Initiative​

The Northumberland Line is designed to stimulate economic growth, regeneration, and community development across Northumberland and the surrounding regions. The project will deliver new and improved transport links for local people and businesses, leaving a positive and lasting legacy.

Newsham Station, the third of six new stations constructed as part of the project, opened on 17 March 2025.

Implementation

Forte Engineering delivered the mechanical, electrical and telecoms installation for the two platform station, lifts, footbridge and car park.

• Installation of over 8000 meters cabling to enable the infrastructure.
• Installation and commissioning of Station lighting and small power.
• Installation and commissioning of station SISS, working collaboratively with the Northern Rail IT team.
• Installation and commissioning of car park lighting and EV Chargers.

Expertise

Newsham was known as the most complex site on the Northumberland Line, due to power, engineering and regulatory challenges.

To make the station fully accessible, extensive electrical work was required to support the infrastructure for the station, car park and lift systems for the new footbridge.

We worked collaboratively with the lift provider to install a temporary power connection, enabling the lifts, fully built off-site, to be installed and tested. Once testing was successful, we installed the permanent power connection.

Impact
The largest station on the Northumberland Line, Newsham Station has:

• Provided passengers with a new connection to the rail network.
• Provided passengers with a modern, accessible environment, with the latest station technology.
• Helped to boost the region’s economy through improving access to jobs, a key driver for the scheme.

Social Value
Embedding sustainable and social value principles is integral to our approach. We achieved the following on this project:

• Employing 4 apprentices to work on this project, developing skills for the future.
• In partnership with Rail Safe Friendly, we delivered rail safety education to local schools.
• Installing EVCs to encourage commuters to include rail within their commute to reduce their carbon footprint.