Place Newton Aycliffe Station code HEI DfT category F2 Number of platforms 2 | Grid reference NZ271224 Managed by Northern 2011/12 11,458 | |
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Address Newton Aycliffe DL5 6QG, United Kingdom Similar Newton Aycliffe railway st, Teesside Airport railway st, Allens West railway st, Bishop Auckland railway st, Eaglescliffe railway station | ||
Heighington railway station located on Heighington Lane and serves Aycliffe Business Park (formerly Aycliffe Industrial Park) in the town of Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, England. The station is on the Tees Valley Line 5 3⁄4 miles (9.3 km) northwest of Darlington and is operated by Northern who provide all passenger train services. The station is on the Bishop Line and is somewhat unusual in that its platforms are staggered, sited either side of a level crossing. The station has kept its manual signal box (which supervises the aforementioned crossing, the connection into the Hitachi plant and the single line section south of here through to Darlington), but had its semaphore signals replaced by modern colour lights in November 2014,
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Facilities
The station is unmanned and has no ticket machine, so all tickets must be bought onboard the train or prior to travel. The amenities here were improved as part of the Tees Valley Metro project in 2013. The package for this station included new fully lit waiting shelters, renewed station signage, digital CIS displays and the installation of CCTV (all of the Tees Valley line stations apart from Teesside Airport and British Steel Redcar have been upgraded and provided with CIS displays). The long-line Public Address system (PA) has been renewed and upgraded with pre-recorded train announcements. Running information can also be obtained by telephone and timetable poster boards. Step-free access is available to both platforms via ramps from the crossing.
History
The station lies on the route of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&D), the first passenger railway. The station's historical claim to fame is that the first train on that line, the Locomotion No. 1, was assembled here in 1825 before starting on its first journey.
The main line of the S&D was opened on 27 September 1825 from Phoenix Colliery at Etherley to Stockton, and this station was opened the same day, being originally named Aycliffe Lane. It was subsequently renamed three times: first to Aycliffe and Heighington, later, on 1 July 1871, it became Aycliffe, although this name lasted for just over three years, because on 1 September 1874 it gained the present name of Heighington.
Accidents and incidents
Services
The station has a basic two-hourly service each way on weekdays, increasing to hourly during morning & evening peak periods (10 per day in each direction in total). The service is also two-hourly on Sundays. Trains usually run through to Saltburn, though there is one departure each weekday to Nunthorpe and a summer-only through service on Sundays to Whitby.
Intercity Express Programme factory
The new Hitachi Intercity Express Programme train assembly plant was built a short distance from the station in the Aycliffe Business Park in 2014. Work commenced on the £82 million facility in March 2014 and it was officially opened on 3 September 2015 by UK Prime Minister David Cameron. The factory has a rail connection to the running line controlled from the station signal box to allow for delivery of the new sets once completed (there are also 4.3 miles (7 km) of sidings and a 0.62 mi (1 km) long electrified test track within the plant). The new class 800/801 IEP sets will be built or fitted out here for use on the East Coast Main Line and Great Western Main Line, along with class 385 (AT200) commuter EMUs destined for use on Scottish suburban routes around Glasgow & Edinburgh.