Thursday 18th June 2026
It was interesting to visit Darlington and Bishop Auckland last week and take a look at new public transport infrastructure which opened in both towns last month.
First up let’s look at the multi-million pound project that’s seen a major expansion of Darlington’s historic railway station.
It’s been described as a “transformational project” and indeed, at £140 million you’d rightly expect bells, whistles and gold plating for what is basically a new eastern entrance and concourse together with a new island platform – one side for terminating services from further east (Saltburn and Middlesbrough) and one side for southbound services on the East Coast Main Line and, of course in a world of supposedly encouraging “seamless integrated public transport”, not forgetting a huge 650 space multi storey car park.
The sheer scale of the new development has to be seen to be believed. Bells, whistles and gold plating are to be found in abundance.
During my visit it just seemed out of all proportion to the number of passengers passing through which may, of course, reflect it being early days and passenger habits not yet changed, but it’s of Elizabeth line proportions in terms of size and scale but without Elizabeth line numbers of passengers.
Just look at the entrance area as seen below as an example, with ample seating for the one passenger sitting and watching the departure boards as I passed through.
It was last Wednesday at around 15:30 and the whole place was like the proverbial ‘morgue’. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Not only that but what I thought was the main reason for the whole project – adding two new platforms on the eastern side of the East Coast Main Line’s tracks so trains don’t cause a conflict with each other when either calling in the southbound direction, or crossing the tracks from the east to terminate at the station – was rendered completely wasted by, for an unknown reason, every southbound train being directed to (the original) platform 1 and (the new) platform 5 remaining unused.
I watched as southbound train after southbound train was originally announced as departing from (the new) platform 5 but about 20 minutes before the train was due came the “this is a platform alteration” announcement and it was reallocated to (the original) platform 1 rendering (the new) platform 5 completely redundant as can be seen in this extract from realtimetrains for the period concerned. And timekeeping remained pretty good.
Thankfully, it would seem (the new) platform 5 has been used on other occasions and I can only conclude there must have been signalling issues or something like that, but even so, it is just five trains an hour – two LNER to King’s Cross, one TPE to Liverpool and a Cross Country to Plymouth as well as one Northern train an hour… which brings me to platform 6.
The so called benefit of having (the new) platform 6, which sits alongside (the new) platform 5, and has a buffer stop for terminating trains, is in fact only half useful as every other train from the Middlesbrough direction is a through train to Bishop Auckland so has to continue the former process of crossing the East Coast Main Line tracks to get to the western side and access the branch to Bishop Aukland. And the same in reverse, when the trains continue to use (the original) platform 1 when arriving from Bishop Auckland and travelling towards Middlesbrough.
As you can see from the timetables above and below, it’s only every other train from Saltburn/Middlesbrough that terminates in Darlington (once an hour) and now uses (the new) platform 6 rather than cross over the southbound main line to access (the original) platforms 2 and 3.
£140 million for that strikes me as somewhat rather hard to justify – I’d love to have seen the business case for it.
Granted it’s also funded a huge multi-storey car park, a massive new entrance, a vast cavernous waiting area, long corridor, escalators and a huge waiting room on the first floor.
But quite where all the passengers are going to come from to use this new area is beyond me.
Come with me as I alighted from the train from Bishop Aukland which used (the original) platform 1…
… and I turned round to look north and began my exploration of the “transformational project” spotting the new orange coloured footbridge and the new stairs leading up to it on the left of the above photo and in the one below…
… and alongside to the left are two new escalators…
… and lifts to take me to the new entrance/exit on the eastern side of the tracks.
The stairs/escalators/lifts bring you to that footbridge…
… which crosses over (the original) plaform 1, where looking south, the train I just alighted from was still there…
… and then you cross over the two tracks that have always by-passed the station (of which there are now more trains with the fast LNER London-Edinburghs – as well as Lumo) …. looking north (below) …
… and looking south (below) where you can see (the new) platform 5 to the left…
…and, to the left of that, (the new) adjacent platform 6 with its buffer stop.
