Thus a series of improvements were initiated by the NER to better integrate is fragmented network. For the DCL, one of the first of these saw the construction of a new curve to link the ex-LNR Stockton branch to the former network of Stockton & Darlington Railway (absorbed by the NER in 1863), which linking Middlesbrough to lines towards Stockton and Hartlepool. Combined with the 1873 realignment of the south to east curve at Norton Junction, which eased the severity of its curvature, this massively improved the connections between Hartlepool and the rest of the Teesside region.