£1.5 million approved to try to boost capacity at Hartlepool railway station

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen signed off the money for work to hopefully allow more services to run from the station.

Hartlepool Station is the third most well-used station in the Tees Valley area behind only Middlesbrough and Darlington with more than 630,000 passengers using it in 2018-19.

It is used by Northern trains between Middlesbrough and Newcastle and Grand Central’s popular Sunderland to London Kings Cross service.

But studies carried out by Network Rail have identified it as a constraint on the future aims to run additional rail services between Middlesbrough, Darlington and other major destinations across the North East.

In November, Hartlepool Councillor Marjorie James said passengers were treated ‘like cattle’ during debate on a motion to call on the government for improvements.

The £1.5 million will allow development work to be carried out with the next phase being to create an outline business case that would consider available options to address the station’s constraints.

The funding was approved by Mayor Houchen and local authority leaders on Friday, January 31, as part of a £40 million investment to improve transport across Teesside, Darlington and Hartlepool.

Mayor Houchen said: “This project will make a direct and clear impact on peoples’ lives.

“By addressing the issue of capacity at Hartlepool, we don’t just make it easier and better for people using that station, it will help us secure additional services through Middlesbrough and Darlington, and then on to all the other major locations across the North East.

Leader of Hartlepool Council Councillor Shane Moore added: “People are often surprised to learn that Hartlepool is the busiest single platform station in the country and really needs investment to increase the capacity to allow services to grow.

“That’s why I am delighted that we have been able to bring this investment forward.”

Other projects include redevelopment of the railway station at Teesside International Airport and a new pedestrian and cyclist bridge to connect Wynyard Park and Wynyard Village, plus other improvement work at the A19/A689 junction.