Durham railway station

The city of Durham has been served by four stations, only one of which survives today:

• Shincliffe (called Shincliffe Town from 1861): located in nearby Shincliffe, this station was built in 1839 and was served by the Durham and Sunderland Railway, using rope haulage until 1856. It closed when Elvet station opened in the city centre. A second station, Shincliffe, on the Leamside to Ferryhill line, was opened in 1844. That closed to passengers in 1941.
• Durham (Gilesgate): opened in 1844, and within the city boundaries, it was served by a branch from Belmont on the Leamside Line, then the main line from London to Newcastle. Passenger services finished in 1857 with the opening of the current station on the branch from Leamside to Bishop Auckland but it continued in use as a goods shed until final closure in 1966. Today it has been redeveloped as a Travelodge hotel, while the serving track was used in the realignment of the A690 Gilesgate bypass road.
• Durham: In 1857, a station on the current location and viaducts over North Road and the River Browney immediately to the south were built by the North Eastern Railway, on their Leamside to Bishop Auckland line to Bishop Auckland. The station was redeveloped in 1871, when the North Eastern Railway developed a new line from Tursdale through Relly Mill Junction to Durham, and onwards from Newton Hall Junction through Chester-le-Street to Newcastle Central via the Team Valley.[1] This became the main line, the current East Coast Main Line on 15 January 1872.[2]
• Durham (Elvet): in 1893, the Durham-Sunderland branch was diverted from Shincliffe Town to a new station at Elvet, within the city boundary. It closed to regular passenger services in 1931 and fully closed in 1953.

On grouping in 1923, the stations came under the control of the London and North Eastern Railway. Passenger services to Bishop Auckland and Sunderland via Penshaw were withdrawn by British Railways under the Beeching cuts, on 4 May 1964.

The East Coast Main Line through Durham was electrified in 1991.

Today, the station is owned by Network Rail and managed by London North Eastern Railway. It was refurbished between 2006 and 2008 by the operator Great North Eastern Railway and later National Express East Coast, which included a new passenger lounge, toilets, travel centre, glazed waiting area, lifts and shops. The entrance and ticket hall were moved from the "temporary" 1960s building into the original stone building following renovation and repairs. The works were completed in early 2008 and the newly renovated station won "Best Medium Station" and "Overall Station of the Year" at the 2008 National Rail Awards.[10] Ticket barriers were installed in 2009.

After winning the intercity east coast rail franchise, former operator Virgin Trains East Coast opened an information office on platform 2, added new bench and perch seating and installed Wi-Fi. In 2017, all ticket barriers were removed as part of Virgin Trains East Coast's franchise commitment.

A Brompton Bicycle hire scheme is planned to open in 2018 - however since the demise of Virgin Trains East Coast the management of the station has since passed on to London North Eastern Railway.

Durham County Council, working with the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, have completed a project to improve cycle routes and pedestrian access to the station from the north of the city. This involved the construction of a new cycle path as well as upgrades to road crossings on Framwellgate peth.

In order to accommodate the new London North Eastern Railway Class 800 and 801 Azuma trains due to enter service in late 2018/early 2019, platform 1 has been extended north to a total length of 230 metres.[11]

Train services are provided by four companies: London North Eastern Railway (LNER), CrossCountry, TransPennine Express and Northern Trains.[12]

LNER serves Durham with one train per hour each way, southbound to London King's Cross via York, Doncaster and Peterborough, and northbound to Edinburgh Waverley via Newcastle. Some northbound services are extended beyond Edinburgh, with one service per day to both Aberdeen (via Dundee) and Glasgow Central, as well as one daily train to Sunderland (via Newcastle) instead of Edinburgh. There is also one southbound train per day to Leeds (via York) instead of London.

CrossCountry operates services on the Cross Country Route. Northbound, the company runs two trains per hour to Newcastle, of which one continues through to Edinburgh Waverley and one train every two hours is extended even further, to Glasgow Central. There are also two daily services that continue beyond Edinburgh to Dundee, of which one is further extended to Aberdeen. Southbound, there are two trains per hour to Birmingham New Street via York, Leeds/Doncaster,[lower-alpha 1] Sheffield and Derby; of these, one train per hour continues to Plymouth via Bristol Temple Meads and Exeter St Davids, and one continues to Reading via Oxford, with two-hourly further extensions to Southampton Central. A few trains per day continue beyond Plymouth to Penzance, or beyond Reading to Guildford.

TransPennine Express serves the station with two trains an hour each way. In the northbound direction, trains run to Newcastle and one train per hour is extended to Edinburgh Waverley. Southbound, trains generally run to Manchester Victoria via York, Leeds and Huddersfield; of the two hourly services, one continues to Manchester Airport (via Manchester Piccadilly) and one runs further to Liverpool Lime Street.

Northern Trains' services at Durham are less frequent, with just three morning trains every weekday north to Newcastle (of which two run through to Carlisle via Hexham) and one evening train per day south to Darlington.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Durham railway station.

• Train times and station information for Durham railway station from National Rail

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Darlington		CrossCountry Cross Country Route		Newcastle Central
Darlington		TransPennine Express North TransPennine		Chester-le-Street
Darlington		Northern Tees Valley Line		Chester-le-Street
Darlington		London North Eastern Railway London-Newcastle/Edinburgh		Newcastle Central
	Historical railways
Croxdale Line open, station closed		London and North Eastern Railway East Coast Main Line		Plawsworth Line open, station closed
Croxdale Line open, station closed		London and North Eastern Railway Leamside Line		Leamside Line and station closed
Brandon Colliery Line and station closed		London and North Eastern Railway Durham to Bishop Auckland Line		Terminus
Ushaw Moor Line and station closed		London and North Eastern Railway Deerness Valley Railway		Terminus
Aldin Grange for Bearpark Line and station closed		London and North Eastern Railway Lanchester Valley Railway		Terminus