Redcar British Steel railway station

Redcar British Steel is an un-served railway station in the borough of Redcar and Cleveland and the ceremonial county of North Yorkshire, England, that was served by trains from 1978 to 2019 before services were suspended.

Redcar British Steel
LocationRedcar, Redcar and Cleveland
England
Coordinates54°36′35″N 1°06′47″W
Grid referenceNZ573241
Owned byNational Rail
Managed byNorthern Trains
Platforms2
Tracks2
Other information
Station codeRBS
ClassificationDfT category F2
History
Original companyBritish Rail (Eastern Region)
Key dates
19 June 1978Opened
13 December 2019Services suspended
Passengers
2015/16 740
2016/17 50
2017/18 40
2018/19 360
2019/20 1,060[lower-alpha 1]
Location
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Opened to serve Teesside Steelworks, it is located on the Tees Valley Line and was latterly managed by Northern. In 2017/18 it was the least used station in Britain, with an estimated 40 passenger entries/exits.[1]

Due to the fact that the British Steel site is no longer publicly accessible, Northern suspended all services to and from the station in December 2019.[2][3]

History

The station opened on 19 June 1978[4] and is situated on a re-sited portion of route that was commissioned on that date by British Rail to allow the previous alignment to be used for an expansion of the steelworks site. This included a station at Warrenby Halt that the current structure replaced.[5]

According to the Strategic Rail Authority, only 486 entries and exits were recorded for the station during the 2004–05 period, mainly due to there being no public access to and from the station (it being located on Tata Steel Europe property) and also due to the limited service. However, the numbers had increased to 1,570 entries and exits by the 2014–15 period.

The majority of the steelworks, including the Redcar blast furnace, Redcar and South Bank coke ovens and the BOS plant at Lackenby, closed in 2015, resulting in a drop in passenger usage of the station from the previous year. In the 2016–17 period the entries and exits dropped to only 50, becoming the fourth least used station in Britain.[6] In the 2017–18 period, it was the least used station in Britain with only 40 passengers, surpassing Barry Links.[1]

Work is beginning on regenerating the site of the former steelworks by the South Tees Development Corporation. As part of their vision they are hoping to revamp the station and improve the service frequency.[7] Services ceased to call at the station from 14 December 2019.[8]

The station received a boost in its usage figures during the 2018-19 period, recording 360 up from 40 during the previous period. This is highly likely to be as a result of its then title of Britain's 'least used railway station'.[9]

Services
Route 3:
Tees Valley Line
 Bishop Auckland
 Shildon
 Newton Aycliffe
 Heighington
 North Road
 Darlington
 Dinsdale
 Teesside Airport
Allens West
 Thornaby
 Middlesbrough
 South Bank
 Redcar Central
 Redcar East
 Longbeck
 Marske
 Saltburn

At the time of its suspension there were two trains in each direction Monday to Saturday. The two eastbound services served all stations to Saltburn with one originating from Hexham (coming via Newcastle, Sunderland and Middlesbrough) and the other originating from Bishop Auckland (via Darlington and Middlesbrough). The two westbound services both originated from Saltburn and continued to Bishop Auckland.[10]

References
  1. "Redcar British Steel station 'least used' in Britain". BBC News. 12 December 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2019.
  2. "Bishop Auckland and Darlington to Middlesbrough and Saltburn Timetable" (PDF). Northern. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 November 2019. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  3. "Redcar British Steel Station Information". Northern. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  4. Butt, R. V. J. (1995). The Directory of Railway Stations: details every public and private passenger station, halt, platform and stopping place, past and present (1st ed.). Sparkford: Patrick Stephens Ltd. p. 44. ISBN 978-1-85260-508-7. OCLC 60251199.
  5. Delplanque, Paul (14 November 2008). "The Village That Disappeared". Remember When. gazettelive.co.uk. Archived from the original on 31 March 2009. Retrieved 2 December 2013.
  6. "Loneliest station has biggest rise in use". BBC News. 1 December 2017. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  7. "Redcar SSI site regeneration plan 'may create 20,000 jobs'". BBC News. 18 October 2017. Retrieved 10 June 2018.
  8. "Rail service launch hailed 'huge step forward'". BBC News. 12 September 2019. Retrieved 12 September 2019.
  9. "Least used railway station Redcar British Steel gets visitor boost". BBC News. 14 January 2020. Retrieved 14 January 2020.
  10. Services calling at British Steel Redcar 13 December 2019 Real Train Times

Notes
  1. Services were suspended on 13 December 2019, and have not yet (as of January 2021) been reinstated.
Preceding station National Rail Following station
Redcar Central   Northern Trains
Tees Valley Line		   South Bank
  Historical railways  
Redcar Central   British Rail (Eastern Region)
Tees Valley Line		   Grangetown
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