The East Coast Main Line (ECML) is a 393-mile long (632 km) electrified railway between its southern terminus at London King's Cross station and Edinburgh Waverley via Peterborough, Doncaster, York, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle. The line is a key transport artery on the eastern side of Great Britain running broadly parallel to the A1 road. The main line acts as a 'spine' for several diverging branches, serving destinations such as Cambridge, Leeds, Hull, Sunderland and Lincoln, all with direct services to London. In addition, a few ECML services extend beyond Edinburgh to serve Glasgow Central, although the principal London-Glasgow route is the West Coast Main Line (WCML).
Leeds railway station is the mainline railway station serving the city centre of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is the fourth-busiest railway station in the UK outside London. It is located on New Station Street to the south of City Square, at the foot of Park Row, behind the landmark Queens Hotel. It is one of 20 stations managed by Network Rail.
York railway station is on the East Coast Main Line serving the city of York, North Yorkshire, England. It is 188 miles 40 chains (303.4 km) north of London King's Cross and on the main line it is situated between Doncaster to the south and Thirsk to the north. As of June 2018, the station is operated by London North Eastern Railway.
The Calder Valley line is a railway route in Northern England between the cities of Leeds and Manchester as well as the seaside resort of Blackpool. It is the slower of the two main rail routes between Leeds and Manchester, and the northernmost of the three main trans-Pennine routes.
The Huddersfield line is the main railway line between the English cities of Leeds and Manchester, via Huddersfield. It is one of the busiest MetroTrain lines. The route travels south-south-west from Leeds through Dewsbury. After a short westward stretch through Mirfield, where it runs on the ex-L&YR section, it continues south-west through Huddersfield, using the Colne Valley to its headwaters. The long Standedge Tunnel, just after Marsden, crosses under the watershed; the majority of the run down to Manchester is in the Tame Valley. From Manchester, some services continue to Manchester Airport and others to Liverpool.
The Harrogate line is a passenger rail line through parts of North Yorkshire and the West Yorkshire area of northern England connecting Leeds to York by way of Harrogate and Knaresborough. Service on the line is operated by Northern, with a few additional workings by London North Eastern Railway starting and terminating at Harrogate. West Yorkshire Metro's bus and rail MetroCard ticket is available for journeys between Leeds and Harrogate.
Doncaster railway station is on the East Coast Main Line in England, serving the city of Doncaster, South Yorkshire. It is 155 miles 77 chains (251 km) down the line from London King's Cross and is situated between Retford and York on the main line. It is managed by London North Eastern Railway.
Hull Paragon Interchange is a transport interchange providing rail, bus and coach services located in the city centre of Kingston upon Hull, England. The G. T. Andrews-designed station was originally named Paragon Station, and together with the adjoining Station Hotel, it opened in 1847 as the new Hull terminus for the growing traffic of the York and North Midland (Y&NMR) leased to the Hull and Selby Railway (H&S). As well as trains to the west, the station was the terminus of the Y&NMR and H&S railway's Hull to Scarborough Line. From the 1860s the station also became the terminus of the Hull and Holderness and Hull and Hornsea railways.
Huddersfield railway station serves the town of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England.
Selby railway station is a Grade II listed station which serves the town of Selby in North Yorkshire, England. The original terminus station was opened in 1834 for the Leeds and Selby Railway. The Hull and Selby Railway extended the line in 1840, and a new station was built, with the old station becoming a goods shed. The station was rebuilt in 1873 and 1891, the 1891 rebuilding being required due to the replacement of the swing bridge over the Ouse at the same time.
Batley railway station serves the large town of Batley in West Yorkshire, England. Situated 8 miles (13 km) south-west of Leeds on the main line to Huddersfield and Manchester, the station was opened by the London and North Western Railway in 1848.
Seamer railway station serves the village of Seamer in North Yorkshire, England. It lies near the end of the Scarborough branch on the TransPennine Express North TransPennine route, 39 miles (63 km) east of York at its junction with the northern end of the Yorkshire Coast Line. Seamer station is managed by TransPennine Express, with services being run by both Northern Trains and TransPennine Express.
