Leeds railway station

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In March 1941, the Luftwaffe launched attacks on Leeds, Armley, Beeston and Bramley. Leeds New Station was one of the primary targets, along with the Town Hall, Kirkgate Markets, the Central Post office, the Quarry Hill flats, Hotel Metropole and part of the Inner Ring Road. The station was bombed, causing an unknown number of casualties, and was later rebuilt.

The Transport Act 1947 nationalised nearly all forms of mass transport in Great Britain and came into effect on 1 January 1948. [15] British Railways came into existence as the business name of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Commission (BTC) on 1 January 1948.

1962 British Railways House

In 1962, British Railways House, now City House, was added to the railway station. It was designed by architect John Poulson providing British Railways with administrative buildings. The building became dated and hard to let before refurbishment in 2009. The building was lambasted in 1967 by poet John Betjeman who said it blocked all the light out of City Square, and was a testament to money with no architectural merit. In 2010 the building was bought by property company Bruntwood which is (as of 2017) redeveloping it to provide serviced offices, with a new look to the façade.

1967 rebuilding

In 1967, further remodelling of the site took place and trains using Central Railway Station were diverted into the City Railway Station which became the main railway station serving the city. Central Railway Station was closed and has been demolished. The viaduct leading to Central Railway Station is one of many disused viaducts near Leeds Railway Station. Engineering work included replacing 100-year-old bridges over the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, the construction of the south concourse and an overall roof, along with major platform and track layout alterations and the commissioning of a new power signal box to control the railway station area.

At the time of this rebuilding, the railway station was served by 500 trains on a typical day, with 2.75 million passenger journeys a year. Wellington (or City North) became entirely devoted to parcels traffic at this time with the track layout extensively changed. The remaining Midland line trains which previously used City North station were diverted into the City South station, the former LNWR/NER 'New' station, and called simply Leeds from this time.

Electrification

The station had overhead electrification installed under the ownership of British Rail in 1988, to facilitate usage of the new Class 91 services on the East Coast main line. [16]

2002 rebuilding

Platforms three to five Platforms 3-5 at Leeds City railway station 01.jpg
Platforms three to five
Outer platforms Transpennine train at Leeds (geograph 4704285).jpg
Outer platforms

By the 1990s, the railway station's capacity was exceeded on a daily basis, and the 1967 design was deemed inadequate. Between 1999 and 2002, a major rebuilding project took place, branded as Leeds 1st. This project saw the construction of additional approach tracks at the western end of the railway station, improving efficiency by separating trains travelling to or from different destinations and preventing them from having to cross each other's routes. The railway station was expanded from 12 to 17 platforms, with the construction of new platforms on the south side, and reopening of the disused parcels depot to passengers on the north side.

The majority of the track, points and signals were also replaced and the 1967 power box closed – control being handed over to the signalling centre at York. The most visible change to passengers, however, was the replacement of the 1967 metal canopy with a new glass roof, considerably increasing the amount of daylight on the platforms. A new footbridge was also provided, replacing the previous underpass. Ancillary improvements included a new multi-storey car park and railway station entrance, refurbishing the North Concourse and expanding retail facilities.

A small temporary railway station called Leeds Whitehall was provided to handle some services while the railway station was being remodelled. This was used between September 1999 and February 2002. [17]

2008 work

In 2008, automated ticket gates were installed in place of the human-controlled ticket checking, to speed up the passage of passengers. When the gates came into operation at the end of October 2008, they suffered from several faults including accepting expired tickets. [18] An oversight on the part of Northern also meant that the gates were not compatible with West Yorkshire Metro Cards. [19]

Southern entrance

A £17.3 million southern entrance to allow for easier access from the south completed on 3 January 2016. [20] [21] It widens the railway station's western footbridge and provides escalators, stairs and lifts to a partial deck over the River Aire in an iconic structure. The deck provides access to either side of the river for passengers to access Granary Wharf and Little Neville Street or Holbeck. It contains extra ticket vending machines and cycle storage. Around 20% [20] of passengers are expected to use the new entrance. [22] [23]

South concourse and platform zero

Work on a new terminal platform alongside platform 1 (labelled platform 0) began in late 2018 and was completed in January 2021. [24] [25]