At the end of the footbridge comes a new escalator and lifts to take you down to ground level again…
… but before doing so you’ll spot the new waiting room at first floor level in the background of the above photo which is well worth popping your head round the door to take a look at to see just how vast (and empty) it is…
… and then at the bottom of the escalator there are new toilets…
… and a retail unit soon to open…
… and then comes the long corridor along one side of the multi-storey car park and the new gateline…
…there’s a ticket machine here too…
…then at the end of the corridor, you turn right into the cavernous new entrance/exit area…
… where there’s a small window with a ticket office hidden behind a pillar with a member of staff twiddling her thumbs…
… and another retail outlet to open soon (good luck Greggs).
Outside there’s a public realm type manicured area to enjoy and the entrance/exit to the multi-storey car park. Arriva’s route 13B runs past every 20 minutes immediately outside and other routes in Yarm Road are a short walk away which does give improved access for bus passengers – but only when travelling south on the train as when travelling north (or returning from the south) passengers still have to wend their way along that long corridor, over the footbridge and down again to access, or egress from, platform 4.
And, I should also point out after all that expenditure there are no escalators to new platforms 5 and 6; only lifts and four sections of stairs to negotiate. It seems odd that there are escalators from the original platforms but not the new ones. However, there is yet another waiting area on the platform/s.
Let’s take a look at the nearby (12 miles west) Bishop Auckland new bus station which also opened last month at a cost of £11.8 million primarily funded by £6.4 million from the UK Government’s Future High Streets Fund and Durham County Council chipping in £3.6 million as well as Tees Valley Combined Authority.
It’s located on the same site as the town’s former bus station in Saddler Street together with extensive landscaping and improved public realm in the adjacent area.
It’s drawn a mixed reaction from passengers with online comments questioning the value of almost £12 million being spent when the previous arrangement of shelters alongside each bus stop, some say, was adequate for the needs. Here’s how it used to look, taken from Google Streetview in 2023.
As you can see it’s been quite a transformation and has undoubtedly significantly improved the waiting environment for passengers as well as providing toilets…
… albeit you need to have a 20p coin to be able to use them.
There’s much improved information provision too with departure lists on each of the eight stands…
… as well as an electronic sign above the doors showing the next four departures…
… and wall mounted signs listing even more above the corridor to the toilets and alongside an as yet unlet retail unit.
There’s a tactile display showing what’s on offer…
… and two pedestrians exits and entrances…
… and some landscaping.
What came across to me more than anything, as with the Darlington experience, is just how quiet the bus station was – at around 14:00 on a Wednesday.
Quiet as in the number of departing buses but more worryingly the number of passengers.
It was not quite as ‘morgue like’ as Darlington, but not far off.
It’s good to see investment in improved public transport infrastructure but I came away from both these visits wondering whether £152 million has really been well spent.
Roger French
Summer blogging timetable: 06:00 TThSSu
BusAndTrainUser 
Coincidentally, I passed through both on 15 May, although I didn’t alight from my bus from Stanhope at Bishop Auckland bus station as I was continuing to the railway station. That bus station was quite a surprise as the same route had bypassed it (before it came into use) one week before. Bishop Auckland is a sad place with the railway at one end of a seriously faded high street and the bus station at the other. Locals say that the retail park by the railway station has sucked life out of the original town centre. Let’s hope that the shiny new bus station helps revive it a bit.
15 May (I found out later) was the press day for the new platforms at Darlington, and Tornado was there, steaming gently, to give it some glamour.
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The old Bishops Auckland bus station was certainly tired … some new shelters with more seats and better information would’ve been quite adequate.
However, Roger’s comment about a lack of passengers bears out the lack of people in the town itself. I visited this area a couple of years ago, and in BA, as in Stanley and Peterlee, there was no reason to visit the town, with poor shops and many actually closed. The only town with people around was Hexham.
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Further to my comment above … there has to be a reason to travel … and the former Durham coalfield towns are really struggling here. Some nice scenery, but scenery alone doesn’t fill buses!!
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We also visited Darlington last week and also thought the same about the size of the new station building.
A new “Government Hub” is being built in the town, and a new office development is being built nearby, which may explain the investment. Presumably all those Civil Servants will actually want to move to Darlington…
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/chancellor-marks-beginning-of-construction-at-new-government-hub
Darryl in Dorset.
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Doncaster must have more money than sense. It will need a massive imcrease in passenger numbers to even fill a fraction of that space
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I think that you may mean Darlington. Easy done as Doncaster is reopening an airport with an “interesting” business case and the new council being both in favour and against the opening.
