Bradford Interchange

Bradford Interchange
Bradford Interchange
The car park and entrance
Location
Place	Bradford
Local authority	City of Bradford
Coordinates	Template:Coord/display/inline,title
Grid reference	Template:Gbmapscaled
Operations
Station code	BDI
Managed by	Northern Rail and Metro
Platforms in use	4 rail & 29 bus stands
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail
Annual rail passenger usage
2004/05 *	2.401 million
2005/06 *	File:Increase2.svg 2.483 million
2006/07 *	File:Decrease2.svg 1.515 million
2007/08 *	File:Increase2.svg 1.517 million
2008/09 *	File:Increase2.svg 2.248 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	West Yorkshire (Metro)
Zone	3
History
1850	Opened as Bradford Exchange
1973	Resited south
1983	Renamed as Bradford Interchange
2001	Bus station rebuilt
National Rail - UK railway stations
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* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Bradford Interchange from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.
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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

File:Bradford Interchange. - geograph.org.uk - 419820.jpg

The bus station concourse at Bradford Interchange.

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

File:42072 Bradford Exchange.jpg

LMS Fairburn 2-6-4T 42072 at Bradford Exchange, 1966/7

File:Bradford exchange 2 train station 1872152 eb1a2f58.jpg

Internal view in 1961

File:Bradford exchange 1 rail station1872170 5d672f8d.jpg

Platform view in 1961

File:Bradford Interchange 1990s.jpg

Bradford Interchange bus terminal c. 1998, taken from the footbridge that connected the platforms. The green signs indicate departure bays. Note Keighley & District, First Bradford Traveller and WYPTE liveried buses.

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 Category:Aldwych Branch The Short Streach Of Line Between Holborn And Aldwych Was Closed In 1994.The Line Was Due To be extended to Waterloo but never was.There will be a bit of Aldwych In My Website when added, a width of Category:Aldwych Branch The Short Streach Of Line Between Holborn And Aldwych Was Closed In 1994.The Line Was Due To be extended to Waterloo but never was.There will be a bit of Aldwych In My Website when added for each arch and a height of Category:Aldwych Branch The Short Streach Of Line Between Holborn And Aldwych Was Closed In 1994.The Line Was Due To be extended to Waterloo but never was.There will be a bit of Aldwych In My Website when added, 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.

Services

Bus and coach

Number	Operator	Start	Terminus	Notes
X6	First Bradford	Here	Leeds Bus Station
X11			Leeds or Pudsey
X63	First Huddersfield		Huddersfield
67	The Keighley Bus Company		Keighley
68
72	First Leeds		Leeds Bus Station
253	Arriva Yorkshire		Dewsbury
256	First Bradford		Brighouse
268	Arriva Yorkshire		Dewsbury
268A			Wakefield
283			Dewsbury
363	First Huddersfield		Huddersfield	Sundays only
425	Arriva Yorkshire		Wakefield
427
571	Yorkshire Tiger Calder Cubs		Halifax
576	First Halifax
606	TLC Travel		Euroway
607	First Bradford		Thornton
608			Holme Wood
610			Queensbury
611			Bradford Moor
614		Shipley	Buttershaw
615		Allerton	Eldwick
616		Bingley
617		Allerton	Holme Wood
618
620		Haworth Road	Bierley
621
622		Here	Eldwick
623
624
626			Baildon
630			Tyersal
633		Shipley	West Bowling
635		Bradford John Street	Rooley Lane
636		Here	Clayton
637
640			Buttershaw
641
643			Wibsey
644
645			Buttershaw
650	TLC Travel		Otley Bus Station
653				One trip each way a day, does not run Sundays
656	Yorkshire Tiger		Lucy Hall Drive
658
660			Shipley
675
676			Cottingley
677			Shipley
680			Bradford Royal Infirmary
662	The Keighley Bus Company The Shuttle		Keighley Bus Station
671	First Bradford	West Bowling	Thorpe Edge	Replaces the 670
681		Here	Halifax
682
686		Fagley	Brighouse
687			Here
688			Scholes
714		Here	Owlcotes Centre
737	Yorkshire Tiger Flying Tiger		Leeds Bradford Airport
747			Harrogate Bus Station
884	Arriva Yorkshire	Dewsbury	Malham	Sundays only

Rail

Operator	Start	Terminus	Stations
Northern	York	Blackpool North	Halifax, Hebden Bridge, Burnley Manchester Road, Accrington, Blackburn, Preston, Poulton Le Flyde
	Leeds	Manchester Oxford Road	Low Moor, Halifax, Sowerby Bridge, Mytholmroyd, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden, Rochdale, Manchester Victoria, Deansgate
	Here	Huddersfield	Low Moor, Halifax, Brighouse
Grand Central		London Kings Cross	Low Moor, Halifax, Brighouse, Mirfield, Wakefield Kirkgate, Pontefract Monkhill, Doncaster

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.

File:Bradford IC.jpg

A train arriving at Bradford Interchange, 2006

See also

• Bradford Crossrail

External links

Template:West Yorkshire bus stations Template:West Yorkshire railway stations Template:Bradford