Redcar Central railway station

Redcar Central railway station serves the town of Redcar in the unitary authority of Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England. It is located on the Tees Valley line 7 ¹⁄₂ miles (12.1 km) east of Middlesbrough and operated by Northern Trains who provide train services along with TransPennine Express.

Redcar Central
Location
Place	Redcar
Local authority	Redcar and Cleveland
Coordinates	54.616°N 1.071°W / 54.616; -1.071
Grid reference	NZ600249
Operations
Station code	RCC
Managed by	Northern Trains
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	E
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	0.361 million
2015/16	0.343 million
2016/17	0.358 million
2017/18	0.344 million
2018/19	0.324 million
National Rail – UK railway stations
Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Redcar Central from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

Redcar Central has a staffed ticket office, open Monday to Saturday (07:50-14:45) but not on Sunday. A self-service ticket machine is available for use outside these hours or for collecting pre-paid tickets. There is also a waiting room that is open Monday to Saturday - these are both on the southern side (platform 1). Platform 2 has a shelter, timetable poster boards and bench seating.[1]

Platform 1 is further west than platform 2 and there is a bridge over the track which connects the two. There is a level crossing over one of the major roads into Redcar at the end of platform 1 which can also be used to cross over the track. Nearby is the Redcar Station business park which houses a few local business units, contained within the old train shed.

Station facilities here were improved in 2013. The package for this station included improved platform lighting, renewed station signage, digital information screens and the installation of CCTV. The long-line Public Address system (PA) has been renewed and upgraded with pre-recorded train announcements.[2] Step-free access is available to both sides.

History

The line into the town from the west was opened as the Middlesbrough & Redcar Railway on 4 June 1846.[3] The company that constructed it was nominally independent, but in reality was backed financially by the Stockton and Darlington Railway and the Great North of England Railway (one of the constituent companies of the North Eastern Railway). The S&D had formally taken over by the time an extension eastwards to Saltburn was completed in August 1861 – this diverged from the original line just short of the existing terminus (part of which remained in use for goods traffic) and so a new through station had to be constructed. This was built in a similar style to that used by G T Andrews elsewhere on the NER, with an impressive frontage and overall roof. However it also had only a single platform (a configuration popular elsewhere on the S&D and NER), which led to congestion and delays during the summer months when traffic levels were at their heaviest. A second platform outside the train shed was eventually provided for westbound services by the LNER in 1935.[4] Today the original train shed is no longer used, a replacement eastbound platform having been constructed alongside it at the end of the 1980s.

The level crossing here utilised motorised wooden boom gates that swung out across the road for many years, but these latterly became increasingly unreliable and prone to failure in high winds. Infrastructure operator Network Rail replaced them in 2015 with telescopic metal ones - a design unique to this particular location.[5]

Services

Northern Trains

Northern Trains Route 3: Bishop & Tees Valley Lines
Bishop Auckland Shildon Newton Aycliffe Heighington North Road East Coast Main Line to Edinburgh Darlington East Coast Main Line to London King's Cross Dinsdale Teesside Airport Allens West Northallerton to Eaglescliffe Line Eaglescliffe Durham Coast Line to Newcastle Thornaby Middlesbrough Esk Valley Line to Whitby South Bank Redcar British Steel Redcar Central Redcar East Longbeck Marske Saltburn
There are currently no trains calling at Redcar British Steel until further notice.

There is a half-hourly service (Mondays to Saturdays) each way from the station. Westbound services continue to Middlesbrough and Darlington (with one train per hour continuing to Bishop Auckland). Eastbound services continue to Saltburn. Outside of this usual pattern there are also two early morning through services to Carlisle via Durham and Newcastle along with one morning arrival from Hexham which comes via Newcastle and Sunderland. On Sundays the service starts later and there is an hourly service to Saltburn, Middlesbrough, Darlington and Bishop Auckland (but note that the service to Bishop Auckland finishes early in the evening).[6]

TransPennine Express

In December 2019, TransPennine Express extended its hourly Manchester Airport to Middlesbrough service one station further to Redcar Central.[7][8] At present the service is run using Class 185 trains; new Class 68 and Mark 5A sets were introduced in early 2020.

The majority of TransPennine Express services go to Manchester Airport with one evening service per day terminating at Manchester Victoria, the final four services each day terminating at York. All TPE services run via Northallerton and Yarm, with the exception of one early morning arrival which travels via Darlington.

Notes

1. Redcar Central station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 20 February 2017
2. "Report of meeting with Steve Payne, Tees Valley Unlimited" North East Coastliners news article 29 June 2015; Retrieved 17 February 2017
3. Body, p. 144
4. NERA Tour Middlesbrough to Saltburn Tour Archived 27 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine
5. "Relief for motorists and pedestrians as new wind-proof level crossing barriers open in Redcar" Barley, Sophie Gazette Live news article 14 December 2015; Retrieved 16 February 2017
6. "Electronic National Rail Timetable, Table 44". Network Rail. Retrieved 31 May 2018.
7. "Rail service launch hailed 'huge step forward'". BBC News. 12 September 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
8. December 2019 Timetable Changes TransPennine Express

References

• Body, G. (1988), PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, ISBN 1-85260-072-1

External links

• Train times and station information for Redcar Central railway station from National Rail
• Saltburn Line Users Group - Photos of the station in the 1960s & 1970s when the Trainshed was still in use

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Redcar East		Northern Trains Tees Valley Line		Middlesbrough
				South Bank
Terminus		TransPennine Express Manchester Airport– Redcar Central		Middlesbrough
	Historical railways
Redcar East Line and station open		London and North Eastern Railway Tees Valley Line		Warrenby Halt Line and station closed