Newcastle Central railway station

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For the Tyne & Wear Metro station, see Central Station Metro station.

Newcastle Central
Location
Place	Newcastle upon Tyne
Local authority	Newcastle upon Tyne
Operations
Station code	NCL
Managed by	National Express East Coast
Platforms in use	12
Live departures and station information from National Rail
Annual Rail Passenger Usage
2004/05 *	5.728 million
2005/06 *	6.108 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Tyne and Wear (Nexus)
Zone	26
History
1850 1890s	Opened Extended
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Newcastle Central from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.
UK Railways Portal

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Newcastle Central railway station is the mainline railway station in the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England and is a principal stop on the East Coast Main Line. It opened in 1850 and is a Grade I listed building. The station also has its own entrance to the underground Tyne and Wear Metro station.

Mainline services are operated by CrossCountry south to Leeds, Sheffield, Derby, Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Exeter and Plymouth. National Express East Coast operates south to Doncaster, York and London. Both of these companies also run services to Edinburgh and Glasgow. First Transpennine Express provides services to Manchester and Northern Rail operates local services within Tyne and Wear and the North East and beyond to Carlisle.

Contents 1 Construction and opening 2 Layout 3 Train services 4 Railway infrastructure 5 See also 6 External links 7 References

[edit] Construction and opening

The station was designed by John Dobson for the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway company (which subsequently became the North Eastern Railway (NER) following a merger with other companies in 1854) and the Newcastle and Carlisle Railway (which was later absorbed by the North Eastern in 1862 making the NER sole owner of the station). It was constructed in collaboration with Robert Stephenson (also responsible for the High Level Bridge) between 1845 and 1850. The opening ceremony, attended by Queen Victoria, took place on 29 August 1850.

The building has a Classical styled frontage, and its trainshed has a distinctive roof with three curved, arched spans — the first example of its kind, which set the 'house style' for the North Eastern Railway's subsequent main stations, culminating in the very last major British example half a century later, the rebuilt and enlarged Hull Paragon (1904). A portico, designed by Thomas Prosser, was added to the station entrance in 1863, and the trainshed was extended southwards in the 1890s with a new span designed by William Bell.

An underground station for Tyne and Wear Metro trains was constructed during the late 1970s, and opened in 1981. Part of the portico was temporarily dismantled while excavation work for this station took place.^[1]

[edit] Layout

The station has 12 platforms (not including the metro platforms). The arrangement is:

• Platform 1 is an east facing bay platform which handles terminating local services on the East Coast Main Line.
• Platforms 2, 3 and 4 are the main through platforms for East Coast Main Line long distance services.
• Platforms 5/6 share the north side, and Platforms 7/8 the south side, of the newer island platform, and are used mainly by local services.
• Platforms 9 to 12 are west facing bay platforms for various services, including Transpennine Express and some terminating services from the Carlisle direction.

[edit] Train services

Newcastle is a key stop on the East Coast Main Line. Passenger services are operated by several companies:

• National Express East Coast trains run south to London King's Cross station via York and Grantham, and north to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen in Scotland.
• CrossCountry run south to Birmingham New Street, Bristol Temple Meads and Parkway, Cardiff Central, Exeter St. Davids and Plymouth via York, Leeds or Doncaster, to Sheffield and north to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.
• Northern Rail operates local services within Tyne and Wear, Teesside, Yorkshire, Cumbria, and Northumberland. Destinations include Sunderland, Morpeth, Middlesbrough, Hexham, and Carlisle. Some Carlisle services continue to Whitehaven, and to Glasgow via Dumfries.
• Transpennine Express trains run to Manchester and Liverpool Lime Street via York, Leeds and Huddersfield.
• First ScotRail operates daily services to Stranraer via Carlisle.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Chester-le-Street		CrossCountry Plymouth - Edinburgh Waverley		Morpeth
		CrossCountry Reading - Newcastle		Terminus
Terminus		First ScotRail Glasgow South Western Line		MetroCentre (Limited Service)
Chester-le-Street		First TransPennine Express North TransPennine		Terminus
Durham		National Express East Coast East Coast Main Line		Morpeth
Terminus		Northern Rail Tyne Valley Line		Dunston
Chester-le-Street		Northern Rail Tees Valley Line		Terminus
Terminus		Northern Rail East Coast Main Line		Manors
Heworth		Northern Rail Durham Coast Line		Terminus
Preceding station		Tyne and Wear Metro		Following station
Monument toward St James via the Coast		Yellow line		Gateshead toward South Shields
Monument toward Airport		Green line		Gateshead toward South Hylton

[edit] Railway infrastructure

Trains may cross the River Tyne on one of two bridges — the High Level Bridge (opened 1849) to the south-east of the station, and the King Edward Bridge (opened 1906) to the south-west. The trackwork north and south of the river forms a complete circle with these two bridges, allowing trains to be turned around if necessary. The former Gateshead depot is situated, next to the connecting tracks, on the opposite side of the Tyne, mirroring the station.

The station was famed for its highly complex "diamond crossing" to the east of the station. This facilitated access to the High Level Bridge and northbound ECML and was said to be the greatest such crossing in the world.^[2] The crossing has been greatly simplified in recent years, however, as the opening of the Metro brought about the withdrawal of many heavy-rail suburban services and the closure of the platforms they operated from, and removed the need for such a complex crossing. Heaton depot is to the north of the station, on the East Coast Main Line.

[edit] See also

• Newcastle station

[edit] External links

• Train times and station information for Newcastle Central railway station from National Rail
• Aerial view and map of station (Google Maps)
• Newcastle Central Station - Part of the 2000 art exhibition "Stephenson's Legacy." Includes old photographs of the station.

[edit] References

v • d • e Railway stations in Tyne and Wear Blaydon - Dunston - Heworth - Manors - MetroCentre - Newcastle Central - Sunderland Transport in Tyne and Wear - Nexus - Tyne and Wear Metro

v • d • e Major UK railway stations Managed by Network Rail: Birmingham New Street • Edinburgh Waverley • Gatwick Airport • Glasgow Central • Leeds • Liverpool Lime Street • Manchester Piccadilly Managed by train operator: Belfast Central • Belfast Great Victoria Street • Brighton • Bristol Parkway • Bristol Temple Meads • Cardiff Central • Cardiff Queen Street • Crewe • Derby • Doncaster • Glasgow Queen Street • Manchester Victoria • Newcastle • Nottingham • Reading • Sheffield • York Railway stations of London: Central area | Greater London Managed by Network Rail: Cannon Street • Charing Cross • Euston • Fenchurch Street • King's Cross • Liverpool Street • London Bridge • Paddington • St Pancras • Victoria • Waterloo Managed by train operator: Blackfriars • Clapham Junction • Marylebone • Moorgate • Waterloo East

Coordinates: 54.96858° N 1.617141° W