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  • 21 Aug, 2019

  • By, Wikipedia

Darlington Railway Station

Darlington railway station is a principal stop on the East Coast Main Line, serving the town of Darlington in County Durham, England. It is 232 miles 50 chains (232.63 miles; 374.37 kilometres) north of London King's Cross. It is situated between Northallerton to the south and Durham to the north. Its three-letter station code is DAR.

The station is well served, since it is an important stop for main line services, with trains operated by London North Eastern Railway, CrossCountry and TransPennine Express; it is also the interchange for Northern Trains services to Bishop Auckland, Middlesbrough and Saltburn. Darlington is the location of the first commercial steam railway, the Stockton and Darlington Railway. The station building is a Grade II* listed Victorian structure and winner of the Large Station of the Year award in 2005.

History

60129 Guy Mannering entering the station in 1961

The first railway to pass through the area now occupied by the station was built by the Stockton and Darlington Railway, which opened their mineral branch from Albert Hill Junction on their main line to Croft-on-Tees on 27 October 1829. This branch line was subsequently purchased by the Great North of England Railway a decade later to incorporate into their new main line from York, which reached the town on 30 March 1841.

A separate company, the Newcastle & Darlington Junction Railway continued the new main line northwards towards Ferryhill and Newcastle, opening its route three years later on 19 June 1844. This crossed the S&D at Parkgate Junction by means of a flat crossing which would in future years become something of an operational headache for the North Eastern Railway (NER) and London and North Eastern Railway (LNER).

The original Bank Top station, where the two routes met, was a modest affair; it was rebuilt in 1860 to accommodate the expanding levels of traffic on the main line. By the mid-1880s, even this replacement structure was deemed inadequate and so the NER embarked on a major upgrade to facilities in the area. This included an ornate new station with an impressive three-span overall roof on the Bank Top site, new sidings and goods lines alongside it and a new connecting line from the south end of the station (Polam Junction) to meet the original S&D line towards Middlesbrough at Oak Tree Junction near Dinsdale. These improvements were completed on 1 July 1887, when the old route west of Oak Tree closed to passengers; it remained in use for freight until 1967.

The new station, with its broad island platform, was designed by T. E. Harrison, chief engineer, and William Bell, the architect of the NER. It cost £81,000 (equivalent to £11,380,000 in 2023) to construct. It soon became a busy interchange on the main East Coast route, thanks to its rail links to Richmond (opened in 1846), Barnard Castle and Penrith (1862/5) and the Tees Valley Line to Bishop Auckland (1842) and Saltburn (1861).

Down freight passing the station in 1961

The lines to Penrith (closed in 1962), Barnard Castle (1964) and Richmond (1969) have now gone, along with the bays at the northern end of the station which are now used for car parking. The main line, which was electrified in 1991, and the Tees Valley route remain busy. It is also still possible to travel to Catterick Garrison and Richmond from here, by means of the Arriva North East-operated X26 and X27 buses, which have through National Rail ticketing arrangements. The same company also operated the Sky Express bus service to Durham Tees Valley Airport from the station, but this was withdrawn in January 2009 due to declining demand.

Tees Valley Metro

Transit diagram showcasing all discussed or mentioned ideas for the Tees Valley Metro.

Starting in 2006, Darlington was mentioned within the Tees Valley Metro scheme. This was a plan to upgrade the Tees Valley Line and sections of the Esk Valley Line and Durham Coast Line to provide a faster and more frequent service across the North East of England. In the initial phases the services would have been heavy rail mostly along existing alignments with new additional infrastructure and rollingstock. The later phase would have introduced tram-trains to allow street running and further heavy rail extensions, and there was suggestions to have the metro extend west to Bishop Auckland from Darlington.

Darlington was a major part of the scheme and so had some of the largest proposed improvements. To reduce the need for local services to cross the East Coast Main Line, two new eastern platforms would have been created. The new platforms would be connected to the main building by a new footbridge and lifts, and the existing car parking places that would have been lost with the new platforms would be replaced at a similar distance from the station. A new entrance, including pick-up/drop-off facilities, was considered on the eastern side. Furthermore, release of track capacity on the ECML to allow more trains to run from Darlington to York and Newcastle and improved service to Saltburn (1–2 to 4 trains per hour) and new rollingstock were proposed. While unclear and never having concrete plans, street-running trams to Darlington town centre were also proposed in a future phase of the Metro.

