Hope of ‘Darlington-Dales’ plan progress by year end
Through Weardale services, a light-rail link to Crook and a new suburban station for Darlington are all included in proposals to the DfT.
A DEPARTMENT for Transport response to the proposed restoration of rail services in Weardale is hoped for by the end of the year.
Regular daily services linking Dales communities with the wider region were lost in 1953, but the ambitious plan could see connections reinstated and trains running at hourly intervals.
Spearheaded by local regeneration charity The Auckland Project, which took over the Weardale Railway in March 2020, a strategic outline business case was submitted to the DfT in September as part of the Restoring Your Railway (RYR) programme.
Bishop Auckland is the terminus for Northern trains on the ‘Bishop Line’ and the boundary of the national rail network, but under the proposals, services would continue onto the heritage route, providing a direct link for local centres of population including Wolsingham and Stanhope.
“The plan is to bring back a railway that was once key to the area,” Shaun Harrison, project manager for The Auckland Project, explained to The RM. “We are trying to bring passenger services back up into the dale so people have access from all around the country using our line to travel, connecting at Darlington, all the way up into Weardale – and also we have the opportunity for the people up in the Dales to be reconnected with centres such as Bishop Auckland and Darlington for education, employment, and shopping, so really it’s a two-way opportunity as we see it.”
Further extensions
Also considered is the possibility of trains proceeding beyond Stanhope (16 miles by rail from Bishop Auckland and the Weardale Railway’s western operational limit) to Eastgate, two miles further west. The nowdemolished Lafarge cement works at Eastgate secured the line’s survival until 1993. Still connected by rail, the site has been advocated for a number of years as a location for a renewable energy village, and leisure and visitor attractions.
“Really something big and popular at the end of the line is going to have a lot of potential demand,” said Mr Harrison, adding that a facility for extracting lithium could also be established at Eastgate, generating freight traffic.
The RYR bid also examines the reinstatement further east along the Weardale Railway of about 2.5 miles of track from the former Wear Valley Junction via Howden-le-Wear to the market town of Crook. Closed and lifted in the 1960s, roads take up most of the former alignment through the town, but a light-rail link and station are believed to be viable.
“It would be a little earlier along the line than where the old station used to be, but still only something like 200 metres from the Market Square. Where the platform was at Howdenle-Wear in the past, there is an opportunity to re-establish that in the same location,” Mr Harrison added.
Wider potential
Produced in partnership with Durham County Council and supported by Darlington Borough Council, the bid is backed by four local MPs and Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen.
The wider plan would also include a cycling and walking route covering the length of the line and a new station to serve Burtree Garden Village, a development of about 2000 homes planned for the northern outskirts of Darlington on land between the railway line and the A1. There is potential to showcase the area’s railway history to a wider audience
(with Darlington’s Head of Steam museum and new ‘Railway Quarter’, Locomotion at Shildon, and the Weardale Railway all accessible using the route) and despite the challenges involved, Mr Harrison said studies to date have indicated that it will be viable to retain regular paths for Weardale Railway heritage trains.
“One of the things that has been put forward is the improvements to be able to increase the speed up to circa 50mph,” he commented. “The dream is to have Stanhope all the way down to Darlington in an hour or less.
“Our consultant, Mott MacDonald, has done a lot of modelling on different scenarios and it’s definitely achievable with very minor adjustments to things like bends along the existing line, and obviously requires further safety and signalling compared to the heritage side of things.
“But it’s definitely worth noting that among all of this we are not looking to remove anything from the heritage side. It is really part and parcel of this railway line and something we are looking to keep in place.”