End Of TEESSIDE AIRPORT Railway Station

[Paul Duck]

Bad news!
From timetable change in May. It looks as though Teesside Airport no longer has any trains calling there. The 2 Sunday trains are not in journey planner of TOPS.

On a serious note I thought this kind of thing had to be put past goverment has it is a parlimentary service? Also Eaglescliffe station loses 4 trains on a Sunday from May as the Darlington - Metrocentre trains stop running. Not good publicity.
I presume this is to make way for the new hourly Sunday Durham Coast service from Middlesbrough - Metrocentre.

Thought I also seen in the new Northern ITT that one direct service a week had to be provided from Eaglescliffe to Stockton?

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

That is bad.

 

[ainsworth74]

Couldn't care less about Teesside Airport losing its service as it's pointless to call there at all at present. I'm disappointed that Eaglescliffe is losing some services however as that station has really taken off over the last few years since it started having all Darlington - Middlesbrough services calling as well as Grand Central to London.

 

[Tetchytyke]

There's been no formal closure consultations on Gov.UK, so either they've not loaded the trains in or they are intending to replace the calls at Teesside Airport with a taxi or RRB. I'd be surprised at that though, as I'd imagine a taxi would cost more than stopping the train.

I didn't think that OA operators could be treated as keeping a passenger line in use, so they'll have to do a formal closure notice (or taxi/RRB) for Norton South-Norton East junctions won't they?

 

[Greenback]

I think you're right. My guess it's simply a glitch or an oversight. That seems more likely than a taxi replacing.

I agree with ainsworth74, the current service is pointless.

 

[DarloRich]

Couldn't care less about Teesside Airport losing its service as it's pointless to call there at all at present. I'm disappointed that Eaglescliffe is losing some services however as that station has really taken off over the last few years since it started having all Darlington - Middlesbrough services calling as well as Grand Central to London.

I think you're right. My guess it's simply a glitch or an oversight. That seems more likely than a taxi replacing.

I agree with ainsworth74, the current service is pointless.

Indeed - BUT a formal process to remove the service from the station must be instigated. This does not appear to have happened. I will assume, at this stage, it is an error, oversight or a decision about which trains will stop is pending.

If a formal process is not undertaken it sets a very poor example, creates a precedent and potentially allows the withdrawal of service without appropriate consultation anywhere!

 

[Greenback]

Absolutely. Although the service is pointless, it has to stay unless the correct procedures are used to close the station, or unless a taxi or bus is provided instead.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Has anyone on here (preferably a local person to the area) yet asked the relevant question to those charged with the service operation for this railway station?

 

[DarloRich]

Has anyone on here (preferably a local person to the area) yet asked the relevant question to those charged with the service operation for this railway station?

I will twitter various bodies when i return home this evening

 

[Ploughman]

Does it need Parliamentary authority if a Station closes and not the actual train service?
Will the trains still run past the site?

 

[Paul Duck]

Totally agree its a pointless service. A special stop order had to be issued on Sunday because the stopping train from Darlington didn't stop and someone was waiting for the train! .
Only spotted it this afternoon when researching the timetable changes in May.
Hope your all right and it is a glitch.

I will have to remove my poster advertising Sundays metro centre service soon if its defiantly been culled.

 

[steamybrian]

Does it need Parliamentary authority if a Station closes and not the actual train service?
Will the trains still run past the site?

YES- It needs Parliamentary authority to close a station even if trains will continuing passing through it.

 

[Paul Duck]

Looked again at ITT for northern and it states in the minimum calling stops for stations that a service has to be provided once a week between eag and Stockton and also one service a week from Darlington to Eaglescliffe which must call at Teesside Airport.
This is from the start of the new franchise, but does seem unusual if its not an oversight from Northern that these services will have to be reinstated again in 2 years time.
Maybe a PR case for next framchishee: "reintroduction of services from Teesside Airport. Haha.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Yes at the weekend a spotter from Liverpool was on the outbound from Darlington and it did not stop at the airport station. Amazingly a complaint via twitter saw the next westbound stopped there.

I wonder if now they will put the trips too far apart to make them of practical use to enthusiasts. Afterall given the hour long gap between the two stoppers at present it seems perfectly convenient. Make the inbound later in the afternoon and it will become rather a chore to use.

 

[Hophead]

Have you checked every day of the week? There's no more need to call on a Sunday than a Thursday (for example), so it could simply have shifted (as the Stalybridge - Stockport does from time to time).