However, due to a change in government in 2010 and the 2008 financial crisis, the project was ultimately shelved. Several stations eventually got their improvements and there is a possibility of improved rollingstock and services in the future which may affect Darlington.

Accidents and incidents

  • On 16 November 1910, an express freight train overran signals and was involved in a rear-end collision with another freight train.
  • On 27 June 1928, a parcels train and an excursion train were involved in a head-on collision. 25 people were killed and 45 were injured.
  • On 11 December 1968, a Newcastle to Kings Cross express train was derailed at the south end of the station after passing a signal at danger. No-one was hurt.
  • On 16 February 1977, an express passenger train hauled by Class 55 locomotive 55008 collided with an empty stock train after failing to stop at Darlington. The guard of the express was slightly injured. The cause of the accident was that the brakes on the carriages had become isolated whilst the train was moving in a freak event. The train had struck an object on the track, which had caused a traction motor cover to come lose. This struck the handle of the brake isolating cock, closing it and thus separating the brakes between the locomotive and train. Following the collision, the train was diverted onto the Tees Valley line, where it was brought to a halt by the operation of the communication cord in one of the carriages.
  • On 3 October 2009, a Class 142 unit, operated by Northern Rail, hit the rear end of a departing National Express East Coast service. Three passengers from the Northern Rail train were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

Facilities

The station's clock tower

The station is fully staffed; the ticket office is open throughout the week (06:00–20:00/21:00 weekdays, 06:30–19:45 Saturdays, 07:45–20:00 Sundays). There is a waiting room and a first class lounge on the platform, with the lounge open between 06:00 and 20:00 each day; on Sundays, it opens at 08:00.

Self-service ticket machines are also provided for use outside the opening hours for the booking office and for collecting pre-paid tickets. Various retail outlets are located in the main buildings, including a coffee shop, grocers and newsagents. Vending machines, toilets, a photo booth, payphone and cash machines are also provided.

Train running information is offered via digital CIS displays, announcements and timetable posters. Step-free access to all platforms is via ramps from the subway, linking the platforms with the main entrance and car park.

Services

London North Eastern Railway
Inverness
Carrbridge
Aviemore
Kingussie
Newtonmore
Blair Atholl
Pitlochry
Dunkeld & Birnam
Perth
Gleneagles
Dunblane
Stirling
Falkirk Grahamston
Aberdeen
Stonehaven
Montrose
Arbroath
Dundee
Leuchars
Kirkcaldy
Inverkeithing
Haymarket Edinburgh Trams
Edinburgh Waverley Edinburgh Trams
Dunbar
Reston
Berwick-upon-Tweed
Alnmouth
Morpeth
Newcastle Tyne and Wear Metro
Durham
Darlington
Middlesbrough
Thornaby
Northallerton
Skipton
Keighley
Bradford Forster Square
York
Shipley
Harrogate
Horsforth
Hull Paragon
Brough
Selby
Leeds
Wakefield Westgate
Doncaster
Retford
Lincoln
Newark Northgate
Grantham
Peterborough
Stevenage
London King's Cross London Underground

Darlington is well served by trains on the East Coast Main Line; it is served by four train operating companies:

Preceding station National Rail National Rail Following station
CrossCountry
TransPennine Express
North TransPennine
Northallerton   London North Eastern Railway
East Coast Main Line
  Durham
York   London North Eastern Railway
London-Newcastle/Edinburgh/Scotland express or
Leeds-Aberdeen
  Newcastle
Northern
  Future services  
York   High Speed 2
High Speed 2(Phase 2b)
  Newcastle
York   TBA
Northern Powerhouse Rail
  Newcastle
  Historical railways  
Croft Spa
Line open, station closed
  North Eastern Railway
York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway
  Aycliffe
Line open, station closed

Platforms

Platforms 1 and 2

Darlington railway station has five main platforms:

