York railway station


York railway station is on the East Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom, serving the city of York, North Yorkshire. It is north of and on the main line it is situated between to the south and to the north. the station is operated by London North Eastern Railway.
York's station is a key junction approximately halfway between London and Edinburgh. It is approximately five miles north of the point where the Cross Country and TransPennine Express routes via Leeds join the main line, connecting Scotland and the North East, North West, Midlands and southern England. The junction was historically a major site for rolling stock manufacture, maintenance and repair.
In Britain's 100 Best Railway Stations by Simon Jenkins, the station was one of only ten to be awarded five stars.

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.
The present station, designed by the North Eastern Railway architects Thomas Prosser and William Peachey, opened on 25 June 1877. It had 13 platforms and was at that time the largest in the world. As part of the new station project, the Royal Station 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 King's Cross-Edinburgh train which arrived during a bombing raid. On the same night, two railway workers were killed, one being station foreman William Milner, 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 station was designated as a Grade II* listed building in 1968.
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 by British Rail. This resulted in several bay platforms being taken out of service and the track to them removed. At the same time a new signalling centre 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 through to, along with sections of the various routes branching from it. It has also taken over responsibility for the control area of the former power box at and thus signals trains as far away as and.
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.

Stationmasters

All the platforms except 9, 10 and 11 are under the large, curved, glass and iron roof. They are accessed via a long footbridge or via lifts and either of two pedestrian tunnels. Between April 1984 and 2011 the old tea rooms housed the Rail Riders World/York Model Railway exhibition.

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 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.
The station has also become the site of one of Network Rail's modern Rail Operation Centres, which opened in September 2014 on land to the west of the station This took over the functions of the former IECC in December 2018 and will eventually control much of the East Coast Main Line from London to the Scottish border and various subsidiary routes across the North East, Lincolnshire and South, North and West Yorkshire.

York Central

Located adjacent to the station, York Central is one of the largest city centre brownfield regeneration sites in the UK. The 45 hectare site has been designated as a UK Government ‘Housing Zone’ and has also been awarded ‘Enterprise Zone’ status, which offers commercial occupiers significant incentives. Outline planning approval was given for the site in March 2019. It is anticipated that development of the full site could take between 15 and 20 years to complete.

Platforms

The platforms at York have been renumbered several times, the most recent being in the late 1980s to coincide with a reduction in the number of platforms from 15 to 11. The current use is:
Platforms 10 and 11 exist outside the main body of the station. Another siding exists opposite Platform 11.

Services

The station is operated by London North Eastern Railway and is used by the following train operating companies:

London North Eastern Railway

London North Eastern Railway operates to London as well as many services northbound to Newcastle and Edinburgh. In addition, there are infrequent services to Glasgow, Aberdeen and Inverness.
The fastest southbound services run non-stop to London, completing the 188 mile journey in 1 hour and 52 minutes.
Rolling stock used: Inter-City 225, and, Class 800 Bi-Mode Trains & Class 801 Electric Trains

CrossCountry

provides a number of services that run across the country, running as far north as Aberdeen and south as and via Birmingham New Street:
Rolling stock used: Class 220, Class 221 'Voyager' diesel multiple units and Inter-City 125

East Midlands Railway

provides one weekend return journey between York and London St Pancras via the Midland Main Line, as well as one summer Saturday journey to/from Scarborough:
Rolling stock used: Class 222 Meridian diesel multiple units, and very rarely on railtours, InterCity 125s.

TransPennine Express

provides a number of express services across the north of England :
Rolling stock used: Class 185 "Pennine" diesel multiple units, Class 68 Locomotives with MK5a Coaching Stock & Class 802 Bi-Mode Trains

Grand Central

runs an open access service between Sunderland and London:
Rolling stock used: Class 180 "Adelante".

Northern Trains

operates a mostly hourly service towards Hull, Blackpool North and Leeds serving most stations en-route.
Rolling stock used: Sprinter and "Civity" Class 195 units. Pacer diesel multiple units were in regular use on the Harrogate and Sheffield lines until December 2019, but are now being phased out.