| Durham Coast Line | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Overview | |||
| Status | Operational | ||
| Owner | Network Rail | ||
| Locale | |||
| Termini | |||
| Stations | 11 | ||
| Service | |||
| Type | Heavy rail | ||
| System | National Rail | ||
| Operator(s) | |||
| Rolling stock | |||
| History | |||
| Opened | 1833–1905 | ||
| Technical | |||
| Line length | 39.5 miles (63.6 km)[1] | ||
| Number of tracks | 2 | ||
| Track gauge | 4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm) | ||
| Electrification | 1,500VDC(between Pelaw Junction & Sunderland South Junction) | ||
| |||
TheDurham Coast Line is an approximately 39.5-mile (63.6 km) railway line running betweenNewcastle andMiddlesbrough inNorth East England.Heavy rail passenger services, predominantly operatedNorthern Trains, and some freight services operate over the whole length of the line; it provides an important diversionary route at times when theEast Coast Main Line is closed.Light rail services of theTyne and Wear Metro's Green Line also operate over the same tracks between a junction just south of Sunderland station and Pelaw Junction (just east ofPelaw Metro station).
The line developed from several small competing independent railway companies during the first half of the 19th century which ultimately came under the control of theNorth Eastern Railway. It was under their direction that these lines were gradually linked together to eventually create the Durham Coast Line in 1905.[2]
The current route of the Durham Coast Line has its origins in some of the earliest locomotive-operated railways in North East England. The oldest section of the line in use today is that between North Shore Junction and Norton South Junction,[3][4] constructed by theClarence Railway. As with many of the early railways, this line was constructed primarily for the transportation of coal from western and central areas of theDurham Coalfield to theRiver Tees at North Shore (inStockton), andPort Clarence. Despite major financial difficulties, this line was opened to mineral traffic in 1833, but did not carry passengers until July 1835, when a service was introduced betweenCoxhoe and Stockton (Clarence).[3][4]
The opening of the Clarence was closely followed by theHartlepool Dock & Railway, a similar concern, intended to link the collieries surrounding theCity of Durham, to the coast atHartlepool (rather than the River Tees). The HD&R was first authorised by an Act of Parliament obtained on 1 June 1832 to construct a 14-mile railway fromMoorsley (nearHoughton-le-Spring) toHartlepool with several short branches to serve collieries surrounding the line. The company obtained a further Act of 16 June 1834 which permitted construction of an additional branch toGilesgate in theCity of Durham.[5] However competition from other railways[6] meant that the H&DR main line only reached as far asHaswell and most of its branches were either cut short or left unbuilt; the curtailed line opened for mineral traffic on 23 November 1835[4] and passengers four years later.
TheDurham & Sunderland Railway opened to both passenger and mineral traffic betweenSunderland Town Moor, and collieries atHetton-le-Hole andHaswell in 1836,[7] competing directly with the HD&R for coal traffic from the latter.[3] However, it was the D&SR which constructed the first significant north–south section of the Durham Coast Line, that between Ryhope Grange Junction andRyhope.[2] In conjunction with the HD&R, the D&SR thus enabled passengers to travel between Sunderland and Hartlepool for the first time by rail, although passengers had to change stations at Haswell at the time.[5]
Tyne to Tees rail passenger travel then quickly became possible (with three changes of station) following the opening ofBrandling Junction Railway betweenOakwellgate (Gateshead) andWearmouth (Monkwearmouth) on 5 September 1839[8] and theStockton & Hartlepool Railway between the Clarence atBillingham-on-Tees, and anew terminus near West Hartlepool docks on 10 February 1841.[3] The opening of theHigh Level Bridge over theRiver Tyne on 27 September 1849 subsequently extended this route through toNewcastle.[9]
On its opening on 15 May 1852, theLeeds Northern Railway[10] linked directly to the Clarence and, in doing so, provided the route with a link to the south.[3] One year after the LNR reached Stockton, the newly createdWest Hartlepool Harbour & Railway (now owners of the Clarence lines) began to share the LNR station atNorth Stockton.[3]
The last of the independent railways that became part of the modern DCL was theLondonderry, Seaham & Sunderland Railway of 1854, constructed, primarily, to enable coal traffic from the extensive Londonderry Railway colliery railway network to be diverted fromSeaham Harbour (which had become unable to handle the large volumes of coal passing through it) to the recently constructed South Dock atSunderland[7] and thus followed route which parallel the D&SR north ofRyhope. Like the rest of the railways discussed here, the LS&SR later introduced a passenger service on 2 July 1855 betweenSeaham andHendon Burn.[8][7]