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Darlington of course, also has an airport with an interesting business case :)))
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Maybe I am missing something but if there are no buses due to depart will there be many people waiting? What is it like at peak times?
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Does Darlington provide complimentary opera glasses, or do you have to bring your own?
Mike Jones
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On comparative footfall, would anyone agree that TfL have got good value for money in redeveloping Cromwell Road Bus Station in Kingston-upon-Thames?
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I drove for OK Motor Services at Bishop Auckland in the summer of 1982 when buses were still in the Market Place. It was buzzing and buses were very busy. I returned a few years ago to find no market and large scale retail collapse in the town. I can’t see that this bus station is justified. On a positive note, there is a nice cafe in the Market Square located in the former United canteen!
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It’s not the first time Darlington station has been perceived at too large. Here is a local history article about the older part of the station: The day Darlington’s ‘white elephant’ station quietly opened its doors | The Northern Echo
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It does make one wonder how many of the platform alterations are due to ARS (automatic, computer-based signalling) doing its own thing, rather than having the input of a human being or the programming reflecting the new arrangements. Sheffield has been a proverbial pain in the rump since the introduction of ARS, with the system making platform changes, often at the last minute, from one side of the station to the other, meaning that less mobile travellers are put under unnecessary duress. I believe there was a situation of a whistle blower who highlighted that signallers were sitting around playing on their phones, rather than watching the system, whilst ARS made silly decisions.
Personally, I think Darlington is impressive. Like all things in public transport, one needs a long-term perspective. I don’t see why the north shouldn’t get some decent infrastructure and investment.
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i moved to a new house home near Bishop Auckland about a year or so back and I find your Blog this time dear Roger really quite much !, and alarming and troubling potential unreal too one might say (?) and noses in the air we southerners (I am one ! btw but seek to appreciate all as they and we are or West Country Bristol (a city as Darlington 200, with quite some bus and train history to it too and I am a feet and trains and buses user only since kid on number 1 or 88 or 88E bus to school in Bristol. I travel for the last 30 years by feet trains and buses only, no car . )
i would like Roger to question such a negative review on both counts and think of those who want to try and help everyone.
And especially regards the new Darlington Station development.
We can all multiply negativity, and also if not quality checked bias towards things and places we like in life or are our corner.
Abd this if published could then be seen to have big impacts on others lives. This is not a joke dear Roger.
Our words can multiply by ripple effect, hugely at times, and more so when of one of your position past and present honour in the industry.
Indeed I think it would be good to see the Business Case and why and wherefore and the Levelling Up moves in this. And for such an historic Station as dear Darlington is . Before you infer things as this report viewing does .
To say it’s like a morgue I think is totally out of order wrong!! …and too much, best of respect.! But do you feel the evil deathly spirits in parts of dark London or Brighton ?!?? …?? in dark unused tube stations? Maybe indeed but to suggest this of this very quiet at the moment maybe new development only opened a few weeks back and doing it for the projected hopes plans based one hopes on other similar in other parts of the world as have been done… then wow.. You unfeeling miss the good vibes southerner Roger or what best of respect but…!?
Did you have a nice listening chat to the excellent very hard working as a rule kind LNER staff there. They are wonderful team… And what a class comment about the lady twiddling her thumbs Roger. How horrid.
I don’t think this is one of your best Roger and could have multiplying negativity on matters at just a time in history when we all don’t need such.
We can have mass negativity on other things and the current UK Govt indeed maybe, what on earth is it doing??…one might think
. But this was nothing to do with them. And can affect lives who have a good dose less than most parts of the country and a good pick up investment indeed in best of hopes.
Go and visit Darlington town and other places around and I would encourage folk that it strikes me so far as a nice place to settle into a job live and be well and use the public transport well in the coming days.
And be positive about the business hopes for the area and which IN DUE time will populate the lovely smart new works and building which is maybe very quiet but to call it a morgue is , well your mindset on the day you visited or write this too Roger pretty dark and depressed maybe.
it’s nothing of the sort !…though maybe very quiet and hushed etc at the present while.
Go and talk to local businesses planning hoping or have been until recent unexpected Govt all sorts and who and maybe still are moving into the area & to employ many new workers and staff .. and indeed Roger goodness me !! They always say get the infrastructure in place first ! … and don’t do so and now they do and you are being so peculiarly negative.
