Bradford Interchange

Bradford Interchange is a transport interchange in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, which consists of a railway station and combined bus and coach station adjacent. The Interchange, which was designed in 1962, was hailed as a showpiece of European design and was opened in 1971. It is served by the majority of bus services in the city centre along with National Express Coaches, while the railway station, which is one of two in the city centre, is served by Northern Rail and is also the terminus for Grand Central services to Kings Cross railway station.

Layout and facilities
The main entrance with the taxi rank and car park is on a lower level, while the train platforms and bus/coach stops are on a split upper level, both separate with pedestrian access. Downstairs, in the central concourse, there are a few shops, a newsagent, a cafe and sandwich shop and a fast food outlet on the train platforms, where hot drinks are also available. Toilets are located off the main concourse.

There is also a British Transport Police office and lost luggage desk, provided for passengers' concern and safety at the railway station, with a separate security and lost-luggage unit for bus travellers, on the bus concourse. A smoking ban is observed in all parts of Bradford interchange, and CCTV is also in operation with security officers and police regularly patrolling the station.

The railway station has 4 platforms and a short bay that was previously used for the Red Star parcels facility. Platform 1 has a run-round facility for locomotive hauled trains (mainly freight services). The track layout and associated signalling was remodelled during the course of a week-long engineering blockade from 25 October to 3 November 2008 to permit higher speeds on both routes into the station and also allow trains to approach the station from both Leeds and Halifax simultaneously (something that was not possible with the old track configuration).

Ticket offices
Bradford Interchange has separate bus and train ticket outlets. The bus and Metro office, which also deals with National Express coach enquiries from a separate desk, is located in the central concourse. The train ticket office is next to the pedestrian entrance to the train platforms.

History
The original railway station, named Bradford Exchange, was opened by the joint efforts of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway and the Great Northern Railway on 9 May 1850. In 1867, the Leeds, Bradford and Halifax Junction Railway, which had previously used Bradford Adolphus Street, built a link to the tracks into Exchange station to join the two existing companies; Adolphus Street station was then closed to passenger use.

The station was completely rebuilt on the same site in 1880 with ten bay platforms and two arched roofs. Constructed of wrought iron, these rested at the outer sides on plain stone walls and classical corinthian style columns down the middle. Glass covered the middle half and timber (inside)/ slate (outside) covered the outer quarters of each span. The four end screens were glazed in a fan pattern with decorative timber outer edging. The dimensions were a length of 450 ft, a width of 100 ft for each arch and a height of 80 ft, track to apex. The station never had a formal frontage; instead, passengers entered by an opening in the northwest side.

In its 1920s heydey, it served routes to Wakefield Westgate via Ardsley (used by many of the city's through trains to London Kings Cross), Wakefield Kirkgate via Batley and Ossett, Keighley & Halifax via Queensbury, Mirfield via Cleckheaton (the Spen Valley line) and to Leeds via the Pudsey Loop in addition to the current lines. These however had all closed by the end of 1966 - most having fallen victim to the Beeching Axe.

By 1973, the station with its 10 platforms was deemed too large and was again rebuilt, this time on a different site slightly further south. The old Exchange station was demolished soon afterwards and was used for a time as a car park; the site now houses Bradford Crown Court and is due to be developed as a 'Justice Quarter' with new Magistrates' and Coroner's Courts. In 1977, a bus station was built alongside, and, in 1983, the station was renamed Bradford Interchange to link buses and trains in a covered environment. The bus station featured a large ridge and furrow design of overall roof, which was subsequently demolished in 1999 to allow for a rebuilding of the bus station, which was opened in 2001. This was paid for partly by the sale of some adjacent land to the south of the site and some now-surplus land on the old bus station site. During the 1970s and 1980s, the station was considered the mainline station for Bradford with express services to London King's Cross, Trans-Pennine services to Liverpool and Newcastle and summer Saturday services to the South-West. The Inter-city services were moved to Forster Square station in 1992 when the line was electrified. The station also had an adjacent Red Star Parcels terminus but, like most other mainline stations following the privatisation of British Rail, it lost this facility during the 1990s.

Bus and coach
The bus station is managed by Metro. The main operators at the bus station include First West Yorkshire, Arriva Yorkshire and Centrebus with other services run by Geldards Coaches, Transdev in Keighley, Stagecoach Yorkshire and TLC Travel. National Express coaches run nationwide from the station, Bharat Coaches run coach services to Derby, Leicester, Slough and Southall and Megabus runs services to Burnley, Halifax, Huddersfield, Skipton and East Midlands Parkway railway station (with train connections to London St Pancras railway station) as part of its Megabusplus service.

Local bus services run to many destinations, including Dewsbury, Halifax, Harrogate, Huddersfield, Ilkley, Keighley, Leeds, Otley and Wakefield, as well as services within the Bradford area, such as Shipley. A FreeCityBus service also serve the Interchange and runs to the main shopping sites of town, Bradford Forster Square railway station, Bradford College and the University of Bradford.

Rail
Bradford Interchange is on the Caldervale Line and is one of the two railway stations serving the city of Bradford. The other station is Forster Square, a 10 minutes walk away.

Monday to Saturday at daytime, services run every 15 minutes between the Interchange and Leeds and hourly onwards to York and Selby respectively. On evenings and Sundays, there are usually three services to Leeds each hour with one extended to York.

In the other direction, there is a train every 15 minutes to Halifax, with two trains an hour continuing to Manchester Victoria (one limited stop, the other serving all stations to Rochdale), one to Blackpool North and one to Huddersfield where customers can change for Sheffield, Wakefield Westgate, Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Airport.

Sundays, there are three services each hour to Halifax, with one continuing to Manchester Victoria and one to Blackpool North. One Halifax service continues to Huddersfield on alternate hours.

Because of the geography of Bradford, the station was built as a terminus, with the lines in a 'Y'-formation, so trains must reverse out of the station to continue their journey.

London services
The station now also sees regular services to London Kings Cross via Pontefract and Doncaster. In January 2009, Grand Northern (operating as Grand Central) had their application for train paths to run a Bradford Interchange to London service accepted by the Office of Rail Regulation. Three trains per day operate initially, now that full approval for the service has been granted; these use Class 180 units and started running from 23 May 2010. A fourth daily service in each direction will start in December 2013.

Ongoing improvements
The railway station has not seen significant improvements in many years.

The bus platforms were once more plentiful and originally featured a large 'ridge and furrow' glass roof, but it was demolished in the 1990s, following the sale of some land for an office development. The bus station was completely rebuilt in 2001.

Metro are currently considering improvements to the bus and rail platforms, including better access between facilities and pedestrian access between the bus concourse and the rail platforms, to save walking down and up the escalators.

The information displays were replaced in early 2009, following a modest facelift in autumn 2008, which included new signage and a repaint. In January 2010, automatic ticket barriers were installed by Northern Rail.

Further improvements under the National Station Improvement Plan are proposed, which include refurbished canopies, new flooring, more lighting and CCTV, a new waiting room and extra seating.

Under network rail's 'Northern Hub' development, the reintroduction of services to Liverpool Lime Street and new services to Manchester Airport and Chester have been announced.

Other interchanges
With the option to combine bus and rail transport, Bradford Interchange allows a flexibility in public transport not experienced in many other major Northern cities such as Manchester and Liverpool. Leeds recently tried to combine access to buses and trains with a small dual transport terminal, Leeds Station Interchange, but most buses from Leeds continue to operate from the city's main bus station. The best example of integrated services, at least for the time being, is now Hull Paragon Interchange.