Newcastle Central Station is the principal railway station for the city of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It opened in 1850 and is a Grade I listed building.
Construction and opening
The station was designed by John Dobson for the North Eastern Railway company, and 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 — one of the first examples of its kind. 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.
Train services
Newcastle Central Station is a key stop on the East Coast Main Line. Passenger services are operated by several companies:
- GNER trains run to London Kings Cross station via York and Doncaster, and to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen in Scotland.
- Virgin Trains run to Birmingham, Bristol, Devon and Cornwall via York, Leeds and Doncaster, and to Edinburgh, Glasgow and Aberdeen.
- Northern Rail operates local services within Tyneside, Teesside, Yorkshire, Cumbria, and Northumberland. Destinations include Morpeth, Sunderland, Middlesbrough, Hexham, and Carlisle. Some Carlisle services continue to Whitehaven, or to Glasgow via Dumfries.
- First Transpennine Express trains run to Manchester and Liverpool via York and Leeds.
- First ScotRail operates two daily services to Stranraer via Carlisle.
- Tyne and Wear Metro services operate from a dedicated underground station.
Railway infrastructure
Trains may cross the River Tyne on one of two bridges — the High Level Bridge (opened 1849) to the southeast of Central Station, or the King Edward Bridge (opened 1906) to the southwest. The trackwork north and south of the river forms a complete circle with these two bridges, allowing trains to be turned around if necessary. Gateshead locomotive depot is next to the connecting tracks on the opposite side of the Tyne, mirroring the station.
Central Station was famed for its "Diamond Crossing" to the east of the station. This facilitated access to both the High Level Bridge and northbound ECML and was once said to be the most complex railway crossing in the world. 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.
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