(17 May 2021, 9:09 am)ASX_Terranova wrote Could the durham 6 or 7 be extended towards newcastle to provide a 15 minute frequency alongside the X12
(17 May 2021, 9:45 am)Dan wrote Why on earth would Arriva do that? The X12 is dead as it is, they certainly don't carry enough passengers to warrant doubling the frequency.
Pre-Covid, the Go North East X21 was running every 15 minutes. That full timetable has not yet returned, and is unlikely to do so in the immediate future (outside of peaks) as the demand isn't there.
As Dan said, the northern part of the X12 is dead - hence why it was that end cut down during the latest lockdown (and indeed, in the initial increase from the first lockdown) to hourly.
If any part of the X12 was to be doubled in terms of frequency, it would be the Durham to Middlesbrough section - which, while it would require a larger number of vehicles than the northern section (6 vs 4), the potential is there to cover the running cost of the improvement.