Grand Central to increase services

Rail operator Grand Central will be providing extra services between Sunderland, Hartlepool and London as customer numbers continue to grow after the coronavirus lockdown.

From today, an extra return service will be added to the North-East route as the company sees an increase in passenger numbers.

The newlyadded fourth return service will run between Sunderland and London Kings Cross, Monday to Saturday.

Grand Central only started to run trains again on July 26 after a decision was made by bosses not to run them after the onset of covid-19 pandemic.

The option of another service will mean that more passengers will be able to travel with the rail operator.

The managing director of Grand Central, Richard McClean, believes the increase in passengers could be down to a rise in public confidence with the rail services.

He said: “It’s a month since we started running passenger services again on our West Riding and North East routes and we‘re seeing people beginning to get out and about more.

“With public confidence in rail rising thanks to the huge efforts we’re making to maintain on-board cleanliness and social distancing.

"I’m very happy to take Grand Central’s return to the next stage and reintroduce this return service.

“Increasing the number of trains we’re running means we’re giving customers more choice on when to travel and we are helping social distancing across the whole network."