December 2025 will bring the largest timetable change for a decade to the East Coast Main Line (ECML) between Kings Cross and Edinburgh.
Newcastle win
Edinburgh and Newcastle will gain, with faster and more frequent trains to London. There’ll be three trains per hour between Newcastle and Kings Cross, instead of two.
Tough competition
ECML trains are competing against other modes of transport on the lucrative London – Edinburgh route. But air travellers are the main target. Airlines currently have 54% of this market. LNER, the main rail operator, has a 45% share. One of the key objectives of the December timetable change is to reduce the length of the London to Edinburgh journey down to four hours. With this in place, LNER is targeting 60% of the market.
Non-stop running
One of the ways in which LNER will achieve the journey time improvement is to make stops at Newcastle and York only. This means running non-stop through Darlington. At present, only nine LNER services per day do this. With effect from 14 December, this will increase to 39. Another operator, Lumo, already runs non-stop through Darlington. From December onwards, 51 passenger trains will run non-stop through Darlington every day, instead of 19 as at present.
Extra capacity
Darlington station is undergoing a £140mn upgrade. This will include the provision of two new platforms. These platforms will create extra capacity as part of the timetable upgrade. They can be seen in the photo below:
Darlington, we have a problem
But there’s trouble ahead. The new platforms will probably be completed by December. However, there’s a problem with the new footbridge, which will connect the new platforms to the existing ones. Due to structural issues, the footbridge won’t be ready in time for the December timetable change. This is despite a Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) press release from June 2025 which gave the impression that the bridge had been completed. The target date is now “spring 2026”. An industry source suggests that this date is actually 17 May 2026, the date of the next major timetable change. The footbridge can be seen in the photo below:
Track layout
Until the new footbridge is ready, the two new platforms won’t be available. The proposed new track layout can be seen on the diagram below, courtesy of Modern Railways magazine.
Colour coding
The existing track and platforms are coloured grey. At the top, Darlington station with its four platforms. In the centre, the “through” lines, one northbound and one southbound. These act as a by-pass for Darlington station, allowing non-stop trains to run through at 125 mph, without being hindered by trains using the station.
New infrastructure
The new platforms can be seen at the bottom of the diagram, coloured orange. Platform 5 will be used by southbound “stopping” trains. Platform 6 will be a terminus platform, for use by services between Darlington and Saltburn.
Bad news for non-stop trains
For the time being, southbound stopping trains will continue to cut across the northbound “through” line to gain access to Platform 1, the existing southbound platform. This will impede any non-stop trains heading north. There’ll be a similar delay as these trains move back on to the southbound line after exiting the station. Each movement only takes a minute, but signals need to be held at “danger” for longer than this. Until Platform 5 is available, 74 stopping trains will need to make this manoeuvre each day from December onwards.
A local problem for national trains
The non-availability of the new “local” Platform 6 will create an even bigger headache. Local services between Darlington and Saltburn will need to cut across BOTH through routes to access Platforms 1 to 4. While doing so, they’ll also impede the stopping ECML services in both directions. In addition to the southbound stopping trains mentioned above, there will be 77 northbound stopping trains per day. So that’s a total of 151 stopping trains. The local services are half-hourly in each direction, so the track blockage will happen four times every hour.
Bishop Auckland
Also, every other local train continues to and from Bishop Auckland. These trains share platforms 1 and 4 with ECML stopping services. The local and ECML trains will cause delays to each other while waiting for a platform to become available.
A tight squeeze
With effect from 14 December, 202 passenger trains per day will be scheduled to run on this section of the ECML. This is unprecedented, particularly in respect of non-stop trains, and “pathing” will be tight. Any of the contingencies noted above will soon create a “domino” effect, as traffic backs up.
Hauling freight
There are about 20 freight trains through Darlington each day too. These trains can be sent into passing loops to keep them out of the way of the passenger trains. There’s a passing loop either side of the station. But signallers will find it more difficult to find paths for the freight trains to get them out of these loops. Freightliner, the largest freight operator, has raised its concerns about potential disruption along the length of the ECML.
