Sunderland railway station.

[Chunk Love Sloth]

The main reason Sunderland Railway will have shite passenger numbers is that it has shite links

Apart from the Mero, there is what 2 trains an hour if that and they are the Middlesbrough to Newcastle trains, wit a smattering of GNER and LNER trains.

We have a catch 22 situation with it as we need better connections to improve the passenger numbers, but train companies won't look at extra lines without the customer numbers.

I think ideally if possible we need connections to Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh, but they need to avoid coming out of the north of the station which I don't know if that is possible

 

[Wilfy]

The main reason Sunderland Railway will have shite passenger numbers is that it has shite links

Apart from the Mero, there is what 2 trains an hour if that and they are the Middlesbrough to Newcastle trains, wit a smattering of GNER and LNER trains.

We have a catch 22 situation with it as we need better connections to improve the passenger numbers, but train companies won't look at extra lines without the customer numbers.

I think ideally if possible we need connections to Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh, but they need to avoid coming out of the north of the station which I don't know if that is possible

There’s a train to Manchester airport from boro so would just need to go south to york and then on from there.

 

[EDGE]

There’s a train to Manchester airport from boro so would just need to go south to york and then on from there.

Didn't Cross Country run services from Sunderland to Manchester via Newcastle?

 

[Wearside Wanderer II]

We don’t need extra services or more direct trains, we just need a station that looks and feels like a train station.
The tilt will never move form newcastle but slowly slowly if our station looked better and had better customer service (the owld dragons at the counter are anti help) then things can change.
The people of sunderland travel just as much as those of the towns/cities either side.

 

[The King of Um]

The problem with Sunderland station is that it has no long stay car parking or any useful car parking for that matter, you access it via a back lane and its a hole. So people drive to Durham or Newcastle and numbers drop; perhaps if we had decent services and a connection to Durham or an upgraded Durham coast line then numbers would grow but its catch22, fewer numbers give network rail an excuse not to spend money but unless we have a decent station and services, the taxi firms will be busy whizzing back and forth to Durham / Newcastle. I find the station so depressing I get on at park Lane so i dont have to use it.

On that, does anyone know why the drop-off/collect spaces at the doors to the station opposite the taxi-rank/Specsavers have been barriered off for ages? Has made it even worse. You'd think they were trying to put people off using the station altogether.

 

[Harbour Boy]

We don’t need extra services or more direct trains, we just need a station that looks and feels like a train station.
The tilt will never move form newcastle but slowly slowly if our station looked better and had better customer service (the owld dragons at the counter are anti help) then things can change.
The people of sunderland travel just as much as those of the towns/cities either side.

Problem is, if I want to go to York it’s 90 mins from Sunderland or 45 mins from
Durham.

 

[zinedine]

I don’t know. But in reality, they should completely demolish it and start again.

Demolish what is now a massive poundshop and put the station entrance back where it was.

 

[Osklen]

Problem is, if I want to go to York it’s 90 mins from Sunderland or 45 mins from
Durham.

This is always a factor plus the frequency of service. Also depends on where you live for me it’s 10 mins into city centre or 20/25 to Durham station so you have to add that to the Durham - York just plus cost to park / taxi?

The travel from Durham / Newcastle stations is too convenient that it probably makes little sense to have more routes coming from Sunderland unless it frees up the east coast mainline, although I wish there was, but because of that demand from Sunderland station is low.

Demolish what is now a massive poundshop and put the station entrance back where it was.

I think that is part of the plan, although it seems like the money has been secured for the existing station southern entrance.

 

[Wilfy]

Didn't Cross Country run services from Sunderland to Manchester via Newcastle?

When?

 

[burro nunn]

Didn't Cross Country run services from Sunderland to Manchester via Newcastle?

Transpennine did but stopped when the metro got extended because of capacity I believe.

Used to like them as a bairn when going through the Metrocentre changing at Newcastle, felt like a proper train instead of the pacers.

 

[PinzaC55]

Demolish what is now a massive poundshop and put the station entrance back where it was.

That would be great but the poundshop/former Littlewoods has massive foundations and you would effectively need to scoop out the entire site from High Street to the south entrance. It would be a mind boggling project.

 

[zinedine]

That would be great but the poundshop/former Littlewoods has massive foundations and you would effectively need to scoop out the entire site from High Street to the south entrance. It would be a mind boggling project.