I avidly read your Blogs but this one I find really not good at all and having moved to near the area , and feeling for and with kind locals who are doing their best to turn things up.
Scrap HS2 ! and leave it partly finished to a monument of where the country had got to , I think with best of respect was a far better idea mooted and I would possibly have voted for (!??? but ..!?) , to have saved money versus the business case for how many ££s Vs the cost of this ….and as ever money for the big cities London Birmingham Manchester and Liverpool .. and etc… And where does Newcastle and the NE come into it once more.
As for your thoughts on the platform usage … Check your facts before needlessly highlighting a one day needful non use of the new platform 5. Since I believe absolutely it’s a totally silly comment and you just happened to hit on one day when they had to switch it for works or some trouble.
I have routinely alighted at platform 5 to date.
Again check out how much the use of the new platform 6 under current timetabling the folk who really now will improve matters Roger. However feeling trains are in the timetable. Flow charts and science this aspect is to the degree it is and they will know how much under current operations this will and is already helping and the knock on effects of LNERs and TPs etc getting held up. This is a science projection of operations whereas the wonderful smart new building is an investment in infrastructure in a business case study which you can find ! and look into .
I thank you very much for all your Blogs but I think maybe at times you should put your Blogs before another/s to check if they think it goes too far or what I believe I notice at times a certain rather hurtful bias to places and things you personally like . ??
Since you are somebody so highly thought of dear Roger in the industry I do think you should be more careful at times and a bit more restrained and check your facts when it would be very nice and caring for others to do so …and in this case, I very much feel unhappy and sad for the warm Co Durham welcome I have felt on moving there** (I am currently in Cheshire on a holiday) at 60 ish and Darlington too.
The LNER staff on the Station are great indeed too and with all they have to cope with as it is day in day to get such truly negativity of an extent one can hardly think acceptable and someone might take a legal case of the effect your article could multiplying have .
Just think how your Brighton and for wealthy Brighton contrast the ex mining County of Co Durham too , as if the public there do not have enough being out in the colder northeast corner and as it is get overlooked just the way it is as poor Somerset and other parts can do so. Not in the geographical location hub of things .
Every best Roger , but I don’t quite know what to say except that I feel very sad for dear locals that you found be do negative or even sadly knock on effects unhelpful for the pick up they need and indeed levelling up, or some investment into the area that other parts of the country get. ?!?
David.
Persevere though, and life long learning and doing better us each?
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Platform 5 looks a bit Spartan for the station’s main London/InterCity platform. Can you access it directly from the new entrance?
Mike Jones
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In response to David 09:22…
It’s a blog of Roger’s opinions and observations.
Roger’s photos indicate a lack of footfall in both locations and a £140m spent on Darlington station is mindboggling.
As for Bishop Auckland… Full disclosure, I’m a North East emigree and used to work in the town in the mid 1990s. I’ve spent many an hour in that bus station and it was a bleak and windswept spot. However, the fact is that Bishop Auckland and Shildon have been systematically hollowed out as retail centres as the emphasis has shifted to the large retail development at St Helens Auckland – there simply isn’t the pull into the town itself and hence the lack of passengers in the town (and the decline of bus services locally albeit not helped by Arriva’s closure of Bishop depot).
It’s good to see a replacement for Bishop bus station but the size and scale of the structure is a bit excessive for what is needed.
BW2
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The Tees and Wear river valleys in the nearby Pennines are quite beautiful and the towns and villages there are attractive too. Civil servants moving there might be pleasantly surprised.
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Indeed they are but there’s big disparities. Shildon has some of the cheapest house prices in England
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Bus stations on the edges of town and city centres generally struggle when routes also pass more centrally located stops on way in and out.
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I note on the Darlington rail departure list the presence of the bus service to Catterick Garrison – good. Unfortunately it doesn’t say which side of the station it goes from – bad. Still, a step in the right direction.
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Yarm not Yarn Road, Roger 🙂
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Many thanks; corrected.
