Media centre

Wednesday 22 Feb 2017

Network Rail to extend platform at Northallerton station

Region & Route:

| Eastern

Network Rail will begin a project which costs over £900,000 to extend platform 2 at Northallerton station, as part of the Railway Upgrade Plan.

The platform is being extended by 20metres to allow all carriages of Virgin’s new Azuma trains to fit into the station. The new trains are due to be introduced on the East Coast Main Line in 2018.

The upgrade begins on Saturday, 25 February and will be completed on Tuesday, 22 August. There will be no disruption to passenger services whilst the work takes place.

There will be a temporary closure of Boroughbridge Road from 20:00 on Saturday, 25 March until 06:00 on Sunday, 26 March.  During the closure, a sign-posted diversion route will be in place.

The project follows another platform extension which is currently underway at Durham station. Here, the platform is being extended by 40metres to accommodate the new trains.

Aidan Talbott, principal programme sponsor for Network Rail, said: “The work we are carrying out at Northallerton station is an important part of our Railway Upgrade Plan and will allow all carriages of the new Azuma trains to fit into the station.

“It is a vital piece of enhancement work to the railway and will bring even greater benefits for passengers travelling on the East Coast Main Line. The work is part of a wider project of improvements and we have recently begun a similar project at Durham station.

“I’d like to thank passengers and road users for their patience whilst this work is carried out.”

A spokesperson for Virgin Trains said: “Our Virgin Azuma trains, which will be introduced from next year, will help us to transform the customer experience, creating more capacity, and faster and more comfortable journeys on our east coast route. It’s great to see this work getting underway that will pave the way for introducing of the Azuma fleet.”

ENDS