Two rival political leaders have pledged to put politics aside and Darlington first as the redevelopment of Darlington Railway Station took a step forward.
Darlington Council’s Labour leader Cllr Steve Harker was joined by the Conservative Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen for their first public appearance of the new council administration, as they celebrated a significant milestone in the ongoing redevelopment of the Bank Top station.
Demolition work on the Neasham Road side of the station is now complete, paving the way for the next part of the redevelopment plans which include creating an extension to the station, linking the old and new sites by a bridge, a multi-storey car park, transport interchange and gateway entrance connected to Central Park. New platforms will accommodate current and future services to improve the region’s local and national transport links.
An upgrade to the Victoria Road entrance and car park pick-up and drop-off points on the western side of the station is also planned, with the former Hogans pub now demolished. New road layouts and wider pavements will be created to boost walking and cycling access.
The £140m project is due to be ready in 2025 in time for the Stockton and Darlington Railway bicentennial celebrations and will boost the town’s image as the “gateway to the Tees Valley”, Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen said, creating a similar positive impact on the surrounding area as London’s Kings Cross station.
Mayor Houchen said: “For a long time the station has been neglected and we need to make sure when people get off the train, whether it’s visiting for tourism or business, we set the right impression from the first moment - and Darlington station is going to play a key role in that.
Network Rail will carry out realignment work to relocate part of the current track to the former car park site, which will help increase the amount of trains travelling through the station.
“At the moment, local train services are poor, at best we have a train every half an hour,” mayor Houchen added.
“But when this is complete there is the potential to get up to six or seven trains an hour and all that makes rail travel a genuine alternative to a car and it better connects the region.”
Cllr Harker has called for more partnership working across the multiple parties in Darlington and the Tees Valley and said the passion to improve Darlington is unanimous, despite political differences.
“I am delighted that work is progressing on this project to transform the station to improve access to Darlington for business and leisure travellers. It will also create much better access into the wider Tees Valley,” he said.
“Upgrading the station will allow us to continue attracting investment to Darlington.”
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