ONE of the least used railway stations in the country will likely have to wait until 2024 at the earliest for more services to arrive. 

Teesside Airport station has been promised a £6m boost to revamp its tired facilities. 

At the moment, it only welcomes one train a week in one direction, with the latest statistics showing it received just 338 passengers in 2019/20. 

Read more: Darlington bypass faces long await for funding

Now a Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) transport report has revealed its unlikely to have any more services until the overhaul at Darlington Station is completed. 

The paper stated: “Due to rail capacity constraints it is proving difficult to identify opportunities for service enhancement until after completion of the Darlington Station project in 2024. 

“Work is under way to develop a scheme to upgrade the station, which could facilitate a future increase in services.”

Attention has been mainly placed on revamps at Darlington and Middlesbrough Stations in a bid to welcome more services to the region. 

Buses run from Darlington station to the airport at the moment. 

A 2020 combined authority report estimated the cost of making the current airport station safe – by removing a platform and the existing footbridge – would be about £700,000.

Chiefs ruled out moving the seldom-used stop closer to the terminal in 2019. 

In the past, suggestions including more shuttle buses and even a horizontal travelator have been put forward to boost its use.

The publicly-owned airport made a £13.8m loss in pandemic-hit 2020/21.

But Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen had said he’s confident it will attract 400,000 passengers next year through extra flights. 

When it came to the isolated train stop, the Conservative mayor told the Local Democracy Reporting Service its fortunes would rest on passenger numbers increasing on flights. 

Mr Houchen added: “Work is going to take place on the station but convincing rail operators to use it requires us to show passenger numbers increase.

“But as always the plan is to upgrade and bring the station back into use.”

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