York railway station

This article is about the station in England. For the station in Brooklyn, New York City, see York Street (IND Sixth Avenue Line). For the former station in Western Australia, see York railway station, Western Australia.

York Add→{{rail-interchange}}
General information
Location	City of York
Owned by	Network Rail
Managed by	Virgin Trains East Coast
Platforms	11
Other information
Station code	YRK
Key dates
1877	Opened
1909	Extended
1938	Footbridge Built
1947	Repaired
2008-9	Refurbished
2014-15	Refurbished

York railway station is the main-line railway station serving the city of York in North Yorkshire, England. It lies on Britain's East Coast Main Line (ECML), 188.5 miles (303 km) from London. Originally it was part of the North Eastern Railway.

Despite the small size of the city, York is one of the most important railway stations on the British railway network because of its role as a key railway junction approximately halfway between London, the capital of England, and Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. It is few miles north of the point where the Cross Country and First TransPennine Express routes via Leeds leave/join the ECML connecting Scotland and the North East with southern England, the North West and the Midlands. 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 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.

York station in the early 20th Century

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, 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.

Station management transferred from Virgin Trains East Coast to Network Rail on the 30 June 2015.

The station in 2010

Accidents and incidents

• On 31 March 1920, a passenger train was derailed as it entered platform 8.
• On 5 August 1958, a passenger train crashed into the buffers at platform 12.

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. Between April 1984 and 2011 the old tea rooms housed the Rail Riders World/York Model Railway exhibition.

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.

The station has also become the site of one of Network Rail's modern Rail Operation Centres, which opened in September 2014 on land to the west of the station This took over the functions of the former IECC in January 2015 and will eventually control much of the East Coast Main Line from London to the Scottish border and various subsidiary routes across the North East, Lincolnshire and South, North & West Yorkshire.

Platforms

South-facing station approach

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 First TransPennine Express unit (along with the accompanying station siding).
• Platform 3: Main southbound platform (but is signalled bi-directionally), accessible directly from the station concourse. Fast and semi-fast southbound Virgin Trains East Coast for London King's Cross generally use this platform. Also, CrossCountry services, Grand Central and some westbound First Trans-Pennine Express services also use it.
• Platform 4: Northward continuation of platform 3 connected only to the Scarborough branch, used by First Trans-Pennine Express services from Scarborough.
• Platform 5: (Split into 5a and 5b) Main northbound platform (but is signalled bi-directionally). Fast northbound Virgin Trains East Coast services to Scotland use this and generally call at Darlington and Newcastle Central only. Accessible by footbridge or tunnel. Also used by some CrossCountry services northbound. North/eastbound First Trans-Pennine Express to Scarborough generally use this platform along with summer Saturday-only East Midlands Trains services to Scarborough. Southbound Virgin Trains East Coast services also stop here both fast and semi-fast, the latter of which generally call at Doncaster, Newark, Peterborough and London King's Cross.
• Platform 6: South-facing bay platform used mostly by Northern Rail commuter services and by terminating Virgin Trains East Coast services that return south to London King's Cross, 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, Virgin Trains East Coast services to/from London King's Cross starting/terminating at York, and non-summer Saturday services by East Midlands Trains 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: Bi-directional platforms used by semi-fast Virgin Trains East Coast services heading north to Newcastle and Scotland (but also some fast services), CrossCountry services north and southbound via Leeds, First TransPennine Express services westbound to Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Airport and northbound to Newcastle Central and Middlesbrough. Some Northern Rail services to Blackpool also use this platform.

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 ten lines of the North Eastern Railway.

The station is operated by Network Rail and is used by the following train operating companies:

Virgin Trains East Coast

Virgin Trains East Coast operates to London as well as many services northbound to Newcastle and Edinburgh. In addition, there are infrequent services to Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness. The fastest southbound services run non-stop to London, completing the 188 mile journey in 1 hour and 52 minutes.

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

CrossCountry

CrossCountry provides a number of services (Deutsche Bahn) that run across the country, running as far north as Aberdeen and south as Penzance and Southampton Central: Rolling stock used: Class 220, Class 221 'Voyager' diesel multiple units and Inter-City 125 (HST)

East Midlands Trains

East Midlands Trains provides one weekend return journey between York and London St Pancras via the Midland Main Line, as well as one summer Saturday journey to/from Scarborough: Rolling stock used: Class 222 Meridian diesel multiple units, and very rarely on Railtours Intercity 125.

First TransPennine Express

First TransPennine Express provides a number of express services across the north of England: Rolling stock used: Class 170 and Class 185 "Pennine" diesel multiple units

Grand Central

Grand Central (a subsidiary of Deutsche Bahn) runs an open access service between Sunderland and London: Rolling stock used: Inter-City 125 (HST) and Class 180

Northern Rail

Northern Rail provides a number of commuter services to: Leeds, Blackpool North, Preston and other destinations. Rolling stock used: Sprinter (Class 150/153/155/156/158) and Pacer (Class 142/144) 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 or Peterborough		Virgin Trains East Coast London-York		Terminus
Doncaster or Peterborough		Virgin Trains East Coast London-Newcastle/Edinburgh		Northallerton
London Kings Cross or Doncaster or Peterborough		Virgin Trains East Coast London-Newcastle/Edinburgh/Scotland express services		Darlington
Leeds		Virgin Trains East Coast Leeds-Aberdeen		Darlington
Ulleskelf		Northern Rail Dearne Valley Line		Terminus
Poppleton		Northern Rail Harrogate Line
Selby		Northern Rail Hull-York Line
Ulleskelf
Ulleskelf		Northern Rail Micklefield Line
	Future services
Leeds		TBA High Speed 3		Darlington
	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

• Train times and station information for York railway station from National Rail
• Historic England. "Details from listed building database ({{{num}}})". National Heritage List for England.
• Images of England details of Old Station
• The Railway Revolution – on 'History of York' website
• Winchester, Clarence, ed. (18 April 1935), "Famous Railway Centres 1: York", Railway Wonders of the World, pp. 375–380, description of the station in the 1930s