OFFICIALS have been grilled over how scrapping part of a vast rail project will affect a revamp of Darlington Station.

The Bank Top hub provides the main gateway from the East Coast Main Line to Teesside – with construction work on a overhaul touted to start as early as this summer.

But former Darlington Council leader Cllr Stephen Harker wanted to know how canning the eastern leg of HS2 could affect the scheme at a meeting on Thursday.

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps announced the eastern link of the rail project to Leeds would be scrapped last year.

Cllr Harker asked senior officials how this would hit the transformation at a Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) scrutiny meeting on Thursday.

But Gary MacDonald, TVCA director of finance, said the creation of platforms and work around capacity on the eastern side meant there was a strong case for helping Tees Valley services.

After the meeting, Cllr Harker said the work at Darlington Station was aiming to improve services into Teesside and “future-proofing” Bank Top by getting rid of line crossings.

He wanted to know how much the two benefits could be separated if the funding didn’t come.

The Labour member added: “It’s whether post covid, where we’re still not seeing passenger numbers anywhere near what we had pre-covid, and the government railing back on HS2 about development across the north, that they say Darlington station is fit for the future given fewer passenger numbers.”

A report prepared for the meeting stated “neither the value of the project, nor funding” would be “appreciably impacted by HS2”.

Officials went on the point to the £8.7m the project had secured from the Department for Transport after an earlier outline business case was submitted.

And they argued this showed the project was recognised as being strategically important.

The TVCA report added: “The creation of platforms on the eastern side of the station means that Tees Valley services no-longer need to cross the East Coast Main Line so there are strong performance and reliability benefits of the scheme too.

“Overall, it delivers benefits to the East Coast Main Line by speeding up journey times and helps to address capacity constraints north of York and therefore strongly aligns with the Integrated Rail Plan.”

The station redevelopment will create three new platforms on the east side of the existing station as well as a footbridge linking the new platforms, and work to tie the hub more closely to the town centre.

Last year, Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen argued HS2 would “deliver nothing” for Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool.

He added: “The whole project is a waste of money and should be scrapped in order to focus on improving regional rail travel.

“As mayor, if I was given one percent of the HS2 budget I would be able to revolutionise public transport on a scale we couldn’t possibly imagine today.”

Planning approval for the station overhaul was granted in October – with a compulsory purchase order inquiry for neighbouring buildings to take place shortly.