Scarborough railway station, formerly Scarborough Central, is a Grade II listed station serving the seaside town of Scarborough, North Yorkshire. It lies 42 miles (68 km) east of York and is one of the eastern termini on the North TransPennine route, operated by TransPennine Express. The station is also at the northern end of the Yorkshire Coast line and is reputed to have the longest station seat in the world at 456-foot (139 m) long.
The Hull–Scarborough line, also known as the Yorkshire Coast Line, is a minor railway line in northern England used primarily for passenger traffic. It runs northwards from Hull Paragon via Beverley and Driffield to Bridlington, joining the York–Scarborough line at a junction near Seamer before terminating at Scarborough railway station.
Hensall railway station serves the village of Hensall in North Yorkshire, England. It is located on the Pontefract Line and is 22 miles (35 km) east of Leeds. The line is used regularly by the freight companies GB Railfreight, Freightliner and DB Cargo UK that transport coal and limestone to Drax and remove the gypsum created by the flue-gas treatment equipment. The branch line to the power plant diverges just to the east of the station and was formerly supervised from the nearby signal box, but is now remotely controlled from Ferrybridge signalling centre.
The York and Selby lines are commuter railway lines in West and North Yorkshire. They provide a frequent service between Leeds, York, and Selby and intermediate stations. Metrocards of West Yorkshire Metro can be used between Leeds and Micklefield. Train operating companies are Northern for stopping trains, and CrossCountry, London North Eastern Railway and TransPennine Express for long-distance trains which continue beyond the termini of the local routes to and from Hull, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne and Scotland. The Leeds bound trains continue to Manchester, Liverpool, Reading, Plymouth, Penzance and Bristol.
York Rail Operating Centre is a Rail operating centre (ROC) located at the south western end of York railway station in York, England. The site is one of twelve that will control all signalling across the mainland of the United Kingdom. It was opened in stages from 2014 onwards, with responsibility for signalling becoming active in January 2015. The York ROC accepted the role of its predecessor, the adjacent York Integrated Electronic Control Centre (IECC), in December 2018.
The York and Doncaster branch was a railway line that opened in 1871 connecting Doncaster with York via Selby in Yorkshire, England. This line later became part of the East Coast Main Line (ECML) and was the route that express trains took between London King's Cross, the north of England and Scotland. It was opened by the North Eastern Railway (NER) between York and Shaftholme Junction, some 4.5 miles (7.2 km) north of Doncaster railway station. Between its opening in 1871 and the grouping in 1923, the line was used by both the NER, and the Great Northern Railway (GNR). All of the intermediate local stations that had opened with the line in 1871 closed down in the 1950s and 1960s leaving just Selby open between the town of Doncaster and the city of York.
The Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) is a major investment being made in the railway between York and Manchester via Leeds and Huddersfield – the 76 miles (122 km) northern route over the Pennines, most of which is also known as the Huddersfield line. As of 2023, the line is heavily used but is slow and lacks capacity. It has Victorian infrastructure, covers difficult terrain including the 3-mile (4.8 km) Standedge Tunnel, and has poor access roads. So, improving it is seen as challenging and very disruptive.
Richmond Hill Tunnel is a railway tunnel to the east of Leeds city centre, in West Yorkshire, England. The tunnel is known to be the first in the world specifically designed to carry passengers to be worked by steam trains rather than a stationary engine. One of the innovative methods employed to reassure passengers going through the lightless tunnel, was to place copper sheets underneath the air shafts which were intended to reflect the light around the tunnel. The original Richmond Hill Tunnel was 700 yards (640 m) long, but in 1894, it was widened into a cutting with a shorter tunnel, which is the existing structure in use today. The present Richmond Hill Tunnel is 118 yards (108 m) long, and is part of the longer Marsh Lane Cutting, which connects the eastward entrance and exit into Leeds railway station to the lines going towards Selby and York.
