New tram system, airport upgrades and Hartlepool link for Darlington

Up to £80m has been pledged by the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) to enable direct trains between Darlington and Hartlepool, upgrade Teesside Airport railway station, and to provide trackless trams in the town centre. 

Transport officers estimate the direct link to Hartlepool will cost £40m and will help plug a significant gap in connectivity between the Tees Valley towns. 

Darlington Railway Station is currently undergoing a significant revamp to provide more services, platforms and a better passenger experience. Initial capacity work carried out by Network Rail as part of the development identified the need for extra infrastructure upgrades to create the capacity for the service to be introduced. 

The redevelopment of the Teesside Airport station is much-needed due to its poor condition, TVCA said, and has led to services being downgraded to around one per week - but that has been temporarily withdrawn over safety concerns with the platform. 

The footbridge at Teesside Airport train station is currently closed as it is not safe for the public. (Image: Paul Lucas)Initial measures involve demolishing the unused platform and footbridge and reintroducing the one train per week service alongside platform improvements. The service frequency cannot be increased at Teesside International Airport Station until work to improve Darlington and Middlesbrough stations is complete. 

The overall cost of the work is priced at £20m and would involve building a new station and improving access to the airport terminal. 

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Meanwhile, digital infrastructure would need to be implemented to enable the trams to operate in Darlington. Also priced at £20m, it is envisaged that the trackless trams will provide a circular hop on, hop off service to key destinations. 

The vehicles are not due to be fixed to set physical infrastructure and services can be adapted or temporarily relocated for events and seasonal tourism purposes, TVCA added. The exact routes are due to be determined at a later date.

Money used to fund the schemes is due to come from the government, after it scrapped the northern leg of HS2 last year