The Clarence had struggled financially, almost continuously since its construction began, and so the more successfulStockton & Hartlepool Railway took out a 21-year lease on it in 1844 which became permanent in 1851. The two companies were then formally amalgamated together and with the West Hartlepool Harbour & Dock Company on 17 May 1853, to form theWest Hartlepool Harbour & Railway.[3]
Meanwhile, as part of its expansion,Newcastle & Darlington Junction Railway had taken over the BJR on 1 September 1844,[12] and then purchased the D&SR in 1846.[13] Following its amalgamation with theGreat North of England Railway, the Newcastle & Darlington Junction Railway became theYork & Newcastle Railway, and took out a lease on the HD&R[5] before both became part of theYork, Newcastle & Berwick Railway under an Act of 22 July 1848. Finally, in 1854, the YN&BR, LNR, andYork & North Midland Railway were amalgamated to form theNorth Eastern Railway which eventually absorbed the WHH&R in 1865.[3] Thus, from 1865, one company was in control of the whole through route between Middlesbrough, Hartlepool, Sunderland and Newcastle, although the lines remained largely unconnected.
Thus a series of improvements were initiated by the NER to better integrate is fragmented network. For the DCL, one of the first of these saw the construction of a new curve to link the ex-LNR Stockton branch to the former network ofStockton & Darlington Railway (absorbed by the NER in 1863), which linkingMiddlesbrough to lines towards Stockton and Hartlepool.[3] Combined with the 1873 realignment of the south to east curve at Norton Junction, which eased the severity of its curvature,[3] this massively improved the connections between Hartlepool and the rest of the Teesside region.
The rope-worked 1 in 34 incline atHesleden Bank was realigned in 1874 to reduce the gradient to that of 1 in 52 and thus enable locomotive working over the entire Hartlepool-Sunderland route.[5]
In 1877, the NER constructed a new chord between the ex-HD&R and ex-D&SR lines at Haswell and replaced the previously separate terminus stations with a new through station.[14] In the same year, at Hartlepool, they also constructed a direct link between the ex-HD&R and former Stockton & Hartlepool Railway lines which skirts around the western edge of the docks and replaced a more circuitous link through them.[3] Both the ex-Stockton & Hartlepool Railway and ex-HD&R termini were replaced by new stations atWest Hartlepool (in 1880)[3] andHartlepool (in 1878),[14] respectively.
However, of these links constructed by the NER, arguably the most significant was the Monkwearmouth Junction Line of 1879[15] which linked the ex-D&SR lines at Ryhope Grange Junction to the ex-BJR lines atMonkwearmouth.[7][2] This involved the construction of theMonkwearmouth Railway Bridge over theRiver Wear, a new station atSunderland Central, and tunnels on either side of the station.[7] Following the opening of Sunderland Central station, NER and LS&SR services were diverted away from the earlier termini and focussed in one location for the first time.[7]
Following the completion of the improvements of the 1870s, the Durham Coast Line could be operated as a through route but, having not been constructed for such a purpose, doing so it remained challenging. One major issue was that any services running betweenHartlepool andSunderland still had to ascend or descend both the 1:44 incline atSeaton Bank, and the aforementioned incline atHesleden Bank.[3] To alleviate this, the NER developed plans to construct a new, more direct, line along the coast. Construction of this new line betweenSeaham Colliery on the LS&SR, and Hart Junction on the ex-HD&R route was sanctioned in 1894–95.[3] However its construction was contingent on the NER purchasing the Londonderry Railway's Seaham to Sunderland route and this was not agreed until 1900 when the NER agreed to pay £387,000 for it.[16]
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This new coastal line had to cross thedenes atHawthorn,Castle Eden andCrimdon, each requiring a substantial viaduct; one of the most imposing of these, Horden Viaduct (spanning Castle Eden Dene), is 141 feet (43 m) from ground to rail level, and consists of 10 arches, each with a span of 60 feet (18 m).[17] The construction of these viaducts required the opening of a special brickfield and, in the case of Horden Viaduct, the creation of a temporary 800 feet (240 m) cableway spanning valley.[17]
The line opened on 1 April 1905, with new stations constructed atBlackhall Rocks,Horden andEasington,[18] to serve the new villages that had been created to house workers from the new coastal collieries which came into existence thanks to the provision of the railway.
