Durham Coast Line

Durham Coast Line
Looking southwards towards Hartlepool from the site of the former Hart Station, March 2016
Overview
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	North East England
Termini	Newcastle Central Middlesbrough
Stations	10
Operation
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Northern Grand Central Railway Virgin Trains East Coast Tyne and Wear Metro
Technical
Track gauge	4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
Electrification	1,500 V DC (Pelaw Junction to Sunderland South Junction)

The Durham Coast Line (DCL) is the name given to the railway line which links Newcastle upon Tyne with Middlesbrough, via Sunderland and Hartlepool. The services are operated by Northern and the majority continue on from Newcastle to the MetroCentre and a few to Carlisle. It is an important diversionary route during closures on the East Coast Main Line.

The lines which make up the route were originally part of the North Eastern Railway, which became part the London and North Eastern Railway at the 1923 Grouping. The DCL comes under the aegis of the Tees Valley Rail Strategy, whose aims are to enhance services in the region. Under that scheme, Phase 1 undertaken on DCL resulted in an hourly service between Newcastle and Hartlepool from 2000; a half-hourly service was later to come into operation. Plans for Phase 2, including opening new stations, has been on hold since the Strategic Rail Authority came into being, when funding for the scheme was brought to a virtual standstill.

A halt at Greatham was downgraded to a partial service during the early 1980s and was closed on the 24 November 1991.

The section between the junction just south of Sunderland and Pelaw Junction (just south of Pelaw Metro station) is the only Network Rail route electrified at 1500V DC overhead for use by the Tyne and Wear Metro, which shares this section of the line.