DTVA (Teeside) Airport proposes relocation of railway station

[jamesontheroad]

The operators of Durham Tees Valley International Airport (MME) held a press event today to launch a new plan for the development of the airport.

There's a new website at dtva.info and a Q&A document outlining the challenges (declining passenger numbers) and the opportunities, which basically boil down to building 350+ new houses, some community facilities, and new commercial buildings on the land between the A67 road and the terminal; and a new cargo and logisitics development to the south of the airport.

On page 15 of this document is a single line which refers to a "long-term vision to reposition the train station."

The map on page 12/13 includes a (pixelated) annotation, indicating a preferred location for this, near the A67 roundabout. This would be within walking / cycling distance of the new housing, and about equidistant from the terminal as the current station.

IMHO... building several hundred new houses could tip the balance in favour of a new station (although who will pay? I doubt the airport...)... the station would be handy for commuters on the Tees Valley line.

What are your thoughts?

 

[BigCj34]

Might be a bit noisy living near an airport. Also they really should be pushing some light rail shuttle to the airport to make it seamless as possible.

 

[DarloRich]

again?

 

[AlterEgo]

Durham Tees Valley is fatally flawed and cannot survive. Its location precludes any success in the modern aviation industry, being pinched in between Leeds/Bradford and Newcastle (Newcastle being probably the best regional airport in the UK, imho).

I don't envisage the airport attracting much more business. We're extraordinarily lucky in the country to have so many regional passenger airports for such a small island, in my view.

 

[takno]

Seems like all the cost of opening a new two platform station to get something that's not significantly nearer a moribund airport, and also supports a couple of hundred houses

 

[BantamMenace]

Another four figures worth of houses the other wise of the A67 outside the airport masterplan boundary would be needed to make the station relocation viable in my opinion and it doesn't take an expert to work out how unlikely that is.

 

[edwin_m]

again?

Yes, this was looked at as part of the Tees Valley Metro idea in around 2008.

 

[MarkyT]

It was daft moving the main passenger terminal away from the existing station. The old one was very close indeed, like Southampton and Southend. Presumably at the time the airport operator had no interest whatsoever in the rail connection.

 

[Kite159]

It was daft moving the main passenger terminal away from the existing station. The old one was very close indeed, like Southampton and Southend. Presumably at the time the airport operator had no interest whatsoever in the rail connection.

One eye on being able to make extra money from parking, or even charges for drop-off/pick-up [like some airports]?

 

[DenmarkRail]

KLM once again is keeping British industry alive, by staying at Teeside airport... Would not be suprised if AF/KLM pushed for a better rail link

 

[Mikey C]

Another four figures worth of houses the other wise of the A67 outside the airport masterplan boundary would be needed to make the station relocation viable in my opinion and it doesn't take an expert to work out how unlikely that is.

Is there actually much need/demand for extra housing in the area? An airport boundary is hardly an attractive location, for the obvious noise and pollution reasons

 

[w1bbl3]

Is there actually much need/demand for extra housing in the area? An airport boundary is hardly an attractive location, for the obvious noise and pollution reasons

Well there are so few flights per day the airport noise wouldn't really be a major issue. IIRC average usage equates to 50 landings/take offs per day across passenger, cargo and private.

 

[DarloRich]

The operators of Durham Tees Valley International Airport (MME) held a press event today to launch a new plan for the development of the airport.

There's a new website at dtva.info and a Q&A document outlining the challenges (declining passenger numbers) and the opportunities, which basically boil down to building 350+ new houses, some community facilities, and new commercial buildings on the land between the A67 road and the terminal; and a new cargo and logisitics development to the south of the airport.

On page 15 of this document is a single line which refers to a "long-term vision to reposition the train station."

The map on page 12/13 includes a (pixelated) annotation, indicating a preferred location for this, near the A67 roundabout. This would be within walking / cycling distance of the new housing, and about equidistant from the terminal as the current station.

IMHO... building several hundred new houses could tip the balance in favour of a new station (although who will pay? I doubt the airport...)... the station would be handy for commuters on the Tees Valley line.

What are your thoughts?

Does the document suggest any reasons why passenger numbers have fallen? The actions of the owning group have hardly helped. Do they suggest who will pay for the new station? Bet it isnt Peel..................

Durham Tees Valley is fatally flawed and cannot survive. Its location precludes any success in the modern aviation industry, being pinched in between Leeds/Bradford and Newcastle (Newcastle being probably the best regional airport in the UK, imho).

I don't envisage the airport attracting much more business. We're extraordinarily lucky in the country to have so many regional passenger airports for such a small island, in my view.