The NER became part of theLondon and North Eastern Railway, as part of the1923 grouping.[3] Despite them having already begun to experience a decline in traffic due to competition from road transport, the LNER did provide some improvements to the line. One notable improvement implemented by the LNER was theelectrification of today's DCL between Newcastle and Pelaw Junction, using the 600VDCthird rail system, as part of an extension of theTyneside Electrics system toSouth Shields, inaugurated on 14 March 1938.[19] The other notable improvement during this period was the opening of additional stations atBlackhall Colliery on the NER-built Seaham to Hart line in 1936,[17] and atSeaburn on the former Brandling Junction Railway in 1937.[7]
On 1 January 1948, theLondon & North Eastern Railway became part of the nationalisedBritish Railways, and, along with other lines in the North East, the Durham Coast Line originally became part of itsNorth Eastern Region.[20] The North Eastern Region would, itself, later be merged into the BR'sEastern Region on 2 January 1967.[20]
By the 1950s, passenger and goods traffic across the country was in decline due to completion from road transport, and as a consequence, most of the earlier east–west lines from which the DCL had developed began to lose passenger services.[3] These closures included the inland West Hartlepool to Sunderland route through Haswell (the main line between the two towns until 1905), which lost its passenger service on 9 June 1952.[4]
However the DCL itself was not seriously affected by the closures, until it began to lose stations from 1960 onwards. Even theBeeching Report only recommended the closure of the remaining three intermediate stations between West Hartlepool andSeaham.[21] This occurred on 4 May 1964, when stopping passenger services along this section of the line were withdrawn.[21] Elsewhere, the Newcastle—Pelaw—South Shields route was de-electrified in January 1963[22] and, later, stopping passenger services on this route, and the wider DCL north of Sunderland, were downgraded toPaytrain services, resulting in most intermediate stations becoming unmanned from 5 October 1969.[20]
Despite this apparent degradation of passenger services, British Rail did implement some improvements during this period, including the replacement of the original station atBillingham with a newer one, closer to the modern town centre on 7 November 1966.[23]
Freight traffic on the line continued to thrive, whilst the collieries along the line (and a few short sections of the older east–west lines which had been retained as branches for mineral traffic) were still in operation. Owing to the relatively recent development of the coastal collieries, many of them survived until the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Nonetheless, the decline of theBritish coal industry meant that this traffic, too, was steadily lost, commencing with the cessation of mining operations atBlackhall Colliery, on 16 April 1981[24] and culminating with that atWearmouth Colliery, on 24 November 1993.[25]
In the early 1980sGreatham station saw its services reduced before full closure on 24 November 1991.[26]
The former British Rail stations on the Durham Coast Line atFelling andPelaw were closed on 5 November 1979, in order to enable their conversion for use by the Tyne and Wear Metro.[27] They were replaced by a new station atHeworth, opened on the same day.[27] To give Metro trains dedicated infrastructure British Rail passenger trains services were subsequently diverted onto the previously freight-only relief lines which paralleled the passenger lines between Gateshead and Pelaw Junction.[27] The Metro line betweenHaymarket and Heworth opened in November 1981, and as a result, theBritish Rail station atGateshead was closed just one week later.[28]
In 1996,HM Rail Inspectorate approved plans to extend the Metro betweenPelaw, Sunderland andSouth Hylton, along tracks shared with heavy rail DCL services, subject to funding being raised.[29] A grant of £15 million was awarded by theEuropean Regional Development Fund, but this was subject to the Tyne and Wear Passenger Transport Executive (Nexus) being able to obtain £35 million of central government funding.[29] Such funding was awarded in 1999 and, along with £8 million provided by Nexus and a further £40 million invested byRailtrack, enabled construction work to commence in June 2000.[29] As part of this project, three new purpose-builtMetro stations were constructed along the Durham Coast Line atFellgate,Stadium of Light andSt Peter's, the latter of which was constructed close to the site of the long-closed Monkwearmouth station. Existing rail stations atBrockley Whins,East Boldon and Seaburn were converted for Metro services.[29]
