Green light for Hartlepool Station redevelopment

Plans to transform Hartlepool Station, including bringing a redundant second through platform into use, have been backed.The works to the station will provide more capacity to enable future services for routes including those between London and Sunderland operated by Grand Central.As a result of the upgrades, northern services which connect Hartlepool with Middlesbrough and other centres on the Durham Coast rail line are also set for enhancement.Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen worked with Councillor Shane Moore, leader of Hartlepool Borough Council, to provide £12m in funding for the redevelopment of the station and, in October, Houchen secured £310m from the government to invest in local transport priorities.Work, supported by Network Rail, Northern Trains Limited and Hartlepool Borough Council, is expected to begin this summer so the new station is complete for the Tall Ships coming to the town in July 2023.Houchen said: “2022 is our years of construction and I am delighted that we will soon see diggers onsite and spades in the ground at Hartlepool station to deliver its biggest ever transformation.”Local people have been crying out for years for the second platform at the station to be brought back into service, and working with Shane at the council I am pleased that we are now able to deliver what local people have been asking for far too long. Bringing the new platform back into service will help futureproof the station, unlock the potential to expand critical services including those to and from the capital, and quite simply make getting around much easier.”Councillor Shane Moore, leader of Hartlepool Borough Council, added: “This is a time of great change in Hartlepool, with a range of fantastic new developments in the pipeline – including the regeneration of the town centre through the £25m Hartlepool Town Deal and the development of a new multi-million pound leisure centre which received planning permission last week.”Improvements to the town’s transport infrastructure are vital to the success of our plans, so I welcome the progress being made in relation to the railway station and the proposal to reinstate a second through platform and provide other key facilities.”