(07 Apr 2014, 10:52 am)Acky81 wrote Was thinking more operating in sunderland
Thing is - as Arriva don't have a depot in Sunderland, they're very limited to what they can actually do without it being a 'Malarkey Marathon' sort of service. Services which go all around the world aren't particularly favoured these days.
Arriva really can't do anything in Sunderland as both Go North East and Stagecoach North East (particularly the latter) have everything covered with streamlined 10 minute frequencies in most cases.
However:
I'd suggest an X24 service (although it would have to be numbered slightly differently owing to the current X24 service existing): a high speed express service between Sunderland and Durham.
I do think Arriva would be foolish to attempt at a Sunderland - Middlesbrough express owing to the X7 existing and they'd not stand much of a chance of having high profit levels if they missed out any extra stops to make it faster than the X7.
I'd personally like to see the X19 resurrected in one form or another as a normal daytime operation, but as BJ10VUS said above, they did and still do lack other Arriva connections (except at the Newcastle end).