Allens West railway station


Allens West railway station is in the town of Eaglescliffe within the borough of Stockton-on-Tees, England. It is located on the Tees Valley Line west of Middlesbrough and east of Darlington. The station is operated by Northern who provide all passenger train services.

Facilities

The station is unmanned and has no permanent buildings other than standard waiting shelters on each platform. Ticket Machines are now available on each platform but you can still purchase a ticket on the train. Facilities here were improved in April 2013. The package for this station included new fully lit waiting shelters, renewed station signage, digital CIS displays and the installation of CCTV. The long-line Public Address system has been renewed and upgraded with pre-recorded train announcements. Train running information can be obtained via the public payphone on platform 2 and timetable posters. Step-free access is available to both platforms via the nearby level crossing.

History

Opened by the London and North Eastern Railway during the Second World War as an unadvertised station to serve a nearby Royal Navy stores depot, the station then passed on to the Eastern Region of British Railways on nationalisation in 1948. Following the construction of new housing in the area the station became an advertised public station on 3 October 1971
When Sectorisation was introduced, the station was served by Regional Railways until the Privatisation of British Railways. The level crossing here was upgraded by Network Rail in the autumn 2013 from automatic half barriers to full controlled barriers with obstacle detection after several 'near misses' resulting from pedestrians avoiding the lowered barriers and crossing the tracks in front of approaching trains.

Service

Monday to Saturdays, there are two trains per hour westbound to Darlington and eastbound to Middlesbrough and beyond. Alternate westbound trains continue beyond Darlington to. Services are now operated mostly by Class 156 and Class 158 Sprinter DMUs, the old Class 142 Pacer units having been withdrawn from service.
On Sundays there is an hourly service in each direction, with most trains extended to Bishop Auckland westbound. Two direct services to/from avoiding Thornaby and Middlesbrough also stop here.