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Also known as Darlington (Bank Top), the imposing Grade II* Listed station building Link , designed by William Bell, was opened in 1887.

The scale of the building is best appreciated from the inside due to its cramped location amongst narrow streets. The grand entrance with an Italianate clock tower on Park Lane at Victoria Road is at odds with the surrounding cattle mart and terraced houses.

Built in red brick with four arched train shed roofs supported by ornate cast iron columns. Two of the arched roofs run the length of the station and accommodate the north and south bound through platforms, one which houses Platforms 2 & 3 which are terminal platforms serving Northern Rail services and one which covers the executive and short stay car parks. This area possibly housed terminal platforms at some time in the past. Platform 4a is a section at the south end of Platform 4.

Located on the East Coast Main Line, the station is well served by several rail companies; Virgin Trains East Coast, Cross Country, Trans Pennine Express and Northern Rail.

The Hitachi manufacturing and assembly plant at Heighington, Newton Aycliffe was built to support the Department for Transport's "Intercity Express Programme" Link . This programme was created to procure new trains to replace the ageing InterCity 125 fleet which operates on the East Coast Main Line and Great Western Main Line.

The factory will build 866 carriages of two variants under the IEP; the electric/diesel-electric hybrid Class 800, and the electric only Class 801.

The factory will also produce commuter trains and metro trains, the first of which is the Class 385 for Scotrail. A total of 70 of these are planned to be built, consisting of forty-six 3 car and twenty-four 4 car sets. These will run in the Central Belt of Scotland from late 2017.

The 43,000m2 factory was built on a 127,500m2 greenfield site near Heighington railway station Link over a two year period, with the official opening ceremony taking place on 3 September 2015 in the presence of Hiroaki Nakanishi of Hitachi and Prime Minister David Cameron. Fittingly, the factory is a short shunt away from where Robert Stephenson assembled the world’s first passenger steam engine in 1825.

Over 900 people are employed at the factory, which also includes research and development facilities and a 1km long test track. Up to 35 vehicles can be produced there each month.