Middlesbrough railway station


Middlesbrough railway station serves the large town of Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire, England and is managed by TransPennine Express.
The main station layout consists of an entrance hall with ticket office, large concourse/waiting area and two covered platforms that are each subdivided into two sections i.e. platform 1 and platform 2. Two freight lines bypass to the north of the station.
The station is staffed and has a range of facilities including a cafe / bar, newsagent, cycle storage, toilets and lifts. Various screens throughout the station give information on train arrivals and departures.
Car parking is situated just to the east of the station and can be accessed via Exchange Square and Wood Street and by footpath directly to the station. A drop-off point is located at the front of the station close to the main entrance.
According to the Office of Rail and Road statistics, Middlesbrough railway station is the fourth busiest in the North East region, with 1,289,866 total entries and exits.

History

The first railway was built in the area as long ago as 1830 as an extension of the Stockton and Darlington Railway to connect with the port of the then new town of Middlesbrough. A branch off this, passing just south of the new town and extending eastwards to Redcar was opened in June 1846 by the Middlesbrough and Redcar Railway Company.
Situated on the southern edge of the new town on the Redcar branch line, Middlesbrough's first passenger station was designed by John Middleton and opened on 26 July 1847. As the town expanded rapidly during the second half of the 19th Century however, the station was unable to cope with the traffic growth. Due to the design of the station not lending itself to enlargement it was therefore demolished in 1874 and replaced by the current station, opened in December 1877.
The current station was designed by the North Eastern Railway's chief architect, William Peachey, with an ornate Gothic style frontage. Behind this an overall roof of elliptical design once existed. Constructed out of wrought iron of lattice design, with glass covering the middle half and timber /slate covering the outer quarters. The two end screens were glazed with timber cladding around the outer edges. The roof was high in relation to its width.
The elliptical roof was severely damaged in a German daylight air raid in the afternoon of 3 August 1942 and eventually removed in 1954, to be replaced by the current design over the concourse and platforms.
A major refurbishment of the station took place during 2017 and 2018 with repairs carried out to the station's roof and stonework and upgrading of the Wood Street car park. New information screens were also installed as part of the refurbishment.
In June 2020, Tees Valley Combined Authority announced a new £35 million plan to transform the station. Phase 1 of the work, expected to begin in early 2021, will see the extension of platform 2 giving the station increased capacity to accommodate more trains to Whitby and Newcastle; and planned for late 2021, the re-introduction of direct LNER trains from Middlesbrough to London. Phase 2 of the work will include a new £6.5 million entrance with accompanying business units being created on Zetland Road with access to the station subway being part of the plans. A third phase could see a new platform 3 built, with accompanying glass frontage and concourse facing out onto Bridge Street West further increasing train capacity within the station.

Station Masters

From the station, Northern Trains provides local services on three lines. Services are currently operated by a fleet of Class 156 and Class 158 DMUs. As of the December 2019 timetable change, service and frequency is as follows:
TransPennine Express also operate an hourly service from Redcar Central to York, Leeds and Manchester Airport. Services are operated by a fleet of Class 185 DMUs, which are due to be replaced by the new Nova 3.