arms-length subsidiary of national government, the government needs to urgently act to improve it."

Sunderland Bid boss Sharon Appleby welcomed the change in Northern’s plans.

She said: “It’s excellent news that Northern Rail has taken seriously the many concerns that have been raised about the closure of Sunderland station at this vital time of year.

“Although this is not a complete U-turn the fact that the station will be partially open will make a huge difference to the city’s retail, leisure and hospitality businesses.”