The project also involved the electrification of the Durham Coast Line between Pelaw Junction and Sunderland South Junction, and an upgrade to signalling on that section of the line.[29] The non-standard electrification system used by theMetro makes this section of the DCL the onlyNetwork Rail line to still use the 1,500V DC overhead line system.[29]
Metro services were extended to South Hylton from 31 March 2002[30] before the extension was officially opened by QueenElizabeth II on 7 May, as part of herGolden Jubilee celebrations.[31]
Under the supervision of Phase 1 theTees Valley Rail Strategy, the DCL saw service provision become hourly betweenNewcastle andHartlepool from 2000. The ultimate goal of a half-hourly service and new stations (Phase 2) was put on hold when theStrategic Rail Authority came into being and funding disappeared.
After many years of development work undertaken byDurham County Council, £10.5 million of funding was agreed in July 2017 to open a new station atHorden,[32] approximately 200 yards (180 m) north of the site earlier[33] (1905–1964) station.[21] This included £4.4 million from the second round of theDepartment for Transport'sNew Stations Fund and additional contributions fromDurham County Council and theNorth East Combined Authority.[34] After some delay,[35] the newHorden station opened on 29 June 2020.[5][14]
As of the December 2019 change,Northern Trains run an hourly service along the Durham Coast Line betweenNewcastle andMiddlesbrough. Most trains run through fromHexham (with some fromCarlisle), and continue through toNunthorpe (some run as far asWhitby).[36][37]
Predominantly, rolling stock on the Durham Coast Line consists of Northern Trains'Class 156 andClass 158diesel multiple units. These fleets were both introduced in the late 1980s but are currently being fitted with free Wi-Fi, power sockets, on-board passenger information displays, and an interior refresh as part of Northern's ongoing refurbishment programme.[38][39] Prior to their withdrawal in late 2019, NorthernClass 142Pacer DMUs had also operated on this route.[40]
Between Pelaw Junction andSunderland, the line is shared with theTyne and Wear Metro, withClass 599Metrocars providing up to five local trains per hour, on theSouth Hylton toAirport Green Line.[41]
Other rolling stock includesGrand Central'sClass 180diesel multiple units, which provide five daily services betweenSunderland andLondon King's Cross,[42] andLNER'sClass 800Azuma used on the once-daily service to and fromSunderland andLondon King's Cross, previously introduced byVirgin Trains East Coast in December 2015.[43]
Until 2004,First TransPennine Express operated services along the northern section of the Durham Coast Line, usingClass 158diesel multiple units, as part of their service fromSunderland toLiverpool Lime Street.
Despite the decline in the heavy industry in theNorth East of England, the Durham Coast Line still retains a regular freight service over the line. Steel coil is railed into theTata Steel plant atHartlepool, and pipes are then taken out toLeith, and theFar North ofScotland for theNorth Sea gas and oil industry. Spent nuclear rods are also railed out for re-processing atSellafield fromHartlepool Nuclear Power Station. Cement is delivered toSeaham Docks, and scrap metal is forwarded fromStockton on Tees toCelsaEAF works inCardiff.Tyne Dock has a trailing connection to the Durham Coast Line in both directions, near to theMetro station atBrockley Whins.[44]
The docks atSunderland were recently reconnected byNetwork Rail, in the anticipation of a return to rail traffic. A fortnightly service has operated since March 2021 transporting scrap metal toCardiff Tidal Complex.[45]
Despite the wide range of large industrial complexes atSeal Sands, very few of these organisations use rail as a method of transport.
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| Defunct |
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| Heritage | |||||||