Minister and mayor sign deal over railway line

A deal committing the Government to help reopen a mothballed North East railway line was signed yesterday.

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North East mayor Kim McGuinness and transport secretary Heidi Alexander met at Newcastle's Central Station to sign an agreement on the future of the Leamside Line, after the project was backed in the Government's landmark Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) announcement last week.

Funding has already been pledged for a first phase of reopening of the route, which runs through Gateshead, Sunderland, and County Durham, in order to extend the Tyne and Wear Metro to Washington.