Teesside Airport railway station

Teesside Airport railway station is in the borough of Darlington in County Durham, England. It is almost a 1 mile (1.6 km) walk from Teesside International Airport; only one train per week calls here (on Sundays) and bus links to the airport and other destinations were withdrawn many years ago. Consequently, the station has become one of Britain's least-used, with an estimated 206 passenger entries/exits in 2018/19. In 2012/13 and 2013/14 it was the least used station in the country, with just eight passengers a year in both periods.[1][2][3]

Teesside Airport
Location
Place	Teesside International Airport
Local authority	Darlington
Coordinates	54.5185°N 1.4252°W / 54.5185; -1.4252
Grid reference	NZ373138
Operations
Station code	TEA
Managed by	Northern
Number of platforms	2 (1 in use)
DfT category	F1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	32
2015/16	98
2016/17	30
2017/18	74
2018/19	206
History
Original company	Eastern Region of British Railways
3 October 1971 (1971-10-03)	Station opened
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Teesside Airport from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

The station has two platforms, each long enough for a four-car train;[4] however, since December 2017, only one is in use.

History

The station is on the original route of the Stockton and Darlington Railway, 5 miles 43 chains (8.9 km) from Darlington South Junction;[4] it was opened by British Rail on 3 October 1971.[5]

The airport itself changed its name to Durham Tees Valley Airport in 2004 but reverted to Teesside International Airport in 2019;[6] the station's name was never updated to reflect either change. In 2007, the train operating company Northern erected new signs reading "Teesside Airport", replacing previous signs which had used a hyphen in "Tees-side". National Rail now also lists the station as "Teesside Airport".[7]

In December 2017 it was announced by Durham Tees Valley Airport (DTVA) that the footbridge and eastbound platform would be closed to save DTVA having to spend £6 million on maintenance of the station up until 2022. The once-weekly train from Hartlepool stops on the platform nearer to the airport.[8]

Services

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.

Map showing the location of Teesside Airport railway station

Located on the Tees Valley Line and operated by Northern, the station sees only one train call per week, on a Sunday, travelling westbound from Hartlepool to Darlington.[9] The eastbound service was withdrawn in the December 2017 timetable change because of concerns over the weak footbridge. Other services use this line, but pass the station without stopping. The airport is approximately 15-minute walk from the station and accessibility issues are a major factor in its lack of usage.[10][11] The station did have a more frequent service in the past (the 1986 British Rail timetable had one train per hour in each direction, seven days a week), but since the early 1990s it has received only a bare minimum "parliamentary" service to avoid the need for formal closure proceedings.

On 24 October 2009, a group of 26 people travelled to and from the station on the only scheduled service, to highlight the station's existence and its limited service, and to try to persuade railway authorities to move it 500 metres closer to the airport terminal.[10][12][13] The station was featured in October 2010 on the BBC Radio 4 programme "The Ghost Trains of Old England",[14] which mentioned the campaign and the fact that the station has a working payphone. It was also suggested that a large proportion of the tickets sold for the station are bought by collectors who wish to own tickets with rare or unusual destinations, and do not necessarily travel.

Preceding station		National Rail		Following station
Allens West		Northern Tees Valley Line Sunday only		Dinsdale

Transport links

Previously, other public transport access was frequent, with the airport being served by the "Sky Express" bus service from Middlesbrough and Darlington. In 2011 the links with Middlesbrough were lost as Stockton borough council withdrew funding, but services to Darlington and Hurworth remained. By 2012, passenger numbers had decreased so much that all journeys to and from the airport were withdrawn.

References

1. Pigott, Nick, ed. (June 2012). "Waterloo still London's busiest station". The Railway Magazine. Vol. 158 no. 1334. Horncastle, Lincs: Mortons Media Group. p. 6.
2. "Station usage". Rail-reg.gov.uk. 29 March 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
3. "Revealed: Britain's busiest and quietest stations". BBC News. 15 December 2015. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
4. Yonge, John (September 2006) [1994]. Jacobs, Gerald (ed.). Railway Track Diagrams 2: Eastern (3rd ed.). Bradford on Avon: Trackmaps. map 47C. ISBN 0-9549866-2-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
5. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 227. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
6. "Airport gets its original name back". BBC News. 25 July 2019. Retrieved 25 July 2019.
7. "National Rail Enquiries – Station Facilities for Tees-side Airport". Nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 26 April 2012.
8. Bowe, Charlotte (27 December 2017). "£6 million - what Durham Tees Valley Airport says it will save by closing platform at one of UK's least used railway halts". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 27 December 2017.
9. "Train times: Bishop Auckland and Darlington to Middlesbrough and Saltburn 10 December 2017 - 19 May 2018" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2018.
10. "Rail buffs to highlight Teesside Airport 'ghost station'". The Journal. Trinity Mirror. 14 October 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2009.
11. "Britain's least visited railway station had just fourteen passengers in a year" Armstrong, Jeremy; Daily Mirror news article 2-05-2013; Retrieved 2014-04-09
12. "Airport outing bid to promote station". The Northern Echo. Newsquest. 14 October 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2009.
13. "Busy day at rarely-used train station". The Northern Echo. Newsquest. 26 October 2009. Retrieved 26 October 2009.
14. "The Ghost Trains of Old England". Radio 4. BBC. 27 October 2010. Retrieved 11 November 2010.

External links

Media related to Teesside Airport railway station at Wikimedia Commons

• "Simon Calder – Britain's transport policy goes even more off the rails April 21, 2007 – Simon comments on Tees-side Airport railway station's lack of rail service". Archived from the original on 27 September 2007.