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.

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 mi 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 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, 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.

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:

Platforms 10 and 11 exist outside the main body of the station. Another siding (the former fruit dock) exists opposite Platform 11.
 * 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, CrossCountry, First TransPennine Express services and sometimes Northern Rail heading for Blackpool North.

Services


The station is operated by East Coast and are used by the following Train Operating Companies:

East Coast
East Coast provides the majority of services to London as well as many services northbound to Newcastle, Glasgow and Edinburgh: Rolling stock used: Inter-City 225 (Class 91 electric locomotive and DVT) and Inter-City 125 (HST)
 * northbound to Darlington, Durham, Newcastle, Berwick-upon-Tweed, Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Central, Dundee, Aberdeen, Inverness and other stations on the ECML.
 * Doncaster, Peterborough, London King's Cross and other stations on the ECML.

CrossCountry
CrossCountry provides a number of services 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)
 * nortbound to Darlington, Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne, Berwick-on-Tweed, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen
 * southbound to Leeds, Wakefield Westgate, Doncaster, Sheffield, Derby, Birmingham New Street, Bristol Temple Meads, Exeter St Davids, Plymouth, Penzance, Reading, and Southampton

East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains provides one weekend return journey between York and London St Pancras via the Midland Mainline, as well as one summertime Saturday journey to/from Scarborough: Rolling stock used: Class 222 Meridian diesel multiple units
 * northbound to Scarborough during summer months
 * southbound to Sheffield, Derby, Leicester and London St Pancras as well as other stops on the Midland Main Line

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
 * westbound to Leeds, Huddersfield, Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Airport and Liverpool Lime Street
 * northbound to Scarborough, Middlesbrough, Darlington, Durham and Newcastle on the North TransPennine Line.

Grand Central
Grand Central runs an open access service between Sunderland and London: Rolling stock used: Inter-City 125
 * northbound to Hartlepool and Sunderland
 * southbound to London Kings Cross on the ECML

Northern Rail
Northern Rail provides a number of commuter services to: Rolling stock used: Sprinter (Class 150/153/155/156/158) and Pacer (Class 142/143) diesel multiple units
 * Knaresborough, Harrogate and Leeds on the Harrogate Line
 * Leeds, Bradford Interchange, Halifax, Blackburn, Preston and Blackpool North
 * Selby and Hull Paragon on the Hull to York Line
 * Limited service to Sheffield on the Dearne Valley Line.