It did OK when the councils ran it. Passenger numbers at the airport have slumped 85% from 918,000 in 2006 to 132,000 last year. The current owners have not run the airport very well and sadly it is almost moribund. One might suggest this is the plan. The low cost carriers and package operators have been driven away and only the stubborn refusal of KLM & Eastern to leave the site has kept it open. Peel have tried several times to create a freight airport and are now going down the housing route. Even our Tory overlords want to buy the airport back!

Peel should be 'held to account' for Teesside's loss-making airport says tough talking new body : http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/peel-should-held-account-teessides-11802663

Tees Valley Mayor candidate says he'll 'buy back' the airport : http://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2...ral-candidate-says-hell-buy-back-the-airport/

Yes, this was looked at as part of the Tees Valley Metro idea in around 2008.

And, like the whole Tees Valley Metro idea, it was rejected as being bonkers and affordable. That ain't gonna change unless someone ponies up.

 

[pdeaves]

And, like the whole Tees Valley Metro idea, it was rejected as being bonkers and affordable. That ain't gonna change unless someone ponies up.

Please tell me you meant un-affordable!

 

[DarloRich]

Please tell me you meant un-affordable!

Thanks! I did - fat finger syndrome!

 

[tbtc]

Just close the Airport and close the Station. Both of which are only there because nobody has the guts to pull the plug.

Whether KLM are as keen on all of the UK feeder airports (to connect to long distance flights in the Netherlands) post-Brexit will be interesting.

Does the document suggest any reasons why passenger numbers have fallen? The actions of the owning group have hardly helped. Do they suggest who will pay for the new station? Bet it isnt Peel..................

Peel really are one of the worst organisations in the country.

They take over assets that could be in the public sector (ports, airports etc) and then moan and moan until they get huge subsidies thrown at them or spent on related infrastructure (often from cash-strapped bits of the public sector), without Peel really adding anything from their own coffers.

One of the best/worst examples of socialising the losses and privatising the profits that we have (depending on your perspective).

See also Doncaster, Liverpool...

 

[AndrewNewens]

I see in today's Northern Echo that the new mayor for the Tees Valley (Conservative, and IMHO a complete simpleton) is pressing to take over the airport by buying it from Peel Holdings. I tend to agree with Alterego that there is no purpose in the airport staying open given the proximity of Newcastle and Leeds/Bradford airports. Even Manchester Airport is directly served by trains from Darlington and Middlesbrough. Durham Tees Valley airport is nothing more than a vanity project, and not even a pretty vanity project. Close it down and build more houses if there is demand with a Section 102 agreement to relocate the railway station.

 

[DarloRich]

I see in today's Northern Echo that the new mayor for the Tees Valley (Conservative, and IMHO a complete simpleton) is pressing to take over the airport by buying it from Peel Holdings. I tend to agree with Alterego that there is no purpose in the airport staying open given the proximity of Newcastle and Leeds/Bradford airports. Even Manchester Airport is directly served by trains from Darlington and Middlesbrough. Durham Tees Valley airport is nothing more than a vanity project, and not even a pretty vanity project. Close it down and build more houses if there is demand with a Section 102 agreement to relocate the railway station.

Hello Mr Peel!

BTW - your "vanity project" was quite successful between about 1966 and 2006. Oddly the councils ran it then..............

 

[cuccir]

If it can limp on until then, DTVA is promised flights from Heathrow once a third runway is built. If you have BA Heathrow flights, you can offer through fares around the world and the airport could probably be sustainable with that and the KLM Amsterdam flights as a base, and charters or other speicalist services (such as Eastern) filling it out. The question is if the airport can (or should?) limp on for the next decade or so until the Third Runway is built, if it is even built...

 

[fireftrm]

It was daft moving the main passenger terminal away from the existing station. The old one was very close indeed, like Southampton and Southend. Presumably at the time the airport operator had no interest whatsoever in the rail connection.

Just when was the terminal moved, or a new one built? It's been where it is now for as long as I can remember. Southend was a new terminal which was built as well as the train station, the previous terminal was further away from this site

 

[Chester1]

I see in today's Northern Echo that the new mayor for the Tees Valley (Conservative, and IMHO a complete simpleton) is pressing to take over the airport by buying it from Peel Holdings. I tend to agree with Alterego that there is no purpose in the airport staying open given the proximity of Newcastle and Leeds/Bradford airports. Even Manchester Airport is directly served by trains from Darlington and Middlesbrough. Durham Tees Valley airport is nothing more than a vanity project, and not even a pretty vanity project. Close it down and build more houses if there is demand with a Section 102 agreement to relocate the railway station.

