1870–1960 The station was opened in 1870 by the
Midland Railway to the designs of the company architect
John Holloway Sanders. It was the fifth and last station to be built in Sheffield city centre. The station was built on the
New Line, which ran between Grimesthorpe Junction, on the former
Sheffield and Rotherham Railway, and Tapton Junction, just north of
Chesterfield. This line replaced the Midland Railway's previous route, the 'old road', to
London, which ran from via . The new line and station were built in spite of some controversy and opposition locally. The Duke of Norfolk, who owned land in the area, insisted that the southern approach be in a tunnel and the land known as
The Farm landscaped to prevent the line being seen. Some years later, the tunnel was opened out into a cutting.
Sheffield Corporation was so concerned about the eastern side of the city being cut off from the city centre that it insisted that public access be preserved across the railway site. The station and Pond Street goods depot were opened on a damp and cold day, without any celebrations. There were originally different passenger entrances for each class. The original station buildings have been preserved and are between island platforms 2 to 5. The station was given two extra platforms and a new frontage in 1905, at a cost of £215,000 (). The enlargements consisted of creating an island platform out of the old platform 1 and building a new platform 1 and a new entrance. These works were overseen by the Chief Architect to the
Midland Railway,
Charles Trubshaw. Offices were built at the north end of the long carriageway rooftop. A large parcels office was built to the south of the main buildings. Two footbridges connected the platforms: one to the north for passengers, with the other to the south for station staff and parcels. The tracks were covered by two overall roofs. The older and larger spanned platforms 5 and 6, and an identical structure can still be viewed today at the former station. Wartime damage put the roofs beyond economic repair; hence, they were removed in the autumn of 1956 and replaced by low-level awnings.
1960–2002 The 1960s saw the introduction of the
Classes 45 and
diesel-electric locomotives, known as
Peaks.
Sheaf House was built in 1965 adjacent to the station to house
British Rail's Sheffield Division headquarters. As part of the reconstruction of the area, as the
Gateway to Sheffield, it was demolished in early 2006. In 1970, the city's other main station, , was closed and its remaining services from were diverted until 1981 via a cumbersome reversal. The Pullman service between Sheffield Victoria and , including the morning and evening
Master Cutler now ran onto the
East Coast Main Line via from Sheffield Midland instead. This was the third route used by the train of that name; originally it had run to . The station was resignalled in 1972, and its track layout remodelled.
British Rail introduced the
High Speed Train (HST) to Sheffield on the Midland Main Line in 1984. The cross-country services had seen the introduction of the HSTs in 1982. On 21 December 1991, the station was flooded by the
river Sheaf, which flows under it. A log that was part of the debris commemorates the event on platform 5. In 1991, construction of the new
Supertram network began and, by late 1994, Sheffield Midland was connected to the network, after the opening of the line between
Fitzalan Square in the city centre and Spring Lane, to the east of the station.
2002–present In 2002,
Midland Mainline, as the main
train operating company of the station, instigated a major regeneration. Before this, a taxi rank was located inside what is now the main concourse and the new entrance hall. The stone
façade of the station was
sandblasted and its archways filled with unobstructed windows to improve views both from inside and out. Other changes included the improvement of platform surfaces and the addition of a pedestrian bridge connecting the station concourse with the South Yorkshire Supertram stop at the far side of the station. To coincide with the regeneration of the station,
Sheaf Square was rebuilt as part of a project designed to create the
Gateway to Sheffield. The station and the square form part of a route that leads passengers through the square past the Cutting Edge water feature, up
Howard Street and into the
Heart of the City. This won the
Project of the Year in the 2006 National Rail Awards. On 11 November 2007,
East Midlands Trains, an amalgamation of Midland Mainline and part of
Central Trains, took over the management of the station. In December 2009, following the restoration of the station, a new
pub, the
Sheffield Tap, opened next to platform 1B. The room is located within the main station building; it had been used as a store room for 35 years, but was used for much longer as a bar and
restaurant, catering for
first class passengers since 1904. The bar has a restored early 20th century interior and offers a selection of quality cask ales and beers from around the world. In October 2010, East Midlands Trains initiated £10 million worth of improvements to its stations. Sheffield received renovated waiting rooms, toilet facilities and upgraded security systems amongst its improvements. The lounge was opened by the
Master Cutler Professor Bill Speirs, who was joined by 50 top business leaders from city and the surrounding area.
Footbridge controversy In 2008, East Midlands Trains revealed its intention to restrict access to parts of the station by installing
ticket barriers, to try to prevent passengers from travelling without a ticket. This proposal met with widespread opposition from residents and Council members because the footbridge would be closed off to non-ticket holders; it would sever a popular
thoroughfare from the
Norfolk Park residential area and the Supertram stop on one side, to the station travel centre,
the bus interchange, the city centre and the city centre campus of
Sheffield Hallam University on the other. On 6 May 2009, East Midlands Trains implemented its proposal, using temporary barriers and ticket inspectors to bar access to the footbridge to non-ticket holders, and local residents and Supertram passengers were forced to use longer routes around the station. In November 2009, East Midlands Trains were refused planning permission for the barriers by the council but, in February 2010, announced it would apply again. The Transport Secretary,
Lord Adonis, announced in April 2010 that barriers would not be installed until a second bridge was built to maintain a thoroughfare for non-ticket holders. From September 2010, East Midlands Trains used uniformed staff to prevent local residents using the footbridge. At the same time,
Sheffield City Council explored the possibility of turning the bridge into a public
right-of-way to resolve the matter. In late 2010, it was reported that the Deputy Prime Minister,
Nick Clegg,
MP for
Sheffield Hallam, might intervene to resolve the impasse. In March 2012, Transport Minister,
Justine Greening, offered £3 million to build a new footbridge to resolve the problem. Tickets are not currently required to enter the station or to use the footbridge, which gives access to the Sheffield Station tram stop to the east.
Future Ian Yeowart, former managing director of
Grand Central, put forward in 2009 a bid for new open access
Alliance Rail Holdings services operating on the
East Coast Main Line. As part of the scheme, four services a day would operate between Sheffield and London King's Cross, via , and , meaning Sheffield would be connected to the capital by both the Midland Main Line and the East Coast Main Line routes once again. Yeowart proposed the resurrection of the name
Great North Eastern Railway for the service, which has been unused since the last franchise of that name ended in 2007. However, in 2010, the proposed Sheffield to London Kings Cross services via the East Coast Main Line were rejected. In the 2010 Rail Utilisation Strategy, it quoted that the
Midland Main Line north of would be electrified in 2020. The line is currently one of the few major main lines that is not electrified; the plan found that the project would provide significantly enhanced services and significant financial savings. In July 2017, the Transport Secretary,
Chris Grayling, announced the electrification plan for the whole of the Midland Main Line would not go ahead as previously planned. Instead the section from
Clay Cross in
Derbyshire to Sheffield would be electrified by 2033, as part of the planned
HS2 line. As an interim measure,
bi-mode trains were to be used, as it was claimed that they offer benefits similar to high speed electric trains. A
National Audit Office report said: "In the case of Midland Main Line, bi-mode trains with the required speed and acceleration did not exist when the Secretary of State made his decision." The MP for
Loughborough (another area to have been served by the proposed electrification scheme) and chair of the
Treasury Select Committee,
Nicky Morgan, said of the revised plans: "Now we see the decision to cancel it was based on fantasy trains that didn't even exist and the Midlands being a guinea pig for an untested technology." ==Facilities==