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As a previous commentator said the infrastructure must be being built up for a
‘government hub’ whatever that is. I’m sorry to hear that Bishop Auckland shows so few signs of life. I’ve read a number of articles over the last seven years which talk about the amount of investment that has gone into highlighting the ecclesiastical history of the town and it sounds impressive. But public transport needs more than hardware it needs software too in the form of a high quality and integrated network. Fingers Crossed.
MikeC
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It strikes me that the real benefit of the Darlington station scheme is to remove a capacity constraint on the East Coast Main Line.
As well as new platforms, this will have involved remodelling and resignalling the junction to the south of the station, with the result that:
This is not dissimilar to Swindon, where platform 4 was added around 20 years ago, removing a whole load of conflicting moves either side of the station.
Malc M
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Correct, this has all been explained/reported at length in the rail press.
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It is very welcome to see significant amounts of money being invested in public transport, but disappointing to see yet again the opportunity for integration squandered. The provision of a multistorey car park at Darlington Bank Top station was no doubt seen as very necessary given the limited amount of car parking previously available, but what about a fit for purpose bus interchange?
Public transport works most effectively when people can use it for most of their journey, and not rely on having to begin or complete it by car.
Regards, Antony Johnson Hathersage
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The problem with that is the location of Darlington station. It would require each and every service (of which most enter the town centre from the North either from North Road, Coniscliffe Road or Woodland Road) to head through the town centre and then cross the ring road and then up Yarm Road. That’s 5 mins in off peak and more in the peak hours so it soon adds vehicles into the PVR.
Darlington needs a bus interchange but not by the station.
BW2
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Yes, thankyou for your reply. I used to live in Darlington as a child many years ago, so am aware of the constrictions of the location and it’s proximity to busy converging major town centre roads.
It is such a crying shame that the UK generally developed its public transport in competition with each other, with little or no thought given to connection and integration between different modes and operators. This is in sharp contrast to many of our European neighbours that have bus/tram stops/interchanges located slap bang outside the railway stations, mostly without need to cross a major road to get to them.
Darlington in fact used to have a bus interchange on High Row, opposite the marketplace, right in the town centre though not particularly convenient for the rail station. Long gone, I’m afraid to say🫤
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Our paths nearly crossed, Roger! I had five nights in Eaglescliffe starting last Thursday.
I went on the direct train to Shildon (and back) on the Friday and thoroughly enjoyed exploring the two Locomotion halls.
On Saturday I travelled to Newcastle to go on the Ashington line for the first time, changing at Darlington; like York and Newcastle, the original trainshed is quite magnificent and I just enjoyed the ambiance, not knowing anything of the developments you have described, apart from the new platforms. On the way back, my LNER train arrived in Platform 5 and I had a very easy tight connection onto the Saltburn train waiting in Platform 6.
Btw, I was amazed at how busy the Ashington train was in both directions, a two car 158 really not being sufficient. I had time in Ashington to catch a bus to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea.
On Sunday I travelled on the Whitby line for the first time for some fifty years. I alighted at Lealholm and walked back to Danby, only to find the electronic display showing all further trains cancelled! How to get out of a tiny village in the Esk Valley at short notice? – well, fortunately the village pub was open and they put me in touch with a reliable taxi firm in Guisborough who came out and collected me forty minutes later. Phew!
Eaglescliffe Station has been completely rebuilt, according to locals on the platform at a cost of £15 Million – chickenfeed compared to Darlington! It officially opens on Monday – ticket office, waiting rooms, toilets, bridge and three lifts enabling access from both sides onto the single island platform. It’s quite a busy interchange, particularly with people to/from Middlesbrough changing into/out of Grand Central services between Sunderland and Kings X.
On Monday I forsook rail for the day and walked into the charming town of Yarm, situated in a loop of the Tees which forms the boundary between Yorkshire and Co. Durham.
Brian Musgrave
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Regarding declining high street retail. The solution is more town centre residential as in ground floor commercial with upper floors converted to flats. The extra residents will support convenience stores, bars, restaurants within walking distance. This will help support bus services as the extra residents will need travel to and from work, healthcare, education and return etc. This is how cities outside the Anglosphere function.
Peter Brown
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That would be a solution in southern England. However, did you know that Shildon is the cheapest place in England to buy a house. You can get a two bed terrace for £70k…. yes, that cheap, as there’s plenty of supply.
