York railway station

This article is about a railway station in England. For the similarly named subway station in Brooklyn, New York City, see York Street (IND Sixth Avenue Line).

York
Location
Place	York
Local authority	City of York
Coordinates	53.9583°N 1.0930°W / 53.9583; -1.0930
Grid reference	SE596517
Operations
Station code	YRK
Managed by	East Coast
Owned by	Network Rail
Number of platforms	11
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2004/05	5.796 million
2005/06	6.148 million
2006/07	6.363 million
2007/08	6.534 million
2008/09	6.802 million
2009/10	6.856 million
2010/11	7.173 million
2011/12	7.581 million
History
1877	Opened
1909	Extended
1938	Footbridge Built
1947	Repaired
2008-9	Refurbished
National Rail – UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at York from Office of Rail Regulation statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal

York railway station is a main-line railway station in the city of York, England. It lies on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) 188.5 miles (303 km) north of London's King's Cross station towards Edinburgh's Waverley Station. Originally it was part of the North Eastern Railway.

York is one of the most important railway junction stations on the British railway network, approximately halfway between Edinburgh to London Kings Cross. It is also a few miles north of the point where the Cross Country and Trans-Pennine routes via Leeds leave the ECML. The junction was historically a major site for rolling stock manufacture, maintenance and repair.

History

The first York railway station was a temporary wooden building on Queen Street outside the walls of the city, opened in 1839 by the York and North Midland Railway. It was succeeded in 1841, inside the walls, by what is now York old railway station. In due course, the irksome requirement that through trains between London and Newcastle needed to reverse out of the old York station in order to continue their journey necessitated the construction of a new through station outside the walls. This was the present station, designed by the North Eastern Railway architects Thomas Prosser and William Peachey, which opened in 1877. It had 13 platforms and was at that time the largest station in the world. As part of the new station project, the Royal Station Hotel (now The Royal York Hotel), designed by Peachey, opened in 1878.

In 1909 new platforms were added, and in 1938 the current footbridge was built and the station resignalled.

The building was heavily bombed during the Second World War. On one occasion, on 29 April 1942, 800 passengers had to be evacuated from a Kings Cross-Edinburgh train which arrived during a bombing raid. On the same night, two railway workers were killed, one being station foreman William Milner (born 1900), who died after returning to his burning office to collect his first aid kit. He was posthumously awarded the King's commendation for gallantry. A plaque in his memory has been erected at the station. The station was extensively repaired in 1947.

The track layout through and around the station was remodelled again in 1988 as part of the resignalling scheme that was carried out prior to the electrification of the ECML shortly afterwards. This resulted in several bay platforms (mainly on the eastern side) being taken out of service and the track to them removed. At the same time a new signalling centre (York IECC) was commissioned on the western side of the station to control the new layout and also take over the function of several other signal boxes on the main line. The IECC here now supervises the main line from Temple Hirst (near Doncaster) through to Northallerton, along with sections of the various routes branching from it. It has also (since 2001–2) taken over responsibility for the control area of the former power box at Leeds and thus signals trains as far away as Gargrave and Morley.

In 2006–7, in order to improve facilities for bus, taxi and car users as well as pedestrians and cyclists, the approaches to the station were reorganised. The former motive power depot and goods station now house the National Railway Museum.

The station in 1958

Up express at York, Holgate

Up local goods train at York Racecourse (Holgate) in 1964

View SW, from the Racecourse Station in 1964

Layout

All the platforms except 9, 10 and 11 are under the large, curved, glass and iron roof. They are accessed via a long footbridge (which also connects to the National Railway Museum) or via lifts and either of two pedestrian tunnels.

Major renovation

The station was renovated in 2009. Platform 9 has been reconstructed and extensive lighting alterations were put in place. New automated ticket gates (similar to those in Leeds) were planned, but the City of York Council wished to avoid spoiling the historic nature of the station. The then operator National Express East Coast planned to appeal the decision but the plans were scrapped altogether upon handover to East Coast.

Recent developments

The southern side of the station has been given new track and signalling systems. An additional line and new junction was completed in early 2011. This work has helped take away one of the bottlenecks on the East Coast Main Line.

Platforms

The platforms at York have been renumbered several times, the current use is:

• Platform 1: South-facing bay platform mostly used for services to Hull and for stabling empty stock.
• Platform 2: North-facing bay platform connected only to the Scarborough branch, used mostly for stabling a spare TPX unit (along with the accompanying station siding).
• Platform 3: Main southbound platform (but is signalled bi-directionally), accessible directly from the station concourse. Fast southbound East Coast use this and generally call at London Kings cross only with some additionally stopping at Peterborough.CrossCountry services and some Westbound First Trans-Pennine Express services use this.
• Platform 4: Northward continuation of platform 3 connected only to the Scarborough branch, used by most First Trans-Pennine Express services from Scarborough.
• Platform 5: Main northbound platform (but is signalled bi-directionally), accessible by footbridge or tunnel. Most northbound East Coast or CrossCountry services, some North/Eastbound First Trans-Pennine Express services use this and Summer Saturday only East Midlands Trains services to Scarborough. Southbound Semi Fast East Coast services stop here which generally call at Doncaster, Newark North Gate, Peterborough and London Kings Cross.
• Platform 6: South-facing bay platform used mostly by Northern Rail commuter services, East Coast services to King's Cross station and on non summer Saturdays by East Midlands Trains services to London St. Pancras.
• Platform 7: South-facing bay platform used mostly by Northern Rail commuter services, East Coast services to King's Cross station and on non summer Saturdays by East Midlands Trains services to London St. Pancras.
• Platform 8: North-facing bay platform used almost exclusively by Northern Rail trains on the Harrogate Line.
• Platforms 9, 10, 11: Bidirectional platforms used by East Coast, Cross-Country, First TransPennine Express services and sometimes Northern Rail heading for Blackpool North.

Platforms 10 and 11 exist outside the main body of the station. Another siding (the former fruit dock) exists opposite Platform 11.

Services

York railway station from the air

The arched roof over the platforms

Replica zero post for the companies that used York station before Grouping.

Up Permanent Way stone train at York Yard South in 1961

The station is operated by East Coast and are used by the following train operating companies:

East Coast

East Coast provide the majority of services to London as well as many services northbound to Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh:

• northbound to Darlington, Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne, Edinburgh and Glasgow, Aberdeen, Inverness and other stations on the ECML
• Doncaster, Retford, Grantham, Newark, Peterborough, Stevenage, London and other stations on the ECML

Locomotives used: Inter-City 225 (Class 91 electric locomotive and DVT) and Inter-City 125 (HST)

CrossCountry

CrossCountry provide a number of services that run across the country, running as far north as Aberdeen and south as Plymouth and Southampton:

• nortbound to Darlington, Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen
• southbound to Leeds, Doncaster, Sheffield, Derby, Birmingham, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth, Reading and Southampton

Locomotives used: Class 220, Class 221 'Voyager' diesel multiple units and Inter-City 125 (HST)

East Midlands Trains

East Midlands Trains provide one weekend return journey between York and London St Pancras via the Midland Mainline, as well as one summertime Saturday journey to/from Scarborough:

• northbound to Scarborough during summer months
• southbound to Sheffield, Leicester, Kettering, Bedford, Luton and St Pancras along the Midland Main Line

Locomotives used: Class 222 Meridian diesel multiple units

First TransPennine Express

First TPE provides a number of express services across the north of England:

• westbound to Leeds, Huddersfield, Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Airport and Liverpool
• northbound to Middlesbrough, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle
• eastbound to Hull on the Hull to York Line, Selby and Scarborough on the North TransPennine Line.

Locomotives used: Class 170 and Class 185 "Pennine" diesel multiple units

Grand Central

Grand Central runs an open access service between Sunderland and London:

• northbound to Thirsk, Northallerton, Eaglescliffe, Hartlepool and Sunderland
• southbound to London Kings Cross on the ECML

Locomotives used: Inter-City 125

Northern Rail

Northern Rail provide a number of commuter services to:

• Knaresborough, Harrogate and Leeds on the Harrogate Line
• Leeds, Bradford, Halifax, Hebden Bridge and stations to Preston and Blackpool or Manchester Victoria
• Selby and Hull on the Hull to York Line
• Limited service to Pontefract and Sheffield on the Dearne Valley Line.

Locomotives used: Sprinter (Class 150/153/155/156/158) and Pacer (Class 142/143) diesel multiple units

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Leeds		CrossCountry Cross Country Route		Darlington
Doncaster
Doncaster		East Midlands Trains St Pancras-York (Winter only) St Pancras-Scarborough (Summer only)		Terminus
				Scarborough
Garforth		First TransPennine Express North TransPennine		Thirsk
				Northallerton
Leeds				Malton
				Terminus
London King's Cross		Grand Central London-Sunderland		Thirsk
Doncaster		East Coast London to York		Terminus
Doncaster		East Coast London to Newcastle		Northallerton
London Kings Cross		East Coast London to Edinburgh and beyond		Darlington
Ulleskelf		Northern Rail Dearne Valley Line		Terminus
Poppleton		Northern Rail Harrogate Line
Selby		Northern Rail Hull-York Line
Ulleskelf
Ulleskelf		Northern Rail York & Selby Lines
	Historical railways
Terminus		Y&NMR York to Scarborough Line		Haxby Station closed; Line open
	Disused railways
Terminus		NER York to Beverley Line		Earswick

External links

• Details from listed building database (464767) . Images of England. English Heritage.
• Images of England details of Old Station

• Train times and station information for York railway station from National Rail
• The Railway Revolution - on 'History of York' website
• History of York Station - Page dedicated to the history, layout and platforms at York Station.