Garforth railway station serves the town of

Garforth Garforth () is a town in the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It sits in the Garforth and Swillington ward of Leeds City Council and the Leeds East parliamentary constituency. As of 2011, the population ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a Metropolitan counties of England, metropolitan and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire to the north and east, South Yorkshire and De ...

, England. It is one of the two stations in Garforth, the other being East Garforth, which is situated about east from the main station. It lies on the

Selby Line The Selby Line is a secondary railway line in Yorkshire, England, linking Leeds to Selby via Micklefield and then on to Kingston upon Hull (Hull). Hull Trains, London North Eastern Railway, and Northern and TransPennine Express operate passeng ...

. Garforth is east of

Leeds Leeds is a city in West Yorkshire, England. It is the largest settlement in Yorkshire and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds Metropolitan Borough, which is the second most populous district in the United Kingdom. It is built aro ...

and south-west of

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

. The station is served by

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating ...

and

TransPennine Express TransPennine Trains Limited, trading as TransPennine Express (TPE), is a British train operating company that has operated passenger services in the TransPennine Express franchise area since May 2023. It runs regional and inter-city rail ser ...

services.

History

The station was originally opened by the

Leeds and Selby Railway The Leeds and Selby Railway was an early British railway company and first mainline railway within Yorkshire. It was opened in 1834. As built, the line ran west/east between two termini, Marsh Lane station, Leeds and Selby railway station. Th ...

in 1834. The road bridge crosses the line at an oblique angle; this was considered something of a marvel at the time of construction. The station then linked the town with the former

Leeds Marsh Lane railway station Marsh Lane railway station was built as the Leeds terminus of the Leeds and Selby Railway. The combined passenger and goods station opened in 1834. During the construction of the extension of the Leeds and Selby Line into central Leeds in the 1 ...

. The current buildings date from 1872 and were designed by

NER The Ner is a river in central Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Ru ...

architect Thomas Prosser. Garforth station also connected with the privately owned

Aberford Aberford is a village and civil parish on the eastern outskirts of the City of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It had a population of 1,059 at the 2001 census, increasing to 1,180 at the 2011 Census. It is situated east, north east of Leed ...

Railway (known locally as the 'fly line' or simply 'the lines') which closed in 1924, and is now a public path commonly used for horses, dog walkers and travelling to and from

Garforth Academy Garforth Academy (formerly known as Garforth Comprehensive School until September 1992 and Garforth Community College until November 2010) is a secondary school and sixth form for pupils aged 11–18 and is located on Lidgett Lane (B6137) ...

part way upon it. East of the station was the junction to the

branch line A branch line is a secondary railway line which branches off a more important through route, usually a main line. A very short branch line may be called a spur line. Branch lines may serve one or more industries, or a city or town not located ...

to via

Ledston Ledston (historically also spelt Ledstone) is a village in the Leeds metropolitan borough, in the county of West Yorkshire, England. It is north of Castleford and east of Leeds. The parish had a population of 400 in 2001, which decreased sl ...

which closed to passengers in 1951 and completely in the 1990s. Though East Garforth is fully accessible to wheelchair users, the main Garforth station is not; wheelchair users can only access platform 2 which serves trains towards Leeds. In 2015 additional shelters were placed on both platforms, doubling the sheltered capacity. In July 2023, the footbridge, connecting both platforms to Aberford Road, was closed and demolished, for the new replacement bridge to be built. The new bridge will be built by April 2024 in the same spot, and will include lifts. This was done in order to install new overhead wires and to include step free access on to the platforms and Aberford Road. The footbridge was transported to Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway in Kent.

Facilities

The station buildings are concentrated on the Leeds bound platform, which is disabled accessible (the opposite platform can only be accessed via a footbridge). There is a ticket office (open 06:00–14:00 Mondays to Saturdays) and waiting room in the buildings; the remaining space is leased out to a taxi company. The Leeds bound platform also has an automatic ticket machine that can be used out of hours and a vending machine. As well as the heated waiting room on the Leeds bound platform, there are two shelters available for use out of office hours. The York bound platform has two passenger shelters. The two platforms are connected by a footbridge with stepped access, this also links to Aberford Road. The station has a large car park which is free for passenger use. There is CCTV and lighting throughout the station and car park. Refreshments can purchased from the ''Station House Café'', which opened in August 2016, and is situated on the Leeds bound platform (2).

Services

operates a half-hourly service to Leeds, as well as hourly services to

and via to the east. The Hull service began operating at the winter 2019 timetable change and runs through to via

Bradford Interchange Bradford Interchange is a transport interchange in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, which consists of a railway station and bus station adjacent. The Interchange, which was designed in 1962, was hailed as a showpiece of European design and wa ...

in the westbound direction, restoring the link to Bradford lost when the York to Blackpool North service ceased calling in May 2018 (this has been reinstated however in December 2022).

trains also stop at Garforth hourly towards Leeds,

Huddersfield Huddersfield is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It is the administrative centre and largest settlement in the Kirklees district. The town is in the foothills of the Pennines. The River Holme's confl ...

and

Liverpool Lime Street Liverpool Lime Street is a railway station complex located on Lime Street, Liverpool, Lime Street in Liverpool city centre. Although publicly a single, unified station, it is operationally divided into two official railway stations: Liv ...

westbound and eastbound. The service now also stops here on Sundays since the start of the winter 2019 timetable. However these services have also been reinstated in the December 2022 timetable and now run to Liverpool and Manchester once again.

Proposed services

National Express East Coast National Express East Coast (NXEC) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom, owned by National Express, that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, North East England ...

proposed to operate trains directly between Garforth and London from December 2009.National Express Group PLC – National Express submits exciting proposals for new services and faster journeys
This proposal was supported by the Office of the Rail Regulator in January 2009, however the Department of Transport had rejected the plans because the proposal would require changes to franchised services and there was not enough capacity for these services, however

Virgin Trains East Coast Virgin Trains East Coast (VTEC) (legal name East Coast Main Line Company Limited) was a train operating company in the United Kingdom that operated the InterCity East Coast franchise on the East Coast Main Line between London, Yorkshire, the No ...

had plans to increase capacity and introduce a number of direct services between Garforth and London from 2019. The plans have not as yet (summer 2019) been implemented, as VTEC no longer operates the East Coast franchise and a private successor is yet to be agreed upon.

References

External links