Darlington Railway Station

It was not easy to decide on a rating, as this experience was quite a mixed bag. I think the bathroom itself is quite nice and has a lot of potential, but it was out of order, the red emergency cord was tied up and the bin would be better placed not infringing on the transfer space. Darlington Station has an accessible bathroom. It is located at the end of a little corridor off platform 4, past the door to the waiting room if you are coming from the ticket gates. It is unlocked with a RADAR key that is inserted into a panel that shows whether the bathroom is in use. The door opens to the outside left and the handle is a vertical bar. The door is operated with the RADAR key interface from the outside and via touch pad from the inside. The door locks when the touch pad on the wall inside next to the door is pressed and then glows red. The toilet is on the left as you enter. There is space for a right-side transfer. There is a vertical grab rail on the wall and a moveable horizontal one to the left of the toilet and a fixed horizontal handrail on the wall to the right of the toilet. The flush is a spatula lever, located on the side of the cistern on the side of the transfer space. The toilet roll dispenser is on the wall left of the toilet. There is a red emergency cord to the left of the toilet that reaches all the way to the floor. There is a medium-sized wall-mounted sink on the left as you enter that has a tap with a short lever. There are vertical handrails on the wall on either side of the sink. The soap dispenser is mounted on the wall above the sink. There is a hand dryer mounted on the wall to the left of the sink and no paper towel dispenser. There is a mirror above the sink. There is a large footpedal bin in the corner of the transfer space. There is no colostomy shelf. There is also a wall-mounted baby change to the right when you enter.

I changed trains at Darlington between Edinburgh and Middlesbrough and had some time to look around the station. The station itself is in the nice brick and iron style of many older central stations with arched ceilings and skylights. While it is quite long, it only has two platforms with a building for bathrooms and waiting rooms in the middle, which makes it fairly easy to find your way around. Before you go through the ticket gates, you can find a Costa Coffee with some seating, a café, WHSmith, a tourist information and of course the travel centre, ticket office and ticket machines. There is an information booth with the assistance meeting point on the other side of the access gates, opposite the entrance to the waiting room on platform 4. The waiting room is not very large and was quite busy when I was there, but it has plenty of seating and some vending machines. There is a separate first class lounge off platform 1. The toilets are past the waiting room and lounge, accessible and women’s off platform 4 and men’s off platform 1. Here is an interactive map where you can search for facilities, zoom in and look from different angles: https://studio.prod.goodmaps.io/public-viewer?building=927ef4ea-5e1a-4b8a-8b6e-c337821d8424&region=UK

Hi. I live in the Darlington area so have used the station a few times. You need to make sure you go to the Victoria Road entrance - a taxi can drop you off there if you ask them to. There are also car parks nearby on Park Lane. From the Victoria Road entrance it is step-free all the way and throughout the station. The sloping ramps do look a little steep but they are fine - my basic mobility scooter goes up and down them no problem (and it's only supposed to do a 6 degree gradient!). It's not as bad as it looks. It was quite hard work with a manual wheelchair however, but doable. I have booked passenger assist from here a few times. You need to go to the information desk (a kiosk in the open platform area) half an hour before the train is due. Touch wood, ramps have always been provided when booked! Staff are helpful and will sort you out. After checking in at the info kiosk, you're usually asked to go and wait in the waiting room and a staff member will find you before the train comes, and take you and any baggage to the train, set down the ramps etc. It's best to travel in Coach A (if going to London or Edinburgh) which has a wheelchair space and also enough space for luggage as well. Parking can be an issue - the closest car park is the Park Lane one. There are disabled spaces there, but it can often be full unless you go early in the morning. However there is meter parking on the road opposite, so if you have a blue badge you can park there. Car parks can't be pre-booked so best option is to go early. There is another car park "Park Place" further down Victoria Road, but that is also often full unless you go early.