Teesside Airport railway station

Teesside Airport
Location
Place	Durham Tees Valley Airport
Local authority	Darlington
Coordinates	54°31′07″N 1°25′31″W / 54.5185°N 1.4252°WCoordinates: 54°31′07″N 1°25′31″W / 54.5185°N 1.4252°W
Grid reference	NZ373138
Operations
Station code	TEA
Managed by	Northern
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	74
2005/06	72
2006/07	85
2007/08	52
2008/09	44
2009/10	68
2010/11	18
2011/12	14
2012/13	8
2013/14	8
2014/15	32
History
Original company	Eastern Region of British Railways
3 October 1971	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.
UK Railways portal

Teesside Airport railway station is located in the borough of Darlington in County Durham, England.

Despite its name, it is almost a 1-mile walk from Durham Tees Valley Airport (formerly Teesside International Airport), only two trains stop per week (both on Sunday), and bus links to the airport and other destinations were withdrawn many years ago. Consequently, the station has become known for being one of the least-used in the country, with just 32 passenger entries/exits recorded in 2014/15 and just eight recorded in 2013/14.^[1][2][3]

History

The station is located 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]

There are two platforms, each long enough for a four-coach train.^[4] The airport changed its name to Durham Tees Valley Airport in 2004, however, the station's name was not updated. In 2007, the train operating company Northern erected new signs reading "Teesside Airport", replacing older signs which had used a hyphen in Teesside; however, National Rail still lists the station as "Tees-side Airport".^[6]

Services

Map showing the location of Teesside Airport railway station

Located on the Tees Valley Line and operated by Northern, the station sees two trains call per week, both on Sunday; one to Hartlepool and the other to Dinsdale and Darlington.^[7] Other services use this line, but pass the station without stopping. The airport is an approximate 15-minute walk from the station and accessibility issues are a major factor in its lack of usage.^[8][9]

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.^[8][10][11] The station was featured in October 2010 on the BBC Radio 4 programme "The Ghost Trains of Old England",^[12] 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.

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.

See also

• Parliamentary train

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. 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2012-04-26.
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.
5. Butt, R.V.J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations. Yeovil: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 227. ISBN 1-85260-508-1. R508.
6. "National Rail Enquiries – Station Facilities for Tees-side Airport". Nationalrail.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-04-26.
7. GB eNRT 2015-16 Edition, Table 44
8. "Rail buffs to highlight Teesside Airport 'ghost station'". The Journal. Trinity Mirror. 2009-10-14. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
9. "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
10. "Airport outing bid to promote station". The Northern Echo. Newsquest. 2009-10-14. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
11. "Busy day at rarely-used train station". The Northern Echo. Newsquest. 2009-10-26. Retrieved 2009-10-26.
12. "The Ghost Trains of Old England". Radio 4. BBC. 2010-10-27. Retrieved 2010-11-11.

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 2007-09-27.

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