I was wondering if that was still the case. Have not been there for many years, but it looks from the plan that the bay platform is being retained!!
From the linked article:Hartlepool to get its second platform back
Hartlepool Station redevelopment secures £12m funding
Hartlepool's second platform will be brought back into use ahead of the Tall Ships regatta in 2023.www.bbc.co.uk
Indeed it is. It's only used by a couple of trains on Sunday (the remaining Darlington - Hartlepool services) and I think occasionally during disruption so, to be fair, it is easy to forget it exists but it is still there damn it!
That sounds like an urban legend...
I thought I'd read, maybe on this Forum, that 150s were banned from the Durham Coast line and that Hartlepool platform curvature was one of the reasons.
They are shown as cleared through Hartlepool in the public LNER sectional appendix, but not between Sunderland South Jn and Boldon East. So the latter would keep them off the Durham Coast‘s normal service patterns.
From the linked article:
“Hartlepool Council said it was the busiest single platform station in the UK with 650,000 passengers a year.”
Really? I guess no one checked for any facts. But perhaps they really meant busiest in the county
Chafford Hundred station had 2.8 million passengers per annum pre- covid.
This thread was just split out today from the existing discussion on the general subject of busiest single platform, and as @steamybrian just mentioned Chafford Hundred has traditionally been top of the list:
Yeah it's a south facing bay which if you don't go wandering down the southern end of Platform 2 you'll easily miss.
Whilst it's not the worst constraint out there (the intensive Metro service north of Sunderland is much more of an issue), reinstating the platform eliminates the conflict between trains to & from Newcastle, hence increasing reliability and reducing knock-on delays.
Sunday only two each way. Connects with trains going both ways up and down the coast. Though I think that might be a happy accident more than anything!
Well in pre-Covid times there was the intention to run two train per hour each way. I think it might actually have fun for a few months between December 2019 and March 2020. All gone quiet on reinstating it though which is a crying shame.
Aye, it's annoying though. I dislike the fella and his party but its hard to sniff at the cash they're willing to chuck at trying to keep us sweet. Some might call it pork barrel politics seeing as presumably as soon as we stop voting "the right way" the taps will miraculous turn off (see the London Mayoralty and TfLs problems getting a proper funding settlement for instance)...
Not an argument I've seen deployed in favour locally but one that I'd struggle to disagree with
I suspect politics has influenced this project somewhat; the constituency recently changed hands, so approving this relatively small improvement project would provide evidence the governing party are delivering. Really wider improvements are also needed on top.
Agreed - complete pork barrelling. Labour didn't make such a song and dance about PR friendly projects and have allowed a narrative to develop that they didn't invest in north east areas. They did, just differently.
I have had some bad experiences in Poohls over the years.
It is a PR grabbing reward for the simian stranglers voting in a Tory MP. Same as the treasury jobs moving to Darlo. It does nothing to address the systemic problems 12 years of Tory rule/austerity have brought in these areas.