The new Centre was officially opened by Mrs Sue Snowdon the Lord-Lieutenant of County Durham. Bishop Trains the operators of the Ticket Office at the station for the past 4 years have relocated into a new Travel Centre in the main station building. Mrs Snowdon, a regular user of the train service from Bishop Auckland said she was delighted to formally open the new Travel Centre describing it as a first class facility, light, bright, warm and comfortable, commenting that not only can you obtain tickets for local railway services but also national and international bookings. During the ceremony Mrs Snowdon took the opportunity to meet the Railway Youth Team based at the station in connection with the groups’ work for the
Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal where the group raised £3658.31 on trains between Bishop Auckland and Saltburn, taking time to speak to all of the members individually before cutting the ribbon to open the new Travel Centre. David Million, Business Partner for Bishop Trains commented “We are delighted that Mrs Snowdon officially opened our new Travel Centre today, at Bishop Trains we are very keen to provide the community with a station to be proud of and the move into our new office brings even more customer service benefits to users of the station. We are extremely proud of our Railway Youth Team who were given particular praise from the Lord-Lieutenant for their commitment and charity fundraising efforts”.