Complete waste of this money in it's current form and I don't care what anyone says and everyone on SkyScraperCity is having similar views.

Unless there's a sudden influx of demand from Sunderland wanting to go to a few factories then this Washington South <> South Hylton is just a complete waste of money considering it now needs 5 roads bridges - one involving the A19 so it ain't a £10 job, land acquisition and it serves literally nothing en-route.

I know some will say but this but that, but I'll just leave this here - imagine how much you could spend on alternative transport ie. buses using the same money which actually serves people's doors since there's zero parking at the stations either; The Chester Road, Durham Road, Washington Road/North Hylton Road corridors, in particular. 

Washington South <> Pelaw has more merit, but imo it should be national rail but that's another debate.