In November 2018 Network Rail began work to improve the south concourse. The first phase of works aimed to reduce congestion by moving and expanding ticket barriers. A new transparent roof was installed, matching the design at the Southern entrance, with works completed in October 2019. [26] [27]

Accidents and incidents

Future

Leeds
National Rail logo.svg
Leeds City Station (geograph 7282625).jpg
The New Station Street entrance
General information
Other namesLeeds City
Location Leeds, City of Leeds
England
Coordinates 53°47′38″N1°32′49″W / 53.794°N 1.547°W / 53.794; -1.547
Grid reference SE299331
Managed by Network Rail
Transit authority West Yorkshire Metro
Platforms18 - numbered 0-17 (National Rail)
Other information
Station codeLDS
Fare zone1
Classification DfT category A
History
Opened1938
Rebuilt 1967
Rebuilt 2002
Passengers
2018/19Decrease2.svg 30.839 million

Leeds City railway station is the third-busiest railway station outside London in England; [32] being a very busy railway station, expansion is needed. Passenger numbers at Leeds are expected to surge by 63% by 2029, meaning further expansion is necessary. [33]

Future remodelling

In October 2017, it was proposed that the station could be remodelled for the proposed HS2 scheme. The proposal includes new platforms on the northside of Leeds as well as HS2 services running into the existing east–west platforms as well as the proposed terminal platforms allowing links to proposed 'Northern Powerhouse Rail'. [34] In November 2017, details were released about how the station might look. [35]

Expansion

Plans are being drawn up to expand the railway station's capacity with new lines and platforms alongside platform one in the Riverside Car Park on the site of the original Leeds Wellington railway station to cater for predicted growth. Also Metro announced plans to replace platform 1 with three separate platforms using the car park next to it. This would increase platform numbers from 17 to 20.

HS2 platforms

A graphical mock-up showing how the proposed HS2 platforms (blue) were to be joined to the existing Leeds station platforms (pink). Leeds station proposed HS2 platforms.png
A graphical mock-up showing how the proposed HS2 platforms (blue) were to be joined to the existing Leeds station platforms (pink).

The original plans for High Speed 2 proposed a separate new station in Leeds to the south of the River Aire at New Lane. [36] [37] However, a later review in November 2015 instead recommends that HS2 platforms be added to the existing station. [38] These would attach to the southern part of the existing station building, and span the river in a north–south alignment to create a 'T' shape.

Whilst not directly linking the rail lines, it will allow a common concourse for easy interchange between high speed and classic rail services. These plans were approved by the Government in November 2016. [39] [40]

However, on 18 November 2021, Grant Shapps (Transport Secretary) announced that the eastern leg of HS2 would be cancelled, terminating at East Midlands Parkway instead of going all the way to Leeds. [41] Eventually, the leg reaching East Midlands Parkway was scrapped too, with no new track north of Birmingham Curzon Street. [42]

Services

The railway station is served by long-distance services operated by CrossCountry, London North Eastern Railway and TransPennine Express, and local and regional services operated by Northern. It is the hub of the Metro network in West Yorkshire. The typical off-peak service in trains per hour (tph) and trains per day (tpd) is

London North Eastern Railway

CrossCountry

TransPennine Express

Northern Trains

Preceding station  National Rail logo.svg National Rail  Following station
CrossCountry
London North Eastern Railway Terminus
TransPennine Express
Terminus
Terminus Northern
Wharfedale Line
Northern
Airedale Line
Northern
Settle-Carlisle Line
Northern
Leeds-Morecambe Line
Northern
Leeds-Bradford Line
Northern
Harrogate Line
Northern
Blackpool North–York
Northern Terminus
Northern
Halifax–Hull
Northern Terminus
Northern
Northern
Northern
Leeds–Nottingham
Northern
Leeds–Lincoln

Former services

East Midlands Railway (EMR) and its predecessors operated a number of services to and from London St Pancras via the Midland Main Line until May 2022. Two evening northbound and two morning southbound services operated primarily to cycle InterCity 125 sets through Neville Hill TMD. [49] After EMR withdrew its last InterCity 125 sets in May 2021, the service was reduced to a single northbound service operated by a Class 222. It was withdrawn in May 2022. [50]

See also

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Further reading