A Tory who got elected as Tees Valley mayor can't be stupid. Regardless of temporary factors in his favour it was still a huge achievement dwarfing the Tory victories in West Midlands and West of England. I suspect the government will fund the Combined Authority buying the airport to achieve his election promise and try to build a decent base in an area where they have been irrelevant for decades. I agree though it should be closed but it won't be. My two cents on Heathrow third runway is that it is undeliverable.

 

[Howardh]

Wish we had a small, regional airport close to Manchester as a nice alternative to that mega shopping arcade. Blackpool was a reasonable alternative, but it was too small in numbers to be sustainable, too much out on a limb away from the population of Lancs and in the end the £10 APD killed it off.

 

[Darandio]

Just when was the terminal moved, or a new one built? It's been where it is now for as long as I can remember. Southend was a new terminal which was built as well as the train station, the previous terminal was further away from this site

I'm thinking exactly the same thing! I'm nearing 40, and the terminal is in the same place i've always known it to be.

 

[ParleLover]

Hmmm... will the old station still be operational if this goes ahead?

It probably will have a parliamentary service (obviously).

It's such a quirky station I would love to go there again at some point in the future...

 

[MarkyT]

Just when was the terminal moved, or a new one built? It's been where it is now for as long as I can remember. Southend was a new terminal which was built as well as the train station, the previous terminal was further away from this site

Apologies I must have got this wrong. I became convinced a while ago there was an older terminal nearer the station but I can find no evidence for that at all. The 1960s terminal, opened by a Swedish Princess no less, appears to be in the same place as the current one. I read there was a short lived minibus shuttle to the terminal after the rail station opened in 1971.

If a new more conveniently sited station was developed a little to the west, then I expect it would be close enough to be considered a replacement for today's rather useless airport station, which might thus be able to be closed without complex formal closure procedures.

 

[Darandio]

Apologies I must have got this wrong. I became convinced a while ago there was an older terminal nearer the station but I can find no evidence for that at all. The 1960s terminal, opened by a Swedish Princess no less, appears to be in the same place as the current one. I read there was a short lived minibus shuttle to the terminal after the rail station opened in 1971.

There were certainly a couple of hangars within a hundred feet or so of the station that are now long removed.

 

[TUC]

Durham Tees Valley is fatally flawed and cannot survive. Its location precludes any success in the modern aviation industry, being pinched in between Leeds/Bradford and Newcastle (Newcastle being probably the best regional airport in the UK, imho).
.

Quite the reverse, if only there was real effort and marketing put into the airport. Newcastle Airport is 40 miles to the North and Leeds Bradgord 60 miles to the South. That leaves large parts of Teesside, Co. Durham and North Yorkshire for which an airport with decent services could be a closer, more attractive option.

 

[MarkyT]

Quite the reverse, if only there was real effort and marketing put into the airport. Newcastle Airport is 40 miles to the North and Leeds Bradgord 60 miles to the South. That leaves large parts of Teesside, Co. Durham and North Yorkshire for which an airport with decent services could be a closer, more attractive option.

It will be also be only a few miles from the HS2 Phase 2 station at Darlington. That might help bring in people from further afield to catch any low cost international air services while at the same time reducing the relative allure of domestic air services to and from the south.

 

[ainsworth74]

Close the station and be done with it. It's a trek from the terminal so even if you restored a rail based service that actually provided trains at at time when there are flights it's highly unlikely anyone would use in comparison to driving (or getting dropped off). Even during the airports glory days the railway station was not exactly brimming with keen passengers. The only possible second life the station might have is if there is a major housing development (more than the 350 proposed).

Plus, to be quite honest, I wouldn't lose any sleep if the airport itself closed to passenger flights what with Leeds/Bradford, Newcastle and Manchester all within easy reach of the whole Tees Valley.

 

[FQTV]

Apologies I must have got this wrong. I became convinced a while ago there was an older terminal nearer the station but I can find no evidence for that at all. The 1960s terminal, opened by a Swedish Princess no less, appears to be in the same place as the current one. I read there was a short lived minibus shuttle to the terminal after the rail station opened in 1971.

If a new more conveniently sited station was developed a little to the west, then I expect it would be close enough to be considered a replacement for today's rather useless airport station, which might thus be able to be closed without complex formal closure procedures.

The passenger terminal has indeed never been anywhere other than its current location, and the shuttle bus must have soldiered on for a while, as I'm sure that I remember it in the 1980s.

In my head, at least, it was a Transit Mk2 Dormobile welfare bus contraption, as used by BR, as it goes.

I also recall some talk, before the current battle cladding was added to the facade of the terminal building, of moving the terminal and apron to the Eastern end of the 'campus', adjacent and linked to the station.

I don't think that it was ever more than talk, however.