New Bridge Installed As Hartlepool Station Project Steams Ahead

A new bridge has been installed as a station redevelopment roars ahead.

Hartlepool Station is undergoing a £12million overhaul to bring its second platform back into use.

Now teams have completed installing a new footbridge at the station. The 53-tonne structure made from locally sourced British Steel saw a six-hour line possession for it to be put in place.

In March 2022, the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA), working alongside Network Rail, Northern, and Hartlepool Borough Council (HBC), secured funding to realise a long-held local aspiration to bring the second platform back into use.

The reopened platform would allow Northern to increase their services on the Durham Coast (Middlesbrough to Newcastle via Hartlepool) from one train per hour, to three trains every two hours.

The station overhaul is on track to be completed later this year.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen said: “Work at Hartlepool station is roaring ahead and crews are grafting night and day to get it fit for the 21^st century.

“New lifts, the new footbridge, its platform extension and redeveloped extra platform are vital.

“We have great plans for the heart of Hartlepool and the town needs a top-quality station, so investors, visitors and local people are better connected than ever and Hartlepool has a gateway it can be proud of.”

Councillor Mike Young, Leader of Hartlepool Borough Council, said: “With the new footbridge now in place the station redevelopment is now really taking shape as the work continues to forge ahead.

“We can look forward to Hartlepool having a top-quality, increased capacity station which will complement, and be integral to, the Council’s ongoing major regeneration projects for the town, including the Town Deal and Levelling Up Fund initiatives, as well as the exciting vision set out in the Hartlepool Mayoral Development Corporation’s Masterplan.”

The progress comes after two lift steel shafts were installed in February.

The works will also help provide more capacity to enable future service for routes including those between London and Sunderland operated by Grand Central.