The name Sunderlandis reputed to come from Soender-land (soender/sunder being the Anglo Saxon infinitive, meaning to part, sonder means broken in modern Swedish), likely to be reference to the valley carved by the River Wear that runs through the heart of the city. Another meaning is that of the name referring to land set asid, derived from the rich Christian heritage of the city. However, in Danish, snderland would mean the south land or southern side.
Sunderland station is a National Rail and Tyne and Wear Metro station in Sunderland, north east England. It is the only station in the country where both heavy rail and light rail services use the same platforms. Although the tracks are shared between Sunderland and Pelaw Metro Junction (a short distance south of Pelaw Metro station), Northern Rail trains do not call at any of the intermediate stations.
Historically a part of County Durham, there were three original settlements on the site of modern-day Sunderland. On the north side of the river, Monkwearmouth was settled in 674 when Benedict Biscop founded the Wearmouth Jarrow monastery. Opposite the monastery on the south bank, Bishopwearmouth was founded in 930. A small fishing village called Sunderland, located toward the mouth of the river (modern day East End) was granted a charter in 1179.
Metro services run at a peak of eight per hour calling at all stations. To the south, services run to South Hylton along the alignment of the Sunderland to Durham mainline that fell to the Beeching Axe in the 1960s. The first station is Park Lane, which provides a direct interchange with the bus and coach station.Northbound the first station is St Peter's which is a couple of hundred yards south of the long closed Monkwearmouth station that is now a museum.
The track is shared with mainline trains as far as Pelaw Metro Junction, just south of Pelaw Metro station. The former mainline stations at Brockley Whins, East Boldon, Seaburn are now served only by the Metro. In addition new stations at Fellgate, the Stadium of Light, and St Peter's were constructed. The current regional operator Northern Rail provides an offpeak service of one train per hour between Sunderland and Newcastle in both directions, with many trains also running to the MetroCentre shopping centre, Hexham, Carlisle and Middlesbrough.
The service to Newcastle Central Station is now considered an express service, calling only at Heworth, which is also served by the Metro, but the lines are segregated at this point. The former stopping service (which called at Seaburn, East Boldon and Brockley Whins) is now provided only by the Metro.
Work started on refurbishing Sunderland station in January 2008.Article on the Nexus site The refurbishment of the station should make it brighter and cleaner, unlike the current dark and damp station, which doesn't give Sunderland credit from passengers arriving from London (and York etc.) via Grand Central.
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