In December, the Government released a white paper on devolution, which promised to grant the right to request rail devolution for Established Mayoral Strategic Authorities. Just one day before the white paper's release saw the reopening of passenger services on the Northumberland Line – one of the largest third-party funded rail upgrades in the UK developed by a local authority, and a possible blueprint for the future of devolved rail development.

For the past 60 years, the Northumberland Line tracks have served only to bear freight, just one of many historic rail lines that had fallen afoul of the Beeching cuts back in 1964. During this period, 2,128 stations were shut down due to these cost-cutting measures, following years of declining passenger use.