Train services between Newcastle and Middlesbrough are set to become more regular – though plans for an improved timetable have been slightly delayed.
Northern has confirmed that it plans to introduce more direct trains on the route from Tyneside to Teesside, so that there are three services every two hours. There is currently just one train per hour running in either direction between Newcastle and Middlesbrough, with stops in between at Heworth, Sunderland, Seaham, Horden, Hartlepool, Seaton Carew, Billingham, Stockton, and Thornaby.
It had been hoped that the more regular timetable could be introduced this summer, but council leaders were told this week that it will now be later this year before passengers will benefit. Northern said that its proposals could not be implemented until after a project to build a new platform at Hartlepool station is complete, a £12m scheme that Network Rail says is on track to be completed in “late summer”.