The trains pass under Littlewoods. Maybe they could build the station on the Littlewoods footprint with staircases down to the lines. Literally use the old store as the station after a tasteful rebuild.

Thinking about it that probably wouldn't be a good idea. It would just be a bigger version of what is there now. The station building needs to be level with the lines.

 

[vinegar hill]

The trains pass under Littlewoods. Maybe they could build the station on the Littlewoods footprint with staircases down to the lines. Literally use the old store as the station after a tasteful rebuild.

Thinking about it that probably wouldn't be a good idea. It would just be a bigger version of what is there now. The station building needs to be level with the lines.

I’m sure it’s been mentioned on here that the Council are buying that building but I may have been imagining it.

 

[zinedine]

I’m sure it’s been mentioned on here that the Council are buying that building but I may have been imagining it.

Somebody has said it on this thread so hopefully true. Pinzac55 has said it would be a very big so no doubt very costly project to turn it back into the station. Projects like that are two a penny in London with billions being spent. So no reason why we shouldn't get funding for our big project.
Said Mr Gullible.

 

[Osklen]

Somebody has said it on this thread so hopefully true. Pinzac55 has said it would be a very big so no doubt very costly project to turn it back into the station. Projects like that are two a penny in London with billions being spent. So no reason why we shouldn't get funding for our big project.
Said Mr Gullible.

It depends if you can reuse the frame of the existing building or whether it needs a complete reconstruction. I think there are a load of factors such as fire platform widths, platform length that would come into play - Poundland is also right at the end of the platform for memory. Others have given the example of Dundee station in the past where something similar has been done however not sure that would satisfy people and not sure of the viability of another hotel in the city centre as they did in Dundee.

The other factor is whether they can open up the other tracks but that will no doubt impact on access and facilities on the platforms as presumably the platforms would need to reduce to get 4 platforms back.

Seems like a huge undertaking.

 

[PJH]

No matter what is done it'll be a dark, dingy hole with no natural light. I hate Birmingham New Street as a got awful dingy hole of diesel fumes. Hate the place. Station building above is pretty good.

 

[zinedine]

It depends if you can reuse the frame of the existing building or whether it needs a complete reconstruction. I think there are a load of factors such as fire platform widths, platform length that would come into play - Poundland is also right at the end of the platform for memory. Others have given the example of Dundee station in the past where something similar has been done however not sure that would satisfy people and not sure of the viability of another hotel in the city centre as they did in Dundee.

The other factor is whether they can open up the other tracks but that will no doubt impact on access and facilities on the platforms as presumably the platforms would need to reduce to get 4 platforms back.

Seems like a huge undertaking.

Maybe move it further south down the line. Wasn't the old original station in the area where Yates' is? Put it back there if possible and leave the poundshop for future development.

 

[Osklen]

Maybe move it further south down the line. Wasn't the old original station in the area where Yates' is? Put it back there if possible and leave the poundshop for future development.

I’m no rail expert but don’t think you can due to he way the track bends. I believe more rail standards mean you need straight platforms as well as a certain length of platform. You could put a station on park lane site but you’d then still need to walk (I believe) to pretty much where the platforms are now but could be wrong. The other issue is that you are still constrained by the retaining walls either side of the track and then you have the tunnel section underneath Mowbray park so I doubt you get any more sunlight at platform level. There will then be the added cost of bridging over the lines and forming new platforms. It seems like a right buggers muddle.

 

[Wearside Wanderer II]

Problem is, if I want to go to York it’s 90 mins from Sunderland or 45 mins from
Durham.

But how long does it take you to get to Durham? Surely the time difference is negligible.
However i would argue a direct service to Durham would be beneficial

 

[PinzaC55]

The trains pass under Littlewoods. Maybe they could build the station on the Littlewoods footprint with staircases down to the lines. Literally use the old store as the station after a tasteful rebuild.

Thinking about it that probably wouldn't be a good idea. It would just be a bigger version of what is there now. The station building needs to be level with the lines.

If you scroll down to the 1966 picture of the north end building being demolished everything there is under concrete with foundations to suit. There's some merit in the idea of reducing the littlewoods building to one storey but underneath where there used to be two "island" platforms the present platform has been extended out one of the removed tracks to make it wider and a lift has been built.

Disused Stations:Sunderland Central Station

disused-stations.org.uk