Leeds railway station

Leeds railway station (also known as Leeds City station)   is the mainline railway station serving the city centre of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. The station provides connections to London, Bristol, Plymouth and the South West, Nottingham, Birmingham and the Midlands, Newcastle upon Tyne, York, Edinburgh and the North East, Manchester and Liverpool and the North West, Hull, Scarborough, Selby and Doncaster, as well as to local and regional destinations in Yorkshire. It is also the terminus for trains running on the scenic Settle to Carlisle line, as well as the hub of the Metro commuter network. It is located on New Station Street to the south of City Square, at the bottom of Park Row, behind the landmark Queens Hotel; it is one of 17 stations managed by Network Rail.

With 25.0 million passenger entries and exits between April 2011 and March 2012, Leeds is the busiest railway station in the North of England and the third-busiest railway station in the United Kingdom outside London, after Birmingham New Street and Glasgow Central.

Description


The station is situated on a hill falling from the south of the city to the River Aire and the Leeds and Liverpool Canal basin. Much of it is supported on Victorian brick-vaulted arches situated just off Neville Street which contain a centre consisting of cafés, restaurants, shops and exhibition spaces called Granary Wharf, known locally as the Dark Arches.

The station has 17 platforms, making it the largest by number of platforms in England outside London. There are 11 terminus and six through platforms. Most platforms are subdivided into up to four sections, i.e. 1a, 1b, 1c etc. Retail facilities in the station include coffee shops, fast food outlets, a bar, newsagents, chemists, and supermarkets. A British Transport Police station on New Station Street houses officers who police the West Yorkshire railway stations.

Leeds station retained manned ticket barriers through the 1990s until 2008 when they were replaced by automatic barriers by Northern Rail to improve congestion around the barriers at peak times.

Platform usage varies depending on operational circumstances but is generally:
 * Platforms
 * 1–6 – Bay platforms mostly used by MetroTrain services operated by Northern Rail, although some East Coast (EC) and other Northern services start and finish there. EC services between Skipton or Bradford Forster Square and London reverse at these platforms.
 * 8, 9, 11, 12, 15, 16 – through platforms. In general, EC services that do not terminate or reverse at Platform 6 use Platform 8. CrossCountry services heading north to York and beyond depart from Platforms 9 or 11; services heading south use platform 12. Platforms 15 and 16 are used by north/east and south/westbound TransPennine Express services to Newcastle and York, and Huddersfield, Manchester Airport and Liverpool Lime Street.
 * 7, 14 – Bay platforms used for local Northern services running north/east from Leeds.
 * 10, 13, 17 – Bay platforms used for local and regional services running south/west to Sheffield and Nottingham.

Transport links
Leeds Interchange, located at the New Station Street exit, provides onward transport connections from the station. There are five bus stands serving Arriva, Centrebus and First routes 4, 5, 16, 16A, 19, 19A, 40, 62, 62A, 85, 87, 90, 95, 757, 870 and DalesBus services. A 24-hour taxi rank also operates at the interchange.

Further bus stops are located on Neville Street below the station, as well as around City Square outside the station. Infirmary Street and Boar Lane Bus Points are a short walk for more bus connections.

Cycle hub
Leeds Interchange hosts one of the UK's first cycle hubs that allows a number of cycling services including repair, storage and rental. The facility opened in Summer 2010 and is designed to encourage visitors and commuters into Leeds to continue their journey from the station by bike. Its design is based on the Dutch cyclepoint concept.

Past railway stations
The railways arrived in Leeds in 1834 when the Leeds and Selby Railway (which became part of the North Eastern Railway) opened its line. It had a terminus at Marsh Lane east of the city centre. In 1840, the North Midland Railway (a constituent of the Midland Railway) constructed its line from Derby via Rotherham to a terminus at Hunslet Lane to the south. It was extended to a more centrally-located terminus at Wellington Street in 1846, known as Wellington Station.

Another station, Leeds Central (on Wellington Street), was opened in 1854 by the Manchester and Leeds Railway and the London and North Western Railway, or LNWR. The station became owned jointly by the LNWR and the North Eastern Railway, but other companies had powers to run trains there, including the Great Northern Railway and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway.

In 1869 New Station opened as a joint enterprise by the LNWR and the North Eastern Railway. It connected the former Leeds and Selby Railway line to the east with the LNWR lines to the west. A mile-long connection was built, carried entirely on viaducts and bridges. New Station was built partially on a bridge over the River Aire adjacent to Wellington station.

The map to the right shows the variety of different railway lines in Leeds in 1913. Following the 1921 Railways Act, when railways in Great Britain were grouped into four companies, New Station was jointly-operated by the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) and the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER).

1938 rebuilding
The first rationalisation occurred in 1938, when two stations (New and Wellington) were combined to form Leeds City Station. The third station, Leeds Central, was unaffected by the change. Part of Wellington station became a parcels depot. The north concourse and the Queens Hotel were built at this time.

1962 British Railways House
In 1962 British Railways House, now City House, was added to the 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 plans to redevelop 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 Station were diverted into the City Station which became the main railway station serving the city. Central Station was closed and has been demolished. The viaduct leading to Central Station is one of many disused viaducts near Leeds 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. At the time of this rebuilding, the station was served by 500 trains on a typical day, with 2.75 million passenger journeys a year.

2002 rebuilding
By the 1990s, the 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 station, improving efficiency by separating trains travelling to or from different destinations and preventing them from having to cross each other's routes. The station was expanded from 12 to 17 platforms, with the construction of new platforms on the south side, and reopening of the now-disused parcels depot to passengers on the north side. The majority of the track, points and signals were also replaced. 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 station entrance, refurbishing the North Concourse and expanding retail facilities.

A small temporary station called Leeds Whitehall was provided to handle some services while the station was being remodelled. This has now been demolished.

2008 work
In 2008 automated ticket gates were installed in place of the human-controlled ticket checking, in order 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 invalid tickets. An oversight on the part of Northern also meant that the gates were not compatible with West Yorkshire Metro Cards.

Future
Passenger numbers are expected to surge by 63% by 2029, meaning further expansion is necessary.

Southern entrance
Construction of a £15 million southern entrance to allow for easier access from the south is planned for 2014. The proposal is to widen the station's western footbridge and provide escalators, stairs and lifts to a partial deck over the River Aire in a structure intended to be iconic. The deck will provide access to either side of the river for passengers to access Granary Wharf and Little Neville Street or Holbeck. A ticket office may open in the new entrance. Around 28% of passengers are expected to use the new entrance.

Expansion
Plans are being drawn up to expand the station's capacity with new lines and platforms alongside platform one in the Riverside Car Park on the site of the original Leeds Wellington station to cater for predicted growth.

South concourse
Network Rail plans to improve the south concourse by opening up the skylights to allow in natural light. The first phase of works will aim to reduce congestion. Consideration will be given to a mezzanine level for retail units. Network Rail has said that it "is looking at the feasibility of the provision of a new roof to the concourse. The latter scheme is one that will be taken forward in conjunction with Bruntwood" in connection with the redevelopment of City House. {{cite web|url=http://www.bruntwood.co.uk/Sites/Bruntwood/documents/building_brochures/City%20House%20final%20