Ambition

Imagine you have a railway line.
It's an unused railway line, and you have a chance to run one train service per hour.
What sort of service would you run?
Would you run a restricted service to the nearest major city, using old, end of life train stock, charging higher fares than competitor buses? Is that going to result in a successful business case?
Or would you look to produce a business case for a better service?
If you want to out-compete local buses you need to offer integrated ticketing and comparable connectivity, with none of the hassles caused by congested roads.
If you want to offer a service distinct to local buses you have to connect places they can't connect.
So do you run your one train an hour from Ashington to Newcastle, and go head to head with the buses, or do you run it from Ashington to Hexham , or Carlisle, or Durham?

As campaigners we decided that the key selling points for any rail service from Blyth and the Saton valley would major on integrated ticketing, connectivity and convenience. That means linking up with Metro. What we can't understand is why SENRUG would settle for a rickety, low capacity service to Newcastle only, requiring passengers to either work within walking distance of Central Station or Manors, or to buy two tickets, or to change trains. That's a serious lack of ambition.