Tees Valley Line
ANorthern RailClass 158 arriving intoRedcar Central Railway Station Platform One.
Overview
Status	Operational
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	County Durham North Yorkshire Tees Valley
Termini	Bishop Auckland Saltburn
Stations	18
Service
Type	Heavy rail
System	National Rail
Operator(s)	Northern Trains TransPennine Express London North Eastern Railway
Rolling stock	Class 156 Class 158 Class 185 Class 800
History
Opened	27 September 1825
Technical
Track length	38 miles (61 km)[1]
Track gauge	4 ft 8+1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)standard gauge
Operating speed	60 mph (97 km/h)
Route map (Click to expand)

TheTees Valley Line is a railway route inNorthern England, following part of the originalStockton and Darlington Railway route of 1825.^[2] The line covers a distance of 38 miles (61 km), and connectsBishop Auckland withSaltburn viaDarlington,Middlesbrough and 14 other stations in theTeesdale.

The section of line betweenDarlington andBishop Auckland is branded as theBishop Line and is supported by the Bishop Line Community Rail Partnership.^[3] The section of the route betweenDarlington andSaltburn is supported by the Tees Valley Line Rail User Group.^[4] Beyond the line's western terminus at Bishop Auckland, the tracks continue for around 16 miles (26 km) toStanhope along what is now theWeardaleHeritage Railway.^[5]

The section of line betweenBishop Auckland and Albert Hill Junction,Darlington (prior to joining theEast Coast Main Line), as well as the section between Oak Tree Junction,Dinsdale (nearMiddleton St. George) andEaglescliffe, follow the original route of theStockton & Darlington Railway, which dates back to 1825.^[2] The 1825 S&DR route is rejoined north of Eaglescliffe and runs as far as Bowesfield Junction, Stockton.

The S&DR line from Bowesfield to Watson's Wharf on the Tees near Middlesbrough opened in 1830, and this was extended to Redcar in 1846. The extension to Saltburn opened in 1861 and the line towards Brotton and Loftus opened in 1872. The line beyond Loftus (now thefreight-only line toBoulby Mine) was part of theWhitby, Redcar & Middlesbrough Union Railway, opened in 1883; it closed on 5 May 1958.^[6]

In March 2015, a 0.62 miles (1 km) electrified siding was laid adjacent to the Tees Valley Line, just south ofHeighington. This allows low-speed testing of the trains manufactured at the nearbyHitachi Rail plant atNewton Aycliffe, includingTOPS classes800,801,805,807,810 and385.^[7][8]

Services on the Tees Valley Line are operated by threetrain operating companies:

• Northern Trains, with a half hourly service from Saltburn to Darlington, of which one train every hour extends to Bishop Auckland. Additional services operate along the Tees Valley Line during the morning peak, with some journeys between Saltburn andNewcastle running along theEast Coast Main Line, rather than theDurham Coast Line. One of these early morning services extends from Newcastle toCarlise via the Tyne Valley Line.^[9]
• TransPennine Express also operates along part of the Tees Valley Line, with hourly services fromRedcar Central toYork (via Middlesbrough, Thornaby, Eaglescliffe, Yarm),Leeds andManchester Airport.^[10] Eaglescliffe was added as a call for the first time during the December 2024 timetable change. Three trains a day extend to/from Redcar Central to Saltburn.
• London North Eastern Railway operates a weekday return service from Middlesbrough toLondon King's Cross.^[11]

Predominantly, rolling stock on the Tees Valley Line consists of:

• Northern Trains operatesClass 156 andClass 158diesel multiple units (DMUs)
• TransPennine Express usesClass 185 DMUs
• London North Eastern Railway operatesClass 800bi-mode multiple units

Between 2019 and 2021, Class 156 and 158 units operating on the Tees Valley Line were refurbished, introducing free WiFi, power sockets, on-board passenger information displays and an interior refresh.^[12][13][14]

Class 185 units were refurbished as part of a £32 million investment, with the work being completed in 2018.^[15]

Class 142Pacer DMUs formerly served the line on Northern services, until the early 2020s when they were withdrawn from passenger service.^[16]

v t e Tees Valley line
Legend
Weardale Railway Durham–Bishop Auckland Line Bishop Auckland South Durham & Lancashire Union Railway Clarence Railway toFerryhill Stockton & Darlington Railway to Brussleton Lane Shildon Tunnel Shildon Locomotion Museum Shildon Sidings Newton Aycliffe Clarence Railway toStillington Heighington Hitachi Newton Aycliffe  A1(M)  Darlington & Barnard Castle Railway North Road Skerne Bridge overRiver Skerne East Coast Main Line toNewcastle Darlington (Bank Top) East Coast Main Line toYork Fighting Cocks Dinsdale Teesside Airport Allens West Yarm Depot Northallerton–Eaglescliffe line Eaglescliffe Castle Eden Railway toWellfield Durham Coast Line toHartlepool Stockton Surtees Rail Bridge overRiver Tees Thornaby Tees Marshalling Yard  A19 Tees Newport Bridge Newport Tees Riverside Intermodal Terminal Middlesbrough Esk Valley Line Cargo Fleet Cleveland Port Normanby Wharf Cleveland Railway Eston (2nd) South Bank Eston (1st) Eston mines branch Grangetown Teesside Steelworks (Lackenby) Lackenby Teesport Lazenby intoWilton International Redcar Bulk Terminal Warrenby Halt Redcar British Steel Teesside Steelworks (Redcar) Redcar (1st) Redcar Central Redcar East Longbeck Marske Saltburn West Junction Boulby line Saltburn

The route serves the following stations:

In 2019, the Tees Valley Line was home to two of the country's least-used railway stations.

In 2017-18, Redcar British Steel was the least-used station in Great Britain, with an estimated 40 passenger journeys made.

Prior to service suspension in December 2019, it was served by two trains during the morning peak and two during the evening peak.

In 2012–13 and 2013–14, Teesside Airport was the least-used station in the country, with just eight passenger journeys made in both periods.

It is currently served by a once-weeklyparliamentary service; a Sunday service, commencing atHartlepool, calls here before continuing through to Darlington.

In 2020/21, due to decreased travel throughout theCOVID-19 pandemic, the station saw only two passenger journeys made. While remaining officially open, the station has seen its service suspended since May 2022, with the one operational platform condemned as unsafe. As a result, there were only 2 passengers in the year beginning April 2022.

Wikimedia Commons has media related toTees Valley Line.

• GenMaps - Maps of Durham, Yorkshire 1885
• NPEMaps - Maps of area circa 1950
• Network Rail maps of Route 9 - North East Routes
• North Eastern Railway Tour 2000
• Communigate - Grangetown streets and buildings
• The Bishop Line
• Tees Valley Line Rail User Group

• Railway lines in North East England
• Rail transport in County Durham
• Rail transport in North Yorkshire
• Transport in Middlesbrough
• Community railway lines in England

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use British English from August 2018
• Use dmy dates from August 2018
• Lists of coordinates
• Geographic coordinate lists
• Articles with Geo
• Pages using gadget WikiMiniAtlas
• Commons category link is on Wikidata