York railway station

Background and construction 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 (Y&NMR). It was succeeded in 1841, inside the walls, by what is now York old railway station. On 31 July 1854, the Y&NMR merged with the Leeds Northern Railway and the York, Newcastle & Berwick Railway to form the North Eastern Railway (NER); shortly thereafter, it became clear that the company's desire to run through trains between London and Newcastle without needing to reverse out of the old York station to continue their journey would necessitate change, specifically the construction of a new through station outside the city walls. Furthermore, as the NER's dominance of rail traffic in the region expanded through further mergers, several directors desired an expansive and elaborate facility to serve York, where the company was headquartered. During 1866, Parliament authorised the construction of this new railway station. This new station was designed by the North Eastern Railway architects Thomas Prosser and William Peachey and built by Lucas Brothers. A prominent feature was the large curved train shed, which had been viewed as one of the more impressive monuments of the railway age. Construction of the present station took place between 1871 and 1877. As part of the new station project, the Royal Station Hotel (now The Principal York), designed by Peachey, opened in 1878. The original ticket hall and concourse were both located on the eastern side of the station. The station 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. A plaque in his memory has been erected at the station. Journey times between York and other destinations along the ECML were slashed following the introduction of the British Rail Class 55 locomotive in 1961 and the Intercity 125 high speed train during 1978. 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 (mainly on the eastern side) being taken out of service and the track to them removed. Consequently, the number of platforms was reduced from 15 to 11. In May 1989, 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 supervised the main line from Temple Hirst (near Doncaster) through to , along with sections of the various routes branching from it. It had also taken over responsibility for the control area of the former power box at and thus, the signalling for trains as far away as and . Between 2006 and 2007, the approaches to the station were reorganised to improve facilities for bus, taxi and car users as well as pedestrians and cyclists. The former motive power depot and goods station now house the National Railway Museum. The station was renovated during 2009; these works included the reconstruction of Platform 9 and the implementation of extensive lighting alterations. 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 this decision, but the plans were scrapped altogether upon the franchise's handover to East Coast. During the late 2000s and early 2010s, the track and signalling systems on the southern side of the station were renewed. In early 2011, an additional line and a new junction were completed, which eliminated one of the biggest bottlenecks on the ECML. Further improvements to the station have been made under LNER's stewardship, including a new lounge for first class passengers, additional retail units, and new public toilets. Accidents and incidents • On 31 March 1920, a passenger train was derailed as it entered platform 8. • On 5 August 1958, a passenger train crashed into the buffers at platform 12. ==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. Between April 1984 and 2011, the old tea rooms housed the Rail Riders World/York Model Railway exhibition. 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: • Platform 1: South-facing bay platform mostly used for services to Hull and Bridlington or via and for stabling empty stock. • Platform 2: North-facing bay platform connected only to the Scarborough branch, used mostly for stabling a spare TransPennine Express unit along with the accompanying station siding. • Platform 3: Main southbound platform, but is signalled bi-directionally, accessible directly from the station concourse. Fast and semi-fast southbound London North Eastern Railway for generally use this platform. CrossCountry services, Grand Central and some westbound TransPennine Express services also use it. Southbound Lumo services go through platform 3 without stopping in York, northbound Lumo services use the avoidant track west of the station. • Platform 4: Northward continuation of platform 3 connected only to the Scarborough branch, used by TransPennine Express services from Scarborough. • Platform 5 (split into 5a and 5b): It is the main northbound platform, but is signalled bi-directionally. Fast northbound London North Eastern Railway services to Scotland use this and generally call at Darlington and Newcastle only. It is also used by some CrossCountry services northbound and north-eastbound TransPennine Express to Scarborough generally use this platform. Southbound London North Eastern Railway services also stop here both fast and semi-fast, the latter of which generally call at Doncaster, Newark, Peterborough and London King's Cross. • Platform 6: South-facing bay platform used mostly by Northern Trains commuter services to and ; and by terminating London North Eastern Railway services that return south to London King's Cross. • Platform 7: South-facing bay platform used mostly by Northern commuter services and London North Eastern Railway services to/from London Kings Cross. • Platform 8: North-facing bay platform used almost exclusively by Northern Trains on the Harrogate Line. • Platforms 9, 10, 11: Bi-directional platforms used by semi-fast and some fast London North Eastern Railway services heading north to Newcastle and Scotland, CrossCountry services north and southbound via Leeds, TransPennine Express services westbound to Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Airport; and northbound to Newcastle and Redcar. Some Northern Trains services to Blackpool North and Leeds also use this platform. Platforms 10 and 11 are outside of the main body of the station. Another siding, the former fruit dock, exists opposite platform 11. ==Recent developments==

Just to the west of the station is one of Network Rail's modern Rail Operation Centres (ROC), which was opened in September 2014. This ROC took over the functions of the former IECC in December 2018 and will eventually control the majority of the ECML from London to the Scottish border and various subsidiary routes across the North East, Lincolnshire and South, North and West Yorkshire. During Christmas 2020, major track replacement occurred, with Network Rail releasing time lapse footage of the works. In 2022, work began to redevelop the area outside the station. In 2023, a further £10.5 million was confirmed for this massive revamp of the area at the front of York railway station. Queen Street Bridge, built to cross the lines into the old York station within the city walls, was demolished in 2024. ==York Central==

Located adjacent to the station, York Central is one of the largest city centre brownfield regeneration sites in the UK. The 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. ==Services==

York is served by five train operating companies: London North Eastern Railway London North Eastern Railway operates regular services that stop at York between London, Newcastle and Edinburgh. In addition, there are occasional services to Aberdeen and one train a day to Inverness. One train per day serves Middlesbrough. The fastest southbound services run non-stop to London, completing the journey in 1hour and 47minutes. CrossCountry CrossCountry provides a number of inter-city services that run across the country, primarily between and via , and . Certain services extend to reach southbound, and others extend to reach and northbound. Additionally there are a limited number of services between and , via , Birmingham New Street and . TransPennine Express TransPennine Express provides various express services across the north of England to Manchester Piccadilly, , Liverpool Lime Street, Newcastle, and via Middlesbrough. Grand Central Grand Central runs an open access service between Sunderland and London. Northern Trains Northern Trains operates a mostly hourly service towards Hull via Selby and Blackpool North, with a half-hourly service towards Leeds on both routes (via Garforth and via Harrogate) serving most stations en-route (plus three per day to Sheffield via ). Former services Until May 2021, East Midlands Railway provided one weekend return journey between York and London St Pancras via the Midland Main Line. == References ==