The city of Durham has been served by four stations, only one of which survives today:
Shincliffe : located in nearby Shincliffe, this station was built in 1839 and was served by the Durham and Sunderland Railway, using rope haulage until 1856. It closed when Elvet station opened in the city centre. A second station, Shincliffe, on the Leamside to Ferryhill line, was opened in 1844. That closed to passengers in 1941.
Durham : opened in 1844, and within the city boundaries, it was served by a branch from Belmont on the Leamside Line, then the main line from London to Newcastle. Passenger services finished in 1857 with the opening of the current station on the branch from Leamside to Bishop Auckland but it continued in use as a goods shed until final closure in 1966. Today it has been redeveloped as a Travelodge hotel, while the serving track was used in the realignment of the A690 Gilesgate bypass road.
Durham: In 1857, a station on the current location and viaducts over North Road and the River Browney immediately to the south were built by the North Eastern Railway, on their Leamside to Bishop Auckland line to. The station was redeveloped in 1871, when the North Eastern Railway developed a new line from Tursdale through Relly Mill Junction to Durham, and onwards from Newton Hall Junction through Chester-le-Street to Newcastle Central via the Team Valley. This became the main line, the current East Coast Main Line on 15 January 1872.
Durham : in 1893, the Durham-Sunderland branch was diverted from Shincliffe Town to a new station at Elvet, within the city boundary. It closed to regular passenger services in 1931 and fully closed in 1953.
Today, the station is owned by Network Rail and managed by London North Eastern Railway. It was refurbished between 2006 and 2008 by the operator Great North Eastern Railway and later National Express East Coast, which included a new passenger lounge, toilets, travel centre, glazed waiting area, lifts and shops. The entrance and ticket hall were moved from the "temporary" 1960s building into the original stone building following renovation and repairs. The works were completed in early 2008 and the newly renovated station won "Best Medium Station" and "Overall Station of the Year" at the 2008 National Rail Awards. Ticket barriers were installed in 2009. After winning the intercity east coast rail franchise, former operator Virgin Trains East Coast opened an information office on platform 2, added new bench and perch seating and installed Wi-Fi. In 2017, all ticket barriers were removed as part of Virgin Trains East Coast's franchise commitment. A Brompton Bicycle hire scheme is planned to open in 2018 - however since the demise of Virgin Trains East Coast the management of the station has since passed on to London North Eastern Railway. Durham County Council, working with the North East Local Enterprise Partnership, have completed a project to improve cycle routes and pedestrian access to the station from the north of the city. This involved the construction of a new cycle path as well as upgrades to road crossings on Framwellgate peth. In order to accommodate the new London North Eastern Railway Class 800 and 801Azuma trains due to enter service in late 2018/early 2019, platform 1 has been extended north to a total length of 230 metres.
Services
Train services are provided by four companies: London North Eastern Railway, CrossCountry, TransPennine Express and Northern Trains. LNER serves Durham with one train per hour each way, southbound to via, and, and northbound to via. Some northbound services are extended beyond Edinburgh, with one service per day to both and, as well as one daily train to instead of Edinburgh. There is also one southbound train per day to instead of London. CrossCountry operates services on the Cross Country Route. Northbound, the company runs two trains per hour to, of which one continues through to and one train every two hours is extended even further, to. There are also two daily services that continue beyond Edinburgh to Dundee, of which one is further extended to Aberdeen. Southbound, there are two trains per hour to via, /, and ; of these, one train per hour continues to via and, and one continues to via, with two-hourly further extensions to. A few trains per day continue beyond Plymouth to, or beyond Reading to. TransPennine Express serves the station with two trains an hour each way. In the northbound direction, trains run to and one train per hour is extended to. Southbound, trains generally run to via, and ; of the two hourly services, one continues to and one runs further to. Northern Trains' services at Durham are less frequent, with just three morning trains every weekday north to Newcastle and one evening train per day south to.
