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Railway station in Darlington, County Durham, England
the current main Darlington station

The first railway to pass through the area now occupied by the station was built by the Stockton and Darlington Railway, who opened their mineral branch from Albert Hill Junction on their main line to Croft on Tees on 27 October 1829. This branch line was subsequently purchased by the Great North of England Railway a decade later to incorporate into their new main line from York which reached the town on 30 March 1841. A separate company, the Newcastle & Darlington Junction Railway continued the new main line northwards towards Ferryhill and Newcastle, opening its route three years later on 19 June 1844. This crossed the S&D at Parkgate Junction by means of a flat crossing which would in future years become something of an operational headache for the North Eastern Railway and LNER. The original Bank Top station where the two routes met was a modest affair, which was rebuilt in 1860 to accommodate the expanding levels of traffic on the main line. By the mid 1880s even this replacement structure was deemed inadequate and so the NER embarked on a major upgrade to facilities in the area. This included an ornate new station with an impressive three span overall roof on the Bank Top site, new sidings and goods lines alongside it and a new connecting line from the south end of the station (Polam Junction) to meet the original S&D line towards Middlesbrough at Oak Tree Junction near Dinsdale. These improvements were completed on 1 July 1887, when the old route west of Oak Tree closed to passengers (although it remained in use for freight until 1967). The new station, with its broad island platform was designed by T. E. Harrison, chief engineer, and William Bell, the architect of the North Eastern Railway. It cost £81,000 (81000.0 in 1887 is equivalent to about <calculated amount> in recent years) to construct. It soon became a busy interchange on the main East Coast route, thanks to its rail links to Richmond (opened in 1846), Barnard Castle and Penrith (1862/5) and the Tees Valley Line to Bishop Auckland (1842) and Saltburn (1861). The lines to Penrith (closed in 1962), Barnard Castle (1964) and Richmond (1969) have now gone (along with the bays at the northern end of the station, now used for car parking), but the main line (electrified in 1991) and the Tees Valley route remain busy. It is also still possible to travel to Catterick Garrison and Richmond from here, by means of the Arriva North East operated X26 and X27 buses (which have through National Rail ticketing arrangements). The same company also operated the Sky Express bus service to Durham Tees Valley Airport from the station, but this was withdrawn in January 2009 due to declining demand.

On 16 November 1910, an express freight train overran signals and was involved in a rear end collision with another freight train. On 27 June 1928, a parcels train and an excursion train were involved in a head on collision. 25 people were killed and 45 were injured. On 11 December 1968, a Newcastle to Kings Cross express train was derailed at the south end of the station after passing a signal at danger. No one was hurt. On 16 February 1977, an express passenger train hauled by Class 55 locomotive 55 008 collided with an empty stock train after failing to stop at Darlington. The guard of the express was slightly injured. The cause of the accident was that the brakes on the carriages had become isolated whilst the train was moving in a freak event. The train had struck an object on the track, which had caused a traction motor cover to come lose. This struck the handle of the brake isolating cock, closing it and thus separating the brakes between the locomotive and train. Following the collision, the train was diverted onto the Tees Valley line, where it was brought to a halt by the operation of the communication cord in one of the carriages. On 3 October 2009, a unit, operated by Northern Rail, hit the rear end of a departing National Express East Coast service. Three passengers from the Northern Rail train were taken to hospital with minor injuries.

The station is fully staffed; the ticket office is open throughout the week (06:00–20:00/21:00 weekdays, 06:30–19:45 Saturdays, 07:45–20:00 Sundays). There is a waiting room and a first class Lounge on the platform, with the lounge open between 06:00 and 20:00 each day (except Sundays, when it opens at 08:00). Self service ticket machines are also provided for use outside the opening hours for the booking office and for collecting pre paid tickets. Various retail outlets are located in the main buildings, including a coffee shop, grocers and newsagents. Vending machines, toilets, a photo booth, payphone and cash machines are also provided. Train running information is offered via digital CIS displays, announcements and timetable posters. Step free access to all platforms is via ramps from the subway linking the platforms with the main entrance and car park.

Darlington is well served by trains on the East Coast Main Line, with regular trains southbound to via and northbound to and operated by London North Eastern Railway. Two trains per hour run south to London and north to Edinburgh Waverley. There are also several daily services to and also daily direct services to (two) and (one). Due to the introduction of the new ECML timetable on 22 May 2011, LNER only now provide one daily direct service each way between London King's Cross and which calls at Darlington. The northbound service to Glasgow departs Darlington at 18:09 and the southbound service from Glasgow arrives into Darlington at 10:00. CrossCountry services between Edinburgh, Newcastle and , and beyond to (Reading and to , Exeter St Davids, Plymouth and Penzance) also call here twice each hour. Certain CrossCountry trains extend beyond Edinburgh to Glasgow Central, Dundee or Aberdeen. TransPennine Express run one train per hour in each direction. Northbound; one service runs to Newcastle. Southbound; one service runs to via York, , , and

Northern run their Tees Valley line trains twice hourly to Middlesbrough, Redcar's stations and (hourly on Sundays), whilst the Bishop Auckland branch has a service every hour (including Sundays). The company also operates two Sundays only direct trains to/from and .

As part of the Tees Valley Metro, two new platforms were to be built on the eastern edge of the main station. There were to be a total of four trains per hour, to Middlesbrough and Saltburn via the Tees Valley Line, and trains would not have to cross the East Coast Main Line when the new platforms would have been built. The Tees Valley Metro project was cancelled with some parts of the project ultimately followed through in other projects. HS2 trains were originally due to stop at Darlington as part of the eastern leg, but this is in doubt as phase 2b was cancelled as part of the Integrated Rail Plan, and the entirety of the second phase of HS2 was cancelled in 2023. The station is currently undergoing redevelopment, with the construction of a new concourse, multi story car park and two new platforms on the current freight avoiding lines.