Go for a stroll in Bishop town centre – the decline compared to 30 years ago is utterly palpable. It’s a frankly depressing experience of closed pubs and bars, nail bars and discount stores, and not a huge amount else.
BW2
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I thought the argument for Darlington was a ‘build it and the trains will come’ one – eg it would allow something akin to metro service on the local Tees Valley lines, without that impacting on ECML.
Amused by all the furniture at Darlington – maybe they got the delivery meant for the cavernous and completely empty new Sunderland ticket hall.
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Roger – I agree with your comments about Darlington station, and would question whether there is really an improvement. No doubt much of the money was spent building a car park for 650 cars, but there was not a lot wrong with the old station layout. There was step-free access via a slope from the north, and another slope under the northbound platform from the town centre to the west. Once on the station, with its platforms 1 (through), 2 and 3 (bay platforms) and 4 (through) and 4A (at the far end where a local train could be held), there was a completely flat floor plan for all platforms. No need for lifts or escalators at all. I am rather underwhelmed by the supposed benefits of the two extra platforms.
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Wow that bus station looks good! No complaints from me about that, essential infrastructure can (and should!) be grand and beautiful, and it looks as if it’ll stand the test of time. Shame about the toilets though, they really should be free.
I also wonder whether you’ve misunderestimated the esteem in which Greggs is help up in the NE… they’ll thrive at that location!
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I’ve read about numerous schemes over the past few years to improve capacity and resilience on the ECML, but has capacity increased and resilience improved? I bet about £1 billion has been spent up and down the line, does anyone ever analyse the results?
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FWIW, the ECML with its new timetable, does seem to be better, as long as there are no defective trains or idiots jumping in front of trains, both of which have spoiled my journeys recently!!
As far as the new layout at Darlington is concerned, it’s early days yet … but any removal of conflicting movements must be good.
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Wow, Greenline727, don’t ever apply for a job with the Samaritans will you?! Those ‘idiots’ that jump in front of trains are clearly troubled souls who see no other option but to take their own lives. They leave families and friends to deal with the aftermath, rather putting your ‘spoiled’ journeys inconveniences into perspective.
As an aside, I always thought it morally indefensible that Delay Repay applies if there is a suicide on the railway. Not only is it completely outside the control of the rail company, in some cases travellers may actually financially profit from the death of a fellow human.
Dan Tancock
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@DanT … your point is well made, but my understanding is a lot of the recent incidents around Stevenage have involved young men playing “chicken” with fast trains.
Station staff at Stevenage have become VERY proactive recently at getting passengers to wait behind the yellow line, and stopping trains now approach the platforms more slowly than before.
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Here’s a good example of some positive improvements being made, and yet this bogger chooses to criticise. Bishop Auckland is undergoing something of a tourism transformation, with The Auckland Project attracting new visitors to see the castle, the Spanish Gallery, the Mining Art Gallery, and of course, just down the road, Kynren. All of this breathes new life into this former mining community. However, there has been much criticism locally about all of the investment being for visitors and not the people of Bishop Auckland. The investment in the bus station shows a much-needed, and generally valued commitment to the town, and not just to tourism. As another commenter states, if the bus station isn’t busy it’s likely because there are few buses due. There’s a lot of surmising going on in this blog and it does lend an unbalanced feel to the content. But then again, this is a blog, not a news report, so personal opinion, whether informed or not, is the order of the day.
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No surmising from me. I used to work in the town, and despite moving away, I still get to visit. So my views are very much informed by my experiences over the years.
The problems that affect Bishop are the same as many similar towns – ageing population, loss of higher skilled jobs, hollowing out of town centres, lack of investment. It’s great that some funds are being spent on things like the Spanish Gallery and Auckland Castle but look across the market place – how long have the Queens Head and The Postchaise been closed? Ten years? Newgate Street is a shadow of itself, reflecting the challenges on the high street.
There’s an overall decline in the town and that’s been reflected in the bus service network though that was compounded by Arriva’s ineptitude and the closure of the depot at Cabin Gate. Aside from the main corridors to Darlington, Durham, Crook and West Auckland, the services have declined markedly in line with the town. I’m not certain that Bishop getting a new bus station is the shot in the arm the town needs. Has the creation of a new bus station in Stanley or Peterlee had any demonstrable impact on those towns? I’d suggest not.
BW2
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