  • Platform 1: This is the main southbound platform with, in order of frequency: London North Eastern Railway services to York and London King's Cross; CrossCountry services to Reading or Birmingham and Plymouth, via York and Leeds; TransPennine Express services to Manchester Victoria and Liverpool Lime Street, via York and Leeds; and Northern services to Saltburn via Middlesbrough, from Bishop Auckland.
  • Platforms 2 and 3: These platforms are south-facing bays used exclusively by Northern services terminating at Darlington from Saltburn and Middlesbrough. Platform 2 is used most frequently. TransPennine Express trains also terminate in platforms 2 and 3 when there are delays in order to allow them to run their southbound services back on time.
  • Platform 4: This is the main northbound platform with, in order of frequency: London North Eastern Railway services to Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow; CrossCountry services to Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow; TransPennine Express services to Newcastle; and Northern services to Bishop Auckland.
  • Platform 4a: This is a southern extension of platform four, catering for trains waiting at Darlington so that they can be bypassed by trains stopping at platform 4. It is the only platform that is not under the station roof. It is used predominantly by Northern services for Bishop Auckland. Since the introduction of Class 802, TransPennine Express use platform 4a if they need to terminate early whilst using one of these trains due to platforms 2 and 3 not being electrified.

Future

HS2 trains were originally planned to stop at Darlington as part of the eastern leg, but phase 2b was cancelled as part of the Integrated Rail Plan; the entirety of the second phase of HS2 was cancelled in 2023.

As at 2024, the station is undergoing redevelopment with many features of the abandoned Tees Valley Metro plan being resurrected. There is the construction of a new concourse, multi-storey car park and two new platforms on the current freight avoiding lines.

References

Citations

  1. ^ Historic England. "Bank Top Railway Station (Main Building) (1310079)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  2. ^ "It's a hat-trick for award-winning GNER". Great North Eastern Railway. 2 September 2005.
  3. ^ Body, p.56
  4. ^ "Darlington New Railway Station". Leeds Mercury. England. 1 July 1887. Retrieved 29 December 2016 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  5. ^ UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  6. ^ Body, p.60
  7. ^ Body, p.58
  8. ^ Tees Valley Airport - Airport Bus Service Comes to An End Tees Valley Airport Media Centre; Retrieved 30 January 2009
  9. ^ Tees valley Unlimited (18 May 2010). "Tees Valley Metro: Phase 1 - Project Summary" (PDF). Stockton-on-Tess Borough Council.
  10. ^ Tees Valley Unlimited (April 2011). "Connecting the Tees Valley - Statement of Transport Ambition" (PDF). Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  11. ^ "Metro system hope for Tees Valley". 9 November 2006. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  12. ^ LOWES, RON; PARKER, IAN (18 September 2007). "Executive Report - Tees Valley Metro" (PDF). Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  13. ^ "First phase of Tees Valley Metro system 'is imminent'". The Northern Echo. 20 June 2009. Retrieved 5 November 2024.
  14. ^ "When the Tees Valley was set to get its own £220m metro system and what went wrong". The Northern Echo. 4 February 2023. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  15. ^ "Tees Valley authority unanimously backs £1bn transport plan". BBC News. 27 January 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
  16. ^ Hoole (1982), pp16-17.
  17. ^ Hoole (1982), p27.
  18. ^ "Accident at Darlington on 11th December 1968" Railways Archive
  19. ^ "Report on the collision that occurred on 16th February 1977 at Darlington in the Eastern Region of British Railways" (PDF). Department of Transport. 13 July 1978. Retrieved 2 August 2019.
  20. ^ Trains collide at rail platform; BBC News website Retrieved 9 October 2009
  21. ^ "Report 10/2010 Collision at Exeter St Davids station 4 January 2010" (PDF). Rail Accidents Investigation Branch. para. 70. Retrieved 13 February 2010.
  22. ^ Darlington station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 15 February 2017
  23. ^ GB National Rail Timetable May 2018 Edition, Table 26
  24. ^ "Our timetables". www.lner.co.uk. Retrieved 24 December 2023.
  25. ^ "Timetables". CrossCountry. 2 June 2024. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  26. ^ "Timetables". TransPennine Express. 2 June 2024. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  27. ^ "Timetables and engineering information for travel with Northern". Northern Railway. 2 June 2024. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
  28. ^ "What Next for HS2". House of Commons Library. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
  29. ^ "Darlington Station 2025 - A New Future". Tees Valley. Retrieved 25 December 2023.
  30. ^ Manning, Jonny (19 August 2024). "Images show how station will look after upgrade".

Sources

  • Body, G. (1988), PSL Field Guides – Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, ISBN 1-85260-072-1
  • Hoole, Ken (1982). Trains in Trouble: Vol. 3. Redruth: Atlantic Books. ISBN 0-906899-05-2.