Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen has committed £20m to build a new railway station at Teesside International Airport.
The station will be funded from £1bn of new money for transport allocated to Tees Valley Combined Authority following the scrapping of the northern leg of HS2.
Services at the current station have been suspended since May 2022, with no timescale for them resuming.
According to National Rail, the closure is due to “urgent repairs to the railway”. In 2021/22 just 42 people used the current station, making it the third least used in the country.
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The new project is part of Houchen’s transport package, which will be taken to Tees Valley Combined Authority cabinet for approval this month.
Houchen said: “We are ahead of schedule on our plan to turn things around, and the next phase of development following the opening of our business park and cargo facility, will see us build a new station at the airport.
“As a serious airport we need a working rail link that passengers can use to get to the airport, and with the current state of the train station this is simply not possible.
“This investment is another step towards making our fantastic local airport sustainable for the long-term and is only possible following the £1bn we received from government following the cancellation of the Manchester leg of HS2.”
The first phase of the project will start this month, added Houchen.
Achievements and innovations in public transport will be celebrated at the third annual CiTTi Awards, which will be held on 26 November 2024 at the De Vere Grand Connaught Rooms in London. Nominations officially open in March 2024. Please visit www.cittiawards.co.uk to learn more about this unmissable event for the UK’s transportation sector.