 

[causton]

Checked a couple of weekdays and nothing I can see on OTT or RTT. Tweeted Northern and they just say the timetables are in the planning stage, so either someone's forgotten to put the stops in, there's extra services to add, or they've not been told anything and it is being cancelled!

 

[berneyarms]

People need to view all of the timetables beyond May 18th as still being draft and possibly incomplete.

Until the final printed timetables are issued (usually about six weeks in advance) there will still be changes happening.

 

[Kite159]

Northern should claim the station is unsafe and stop calling there

Taking a leaf out of the Southern book (Newhaven Marine)

 

[edwin_m]

YES- It needs Parliamentary authority to close a station even if trains will continuing passing through it.

Not Parliamentary - it appears the ORR now does this. See the link for various closure documents including the letter with a big red seal that gives permission!

http://orr.gov.uk/what-and-how-we-regulate/station-and-depot-access/station-and-depot-closures

 

[Jonny]

Northern should claim the station is unsafe and stop calling there

Taking a leaf out of the Southern book (Newhaven Marine)

Which is rather awkward since trains will be passing through without stopping but with paying passengers on board.

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Well the location could hardly be called safe, feels like a wasteland, although it probably is by virtue of the difficulty of actually accessing the site and the fact that no trains call in an evening.


Access to Teesside Airport station by Tim R-T-C, on Flickr


The bus no longer calls here by Tim R-T-C, on Flickr

 

[ainsworth74]

I would just like to point out that I fully agree that if this is a removal of the services rather than an error then the proper process must be followed. The service to this station is currently pointless but there are other stations which it might be convenient to close which are most definitely not pointless. The precedent set would be very bad.

In other news I must make my way to Darlington in the next few weeks to catch the service just in case!

 

[Frothy]

Curiously, not only have the Tees-side Airport stops disappeared, but so have the trains that make the stops, which are the only Northern trains to run between Stockton and Eaglescliffe. I suspect that when these trains eventually appear in the timetable (perhaps they haven't figured out when they want to run them yet), one stop at Tees-side Airport in each direction will appear too.

 

[Crossover]

Yes at the weekend a spotter from Liverpool was on the outbound from Darlington and it did not stop at the airport station. Amazingly a complaint via twitter saw the next westbound stopped there.

I wonder if now they will put the trips too far apart to make them of practical use to enthusiasts. Afterall given the hour long gap between the two stoppers at present it seems perfectly convenient. Make the inbound later in the afternoon and it will become rather a chore to use.

Me and another forum member did it last summer and walked from the Airport to Dinsdale rather than hanging about. Bumper day was that since as the two of us alighted, 4 others joined, including a couple of other RUK members...one may have thought it was planned but neither party had any idea of the other until the train rolled into (thankfully not through!) the station

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Same thing happened to me, meeting the blogger behind http://stationmaster.me.uk/ by pure co-incidence.

When I did it, there were some diversions on due to work on the Eaglescliffe to Thirsk cut-off, so we got some extra trains at the station, so I stayed around and got a few nice shots. The GC HSTs were running through during the day, but sadly not while we were there.

 

[Gathursty]

Whilst, I want to see it rebuilt in a better position along the line, I hope it is not the end for Teesside Airport station. I remember the mini-roundabout in front of the station and contemplating the size of the bus that could manage to go around it.

 

[ainsworth74]

Whilst, I want to see it rebuilt in a better position along the line, I hope it is not the end for Teesside Airport station.

There is no better position on the line. If you want to move it closer to the terminal building you need to rebuild the line either moving it closer to the terminal or constructing a branch off the line closer to the terminal.

 

[Gathursty]

There is no better position on the line. If you want to move it closer to the terminal building you need to rebuild the line either moving it closer to the terminal or constructing a branch off the line closer to the terminal.

What about under the bridge which connects the A67 to the Airport? Put a bus shelter either side of the bridge just as at Dinsdale to save the long-winded journey to the dead-end I mentioned before. It still will never be as better situated as Gatwick Airport station is to the terminal but I think being under the bridge will be better AND the A67 would be quite accessible if the station had entrances on the bridge unlike now where you'd think there would be a connection from the northern platform to the A67 with a bus lay-by already.

 

[thenorthern]

Considering the airport itself is almost dead I always wondered if the airport had closed would the station be still serving something that isn't there?

On a serious note though agree with the other posters its completely the station should have closed a long time ago. The only thing I could ever see it being useful for is if it was turned into an East Midlands Parkway style station for Teesside however still think that wouldn't work.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Have the local newspapers made any comment upon the matter in question. If not, they might take the story up from a "local-interest" angle.

Again, forum members local to the area might like to contact them about this matter.