A newly constructed North East train station has been compared to a "wet carrier bag" and labelled one of the worst in the country by a travel writer.

Visiting Sunderland station will "give you the clearest possible idea of what it might be like to live an alternative life as a trogoldyte", according to Daily Telegraph Writer Rob Crossan. 

The Telegraph writer, who says he has visited over 400 railway stations across the country, slammed Sunderland's new station as one of the worst in the country.

(Image: NORTHERN ECHO)

The multi-million pound structure, which opens to Market Square in the city centre, was unveiled in December of last year and was labelled "stunning" by bosses.

However, Ron Crossan wrote: "This is the train station that will give you the clearest possible idea of what it might be like to live an alternative life as a troglodyte.

"All the platforms are entirely underground thanks to the sterling work of British Rail architects who decided to deck over the previous incarnation of the station in the mid 1960s.

"To great fanfare, a new station entrance and waiting room was unveiled a few months ago which, in a daring piece of innovation, was placed at ground level so it could contain such modern fripperies as windows.

"The new structure, however, has an interior like an abandoned Amazon warehouse, minus the goods – save for a couple of minuscule rows of statistically uncomfortable chairs.

"A solecism of a station with the soul and flamboyance of a wet carrier bag."

Coming under fire alongside Sunderland was Darlington's train station, which, according to the writer, is "bitterly cold".

He wrote: "Ok, so this is where the whole railway story begins, with George Stevenson’s locomotion travelling between here and Stockton 200 years ago.

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"And it’s not hard to be impressed by Darlington’s epic roof and magnificent platform clock. 

"But the winds that rage through the station mean it’s always so bitterly cold. This is a station where pigeons are regularly seen wearing Gore-Tex, where piping hot coffee turns to ice in Styrofoam cups."

Topping the list as one of his favourites was the scenic Hebden Bridge station in West Yorkshire which, according to him has "resisted modernity with exquisite resilience".