Durham railway station serves the city of
DurhamDurham is a city in north east England. It is within the County Durham local government district, and is the county town of the larger ceremonial county...
on the
East Coast Main LineThe East Coast Main Line is a long electrified high-speed railway link between London, Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington, Newcastle and Edinburgh...
. The
railway stationA train station, also called a railroad station or railway station and often shortened to just station,"Station" is commonly understood to mean "train station" unless otherwise qualified. This is evident from dictionary entries e.g...
is managed by
East CoastEast Coast is a British train operating company running high-speed passenger services on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland...
. Despite its small functional capacity the station is a principal stop on the East Coast Main Line and is called at by many intercity services travelling the route.
The travel time between Durham and London King's Cross, 254 miles (408.8 km) south, is around three hours on a high-speed East Coast service.
Description
Durham is a through station with two platforms and is located on a hill to the north of the city centre. To the south of the station, the railway line is elevated on a viaduct. After the 2006–2008 renovation, the booking hall is now located in the original stone station building.
History
Originally, Durham was served by three stations but none of these survive today. Only one of these was located in the city. This was built at Gilesgate and served a branch from the
Leamside Line (then the main line from London to Newcastle). The other two were in nearby
ShincliffeShincliffe is a village in the County Durham in England. It is situated just over a mile to the south-east of Durham city centre, on the A177 road to Stockton...
, one called Shincliffe Town which served a
branch from SunderlandThe Durham to Sunderland Line was a railway line in the North East of England. The line no longer exists, but many features along its path are still visible.-History:...
which was built in 1839, and the other (Shincliffe Bank Top) was opened in 1844. The Sunderland branch was later extended into Durham city at a station called Elvet in 1893, and Shincliffe Town declined in importance and eventually closed.
In 1857, the current Durham railway station and the viaduct immediately to the south were built, but it was not on the main line. It was built as a terminus to a branch from
Bishop AucklandBishop Auckland railway station serves the town of Bishop Auckland in County Durham, England. The station is the terminus of the Tees Valley Line north of .The station is operated by Northern Rail, which provides Network Rail passenger services...
. However, in 1871 a new line was built from the existing main line at Tursdale to the new Durham station, then continued to Newcastle Central via
Chester-le-StreetChester-le-Street railway station serves the town of Chester-le-Street in County Durham, England. The station is on the East Coast Main Line south of Newcastle upon Tyne...
. This soon became the main line.
The Gilesgate branch closed in 1965. Passenger services to Newcastle via the Leamside route ended in 1963; the Leamside line declined in importance, and was mothballed in 1991. Passenger services to Bishop Auckland and Sunderland via
PenshawThe village of Penshaw , formerly known as Painshaw or Pensher, is an area of the metropolitan district of the City of Sunderland, in Tyne and Wear, England...
were withdrawn on 4 May 1964.
The other stations in Durham and Shincliffe closed to passengers before the
Beeching AxeThe Beeching Axe or the Beeching Cuts are informal names for the British Government's attempt in the 1960s to reduce the cost of running British Railways, the nationalised railway system in the United Kingdom. The name is that of the main author of The Reshaping of British Railways, Dr Richard...
, but many remained goods stations until the closures. Prior to the nationalisation of the railways, it was run by
London and North Eastern RailwayThe London and North Eastern Railway was the second-largest of the "Big Four" railway companies created by the Railways Act 1921 in Britain...
. The line was
electrifiedRailway electrification in Great Britain started towards of the 19th century. A great range of voltages have been used in the intervening period using both overhead lines and third rails, however the most common standard for mainline services is now 25 kV AC using overhead lines and the...
in 1991. Today, the station is owned by
Network RailNetwork Rail is the government-created owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain .; it is not responsible for railway infrastructure in Northern Ireland...
and managed by East Coast.
2006–2008 refurbishment
The station was refurbished between 2006 and 2008 by operator GNER and later National Express which included a new lounge, toilets, travel centre, glazed waiting area, lifts and shops. The entrance and booking hall were moved from the 'temporary' 1960s building into the original stone building following renovation and repairs. The renovations were completed in early 2008 and the newly renovated station won Best Medium Station and Overall Station of the Year at the 2008 National Rail Awards.
Services
| Direction |
East Coast |
CrossCountry |
First Transpennine Express |
Northern Rail |
| Northbound |
1tph to Newcastle, with some continuing to Edinburgh |
1tph to Newcastle
1tph to Edinburgh |
1tph to Newcastle |
3tpd to Newcastle in the early morning 2t on Saturday |
| Southbound |
1tph to London Kings Cross |
1tph to Reading via Doncaster
1tph to Plymouth via Leeds |
1tph to Manchester Airport |
1tpd to Middlesbrough in the late evening on Saturday and Sunday |
tph = trains per hour tpd = trains per day
External links