What’s the solution?
If the new platforms won’t be available in time for the timetable change, operators may need to operate a reduced timetable. Some changes have already been delayed until May 2026. The alternative is to just try and make it work. But this would risk severe reputational damage. If, for example, LNER persistently fails to get its Edinburgh – London trains on time, it will make national headlines.
A mixed bag
Some Darlington services will improve once the new timetable has bedded down. There’ll be three more trains per day to Kings Cross. But there’ll be fewer services to Durham and Newcastle. Information about the overall changes on the ECML can be found here, with specific information about Darlington here.
Permanent changes
Even when the disruption calms down, Darlington passengers won’t notice much of an improvement. A third new platform, which would have been number 7, was planned for the station, as can be seen from this 2022 news release. This would have made two platforms available for services between Darlington and Saltburn instead of one.
We are sorry for your delay
But Platform 7 was quietly “descoped” from the programme on cost grounds in 2023. The local media has continued to cheer the scheme on, as can be seen in this 2023 story, without mentioning the downgrade. “Passive provision” has been made for the platform. In other words, space has been created for it, in the event that funding becomes available in future.
Lack of ambition
The two new local platforms should always have been planned as through platforms. This would have necessitated a flyover north of Darlington station, to connect with the Bishop Auckland line. But we’ve been left with one terminus platform instead. There’ll be two negative consequences of this.
Traffic jam
Regular passengers on local trains have become accustomed to the ordeal of waiting at a red signal outside of Darlington station until a platform becomes available. Services from Saltburn to Bishop Auckland will continue to experience this delay. The new Platform 6 will be of no use. Their train will still need to wait for the ECML to clear before accessing Platform 4. The wait will be worse than before, because the ECML will be busier than ever.
Congestion
Terminating trains from Saltburn will suffer too. In the event of disruption, they’ll have to wait outside of the station to allow a departing train to clear.
The Bishop Line – in the news
The line is being celebrated this year. The section between Shildon and North Road stations follows the 1825 route of the Stockton & Darlington railway. But, when the festivities are over, commuters will be left with the reality of a slow, single-track route. The 11-mile journey between Darlington and Bishop Auckland takes 25 minutes, not much quicker than it was 200 years ago. Trains are only hourly in either direction.
The Northern Poorhouse
There are no immediate plans to improve on this. Four of the six stations on the Bishop Line are in County Durham. The Darlington station project is funded by the Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA). The TVCA has no remit in County Durham. Rail users in the North of England have got used to being second class citizens when it comes to public transport. Here’s the Prime Minister “descoping” the flagship Northern Powerhouse project, on the eve of the Labour Party conference.
Dare to dream
In April, I wrote about the possibility of a “Tees Metro” which would have included 15-minute interval service on the Bishop Line. That was a pipedream, admittedly, but County Durham deserves a faster and more frequent rail service.
Meanwhile, back at Darlington
New entrances are under construction outside of Darlington station. The TVCA has confirmed that these are running behind schedule too. The Eastern Gateway is closest to completion, but there’s still work to do, as can be seen in the photo below:
A room with a view
The Eastern Gateway contains a multi-storey carpark. Residents of Neasham Road have gained this new viewpoint:
Falling behind
On the other side of the station, things are progressing at a slower pace. Demolition of existing buildings has only recently finished, despite having started almost three years ago. The Western Gateway won’t be complete until well into 2026.
Look at what you could have won
At the other end of the country, the UK is spending £100bn on a Birmingham to London railway that may not even reach London. And the Birmingham station won’t connect with the rest of the rail network. With a little luck it will open in 2035. Yes, that’s not a typing error, it’s still ten years away. Long suffering Northern commuters may wonder why a £5mn platform was deleted from the Darlington plans with barely a discussion.
