Northern faster service between Middlesbrough and Newcastle
Twelve new services will be operated by Northern between the two stations, starting on Sunday, December 10. They will initially call at Thornaby[1] and Sunderland[2] and a stop at Hartlepool will be introduced as soon as the station works are complete in early 2024.
Journeys between the two stations will take between 1 hour 7 minutes and 1 hour 18 minutes, depending on the time and direction.
It means, in the northbound direction, the average journey time between Middlesbrough and Newcastle will be 1h hour and 15 minutes, which is seven minutes faster than the existing service. In the southbound direction, between Newcastle and Middlesbrough, the average journey time for the new service will be 1hr 10mins, which is nine minutes faster than now.
Kerry Peters, regional director for Northern, said: “We’re confident the new service between Middlesbrough and Newcastle will prove very popular. It’s great to be able to increase connectivity between these two key points on our network.”
Train timetables across the North East will change on December 10 along with the rest of the National Rail network. Most Northern services are unaffected but there will be a slight re-timing of some services.
Ms Peters, regional director for Northern, said: “Whilst the overwhelming majority of our services remain ‘as is’ – customers should double check any regular journeys they make – especially those with short connections.”
More information about the December timetable change can be found at: www.northernrailway.co.uk/travel/timetables/timetable-change.[3]
The news comes as the £35m redevelopment of Middlesbrough Rail Station continues to progress. Phase one has seen the existing station platforms extended and infrastructure upgraded to introduce a daily weekday (LNER) service.
Phase two is in now progress and is expected to be completed by early 2024. This will see the current ticket hall stairs removed, a new staircase built off the central thoroughfare, open public space at the east end of the former car park, and a new pedestrian walkway created between Zetland Road at the south of the station and the existing subway.
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Phase three will see the building of a new platform and additional infrastructure to improve the performance and reliability of existing services and provide capacity for additional future services. Work is expected to begin on this phase mid-2024.
This project is being delivered with funding from Tees Valley Integrated Transport Programme – using Transforming Cities Fund, City Region Sustainable Transport Settlement and Get Building Fund, Department for Transport Rail Network Enhancement Pipeline, Network Rail and TransPennine Express.
Complementary projects at the station are being supported by Middlesbrough Council and Historic England through the High Street Action Zone (HAZ) initiative.
References
- ^ Thornaby (www.thenorthernecho.co.uk)
- ^ Sunderland (www.thenorthernecho.co.uk)
- ^ www.northernrailway.co.uk/travel/timetables/timetable-change. (www.northernrailway.co.uk)
- ^ Click here. (www.thenorthernecho.co.uk)