Sunderland railway station



PhilY said:
I’m pretty sure Nexus own the station, rather than Network Rail. (Network Rail I think only actually own about 8 stations across the country and these are the massive ones eg Kings Cross). Most stations are operated by a franchisee.
Additional connections could be added through the rail franchise system - the whole point of the franchise is* that the most profitable services underpin less profitable ones.
(*there are a whole range of other considerations too, e.g. subsidy require from operator or premium paid by it).
I did write to my MP (Julie Elliott MP) in 2018 asking whether she would push for Sunderland to be added to the CrossCountry franchise when it came up for renewal, so that Sunderland could have direct connections to, for example, Edinburgh and Leeds (these would be add-ons to existing services to/from Newcastle in the same way that Virgin East Coast added a connection to SUN to attack Grand Central)....

I didn’t even get a reply from her office.
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owned by network rail according to this, but operated by Northern Rail.

www.google.co.uk

Sunderland has worst city centre railway station in country says new book

Author Neil Sinclair explains how the city's proud railway past has been tarnished by its present
www.google.co.uk www.google.co.uk
 
Osklen said:
do the council not want the station improved?
I understood they recently bid for funding for it and have had numerous plans drawn up. The issue appears to be that network rail aren’t interested.

Weiterleitungshinweis

www.google.co.uk
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I’ve Been into the council and Network rail for some time now and they promise to chase this and chase that and get back to me but this rarely happens. The truth is I think stalemate,they gave excuses as waiting for parts and also a license to d the Work both bullshit. This process for knocking down the station etc has been going in fir sometime now and money promises have diminished.
 
PhilY said:
I don’t think the Council have any direct responsibility for the station ....
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The biggest problem with Nexus isn’t the lack of investment in the station....it’s the progressive reduction in supported rail connections over many years which accelerated once the Metro came through to Sunderland (and very little beyond the city centre 🙄)
 
As someone who has used a fair few trains over the last few years, I can say that a welcoming train station isn't a big deal when visiting a city. Whether for leisure or for work, I couldn't give a shite. I can't think of anyone I know who would either be wooed or put off from visiting somewhere based on a train station. Sure, it's nice to have a welcoming station but as long as you can get a taxi/bus/tube for onward travel then it's not a factor.

Are people expecting a visit to the train station to be a viable alternative to a trip to the tip at Beech Street? Get real people!
 
The Falcon said:
I’ve Been into the council and Network rail for some time now and they promise to chase this and chase that and get back to me but this rarely happens. The truth is I think stalemate,they gave excuses as waiting for parts and also a license to d the Work both bullshit. This process for knocking down the station etc has been going in fir sometime now and money promises have diminished.
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I guess the issue is that they could not guarantee funding? It’s desperate at the moment and something needs to be done however think if we get anything it will just be an updated station rather than an increase in size and scale.
 
Osklen said:
I guess the issue is that they could not guarantee funding? It’s desperate at the moment and something needs to be done however think if we get anything it will just be an updated station rather than an increase in size and scale.
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A working escalator would help, ten month out is not acceptable really, Network rail, Nexus, Northern rail and the council especially don’t want to know, you would think they would be pressurising the others to get the roof and escalator fixed fir the people’s benefit.
 
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PhilY said:
I’m pretty sure Nexus own the station, rather than Network Rail. (Network Rail I think only actually own about 8 stations across the country and these are the massive ones eg Kings Cross). Most stations are operated by a franchisee.
Additional connections could be added through the rail franchise system - the whole point of the franchise is* that the most profitable services underpin less profitable ones.
(*there are a whole range of other considerations too, e.g. subsidy require from operator or premium paid by it).
I did write to my MP (Julie Elliott MP) in 2018 asking whether she would push for Sunderland to be added to the CrossCountry franchise when it came up for renewal, so that Sunderland could have direct connections to, for example, Edinburgh and Leeds (these would be add-ons to existing services to/from Newcastle in the same way that Virgin East Coast added a connection to SUN to attack Grand Central)....

I didn’t even get a reply from her office.
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Yes. ...a waste of time contacting Julie Elliott about anything. Does she do anything ? Sunderland needs a MAYOR .
 
Wouldnt be practical to move the station as it shares metro services. The issue is the current set up . Dark dingy no staff. Black roof , dark tunnel. Just a good make over is all you need. City centre has more pressing issues other than just the Station . High steet collapse to start with "gost train coming into gost town !"
 
noodles said:
As a first impression to people arriving it’s an embarrassment. A total clip.I’d imagine it’d be a small fortune to fix up into something decent. Plus would it not have to be closed to the public for a canny long time to get it sorted ?
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Nah they do the major structural work at night. Have you seen Dundee Station compared to what it was. Its a totally different building now. The same at haymarket Edinburgh.
 
Iballistic George said:
Nah they do the major structural work at night. Have you seen Dundee Station compared to what it was. Its a totally different building now. The same at haymarket Edinburgh.
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yeah but it took Dundee something like 3 years to build their new station from demolition to opening. Suppose you can use the northern entrance for a period of time whilst the southern entrance is rebuilt. As others have mentioned the returning the station entrance to HSW where the original station was would be better as the city centre moves north.
 
Osklen said:
yeah but it took Dundee something like 3 years to build their new station from demolition to opening. Suppose you can use the northern entrance for a period of time whilst the southern entrance is rebuilt. As others have mentioned the returning the station entrance to HSW where the original station was would be better as the city centre moves north.
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I was only trying to say that Dundee Station didn't actually close during the refurb work. We were still running trains in and out same as normal apart from a couple of days
 

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