Leeds Railway Station: Leeds City
Leeds Railway Station - also known as Leeds City – is the busiest mainline station in the UK after London and Glasgow, with around 101,000 passengers and over 900 trains passing through each day on journeys to most major UK destinations.
Located on New Station Street at the foot of Park Row and behind the famous Queens Hotel, the station sits on a hill leading down to the Leeds Canal Basin and is built over The Dark Arches: a labyrinth of vaulted Victorian arches and tunnels that now hold Granary Wharf shopping centre; sometimes described as Leeds’ best kept secret, the Granary Wharf centre attracts specialist retailers from all over the world and holds an interesting mix of cafés, bars and restaurants.
Leeds Railway Station: A Short History
The city of Leeds was originally served by three stations in close proximity to each other: New Station, Wellington Station and Leeds Central. The first line was introduced in 1834 by the Leeds and Selby Railway with a terminus to the east of the city. When North Midland Railway constructed a line from Derby via Rotherham to Hunslet Lane, the station extended to Wellington Street and became known as Wellington Station. Leeds Central, also located on Wellington Street, opened in 1854 as a dual project by the Manchester and Leeds Railway and the London and North Western Railway, and in 1869 New Station was built adjacent to Wellington Station, partially on a bridge over the River Aire being jointly owned by the LNWR and the North Eastern Railway.
After the Railways Act of 1921 – when all railways were formed into four companies – New Station and Wellington Street Station merged to form Leeds City Station in 1938. The construction of the north concourse and the Queens Hotel also took place at this time. Later buildings did not appear until 1962 when the architect John Poulson, who was later to achieve notoriety around his bribery and corruption of senior politicians, designed the administrative building: British Railways House, now City House.
In 1967 Central station was diverted into the City Station and became the single main railway station serving Leeds. At this time on any typical day, the station saw the arrival and departure of 500 trains, and 2.75 million passenger journeys were made each year. At this rate, the station quickly outgrew its capacity in the 1990s and the ambitious Leeds 1st building project was undertaken to expand the platforms from 12 to 17, re-roof the concourse and construct a new footbridge.
Work is still being carried out on the south side of the building to provide a new entrance for easier access from the expanding south side of the city, which is due to be opened in 2012.
Leeds Railway Station has 17 platforms which make it the largest in England outside of London.
Five train operators run services from the station: Northern Trains, Transpennine Express, East Coast, Arriva Cross Country and East Midland Trains; providing connections to London, Bristol, Plymouth and the South West, Nottingham, Birmingham and the Midlands, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Hull, Selby and Doncaster, York, Edinburgh and the North East, and Manchester, Liverpool and the North West.
One of only 18 stations in Britain to be managed by Network Rail, it is also the terminus for the Settle to Carlisle line – recently voted the second most beautiful railway in the world!
After the recent £245m modernisation when the metal canopy was replaced with a new glass roof, the station is a light and cheerful point of arrival or departure and contains major retail facilities including Burger King, MacDonalds, Starbucks, Wetherspoons, Boots, Upper Crust, Marks & Spencer Simply Food and two branches of WHSmith from which to buy that all important book for reading on the journey!
Parking is managed by APCOCA and taxis are on the south concourse entrance on New Station Street.
Toilet facilities are available on the south concourse and platforms 8, 12 and 15 with baby changing facilities on platform 12 and the south concourse; the latter has accessible toilets, also found on platforms 8 and 12.
Although Leeds was one of the last stations to use manned ticket barriers, Northern Rail removed them in 2008 and there are now automated ticket gates to speed up the flow of passengers.
Address:
Network Rail
Room 406 Administration Block
Leeds Station
Leeds
LS1 4DY