Brighouse railway station serves the town of Brighouse in

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 England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. The station lies on the Calder Valley line running west from

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 ...

. Opened in 1840, and closed in 1970, it reopened in 2000 and is served by

Northern Trains Northern Trains, Trade name, trading as Northern, is a British train operating company that operates Commuter rail, commuter and Inter-city rail, medium-distance intercity services in the North of England. It is owned by DfT Operator for the Dep ...

and Grand Central services.

History

Brighouse railway station was first opened on 5 October 1840, as a main line station operated by the Manchester & Leeds Railway (M&L). The station was initially known as Brighouse for

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

, as no stations had yet been built in Bradford itself. Similarly, Elland station served Halifax, and Huddersfield was served by the station at Cooper Bridge. A lithograph was produced by Arthur Fitzwilliam Tait showing the station in 1845. In 1847 Brighouse station came under the control of the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway (L&Y), when the M&L was incorporated into that company. The station remained under L&Y operation until it was incorporated into the London, Midland & Scottish Railway in 1923. The station's importance had gradually declined because other lines connecting

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

and Leeds were built via Halifax and Huddersfield, bypassing Brighouse. Brighouse station passed into

British Rail British Railways (BR), which from 1965 traded as British Rail, was a state-owned company that operated most rail transport in Great Britain from 1948 to 1997. Originally a trading brand of the Railway Executive of the British Transport Comm ...

ways ownership upon nationalisation in 1948, and was operated as part of the North Eastern Region. The decline in passenger numbers continued, and the station closed on 5 January 1970. The line remained open throughout that time as a freight-only one, but it was also used as a diversionary route for passenger trains when other lines were closed. Brighouse station reopened on 28 May 2000. It also serves the town of Elland some away. Plans for a station in Elland to open at the same time as Brighouse were cancelled due to lack of funds. On opening the station was served by one train per hour running to via Halifax and

, and one train per hour in the other direction to . Trains called every two hours on Sundays. From 27 April 2008 a bus servic
MC4
provided a connection with most Leeds via Dewsbury trains to/from Elland. This was replaced in early 2010 by a revised servic
E8
In December 2008, the service was supplemented by an hourly Leeds -

Dewsbury Dewsbury is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Kirklees in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the River Calder, West Yorkshire, River Calder and on an arm of the Calder and Hebble Navigation waterway. It is to the west of Wakefield, ...

- Hebden Bridge -

Manchester Victoria Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England, is a combined mainline railway station and Metrolink tram stop. Situated to the north of the city centre on Hunts Bank, close to Manchester Cathedral, it adjoins Manchester Arena which was c ...

- stopping service (Monday - Saturday daytime only, no late evening or Sunday service). This provided a considerable service improvement providing both a twice-hourly frequency for journeys to/from Leeds and a reduction in journey time taking only 35 minutes to travel to Leeds via

rather than 50 minutes via Halifax. Even without this important improvement in services, usage of the station has increased year on year since the reopening. Some services from Leeds terminate at Brighouse and start back from here. In May 2010, Grand Central's Bradford Interchange to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

service commenced. In May 2018, the Sunday service from Leeds to Huddersfield via Brighouse was doubled in frequency to one per hour in each direction.

Services

As of May 2018 Brighouse is regularly served by two trains per hour to , one train per hour to and one train per hour to via and . The Leeds service includes a faster journey via and a slower journey via and Bradford Interchange. On Sundays there is one train per hour to Leeds (via Halifax and Bradford) and one train per hour to Huddersfield, where passengers can change for services to Manchester and fast services to Leeds. In addition to the regular service pattern, there are four direct return services per day to London King's Cross via and

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

, including Sundays. From the December 2019 timetable change, the Leeds via Halifax service now terminates at Bradford Interchange on weekdays and Saturdays (it still operates through on Sundays). A limited amount of TransPennine Express Services call here instead of

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 ...

Station facilities

The station has two platforms. * Platform 1: served by services towards Huddersfield, Leeds (via Dewsbury), Wakefield Kirkgate, Doncaster and London Kings Cross * Platform 2: served by services towards Wigan Wallgate, Manchester Victoria, and Leeds (via Halifax and Bradford Interchange).

Northern Rail Northern Rail, branded as Northern, was an English train operating company owned by Serco-Abellio that operated the Northern Rail franchise from 2004 until 2016. It was the primary passenger train operator in Northern England, and operated the ...

and West Yorkshire Metro secured joint funding from the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport ...

's Access for All – Small Schemes initiative to provide a new Customer Information System at the station. New LCD style passenger information screens with real-time information have been fitted on both platforms linked into an improved public address system providing accurate, reliable audio/visual train running information to passengers. In addition; Northern has announced plans to replace the station's HelpPoint intercom system with a more updated reliable model. This will let passengers speak to a member of staff in Northern's control centre for information or to summon assistance in emergency situations.

Station panorama

Filming location

The station features in the award-winning BBC comedy ''

The Thick of It ''The Thick of It'' is a British comedy television series created, written and directed by Armando Iannucci that satirises the inner workings of British government. It was first broadcast for two short series on BBC Four in 2005, initially ...

'', series 4 episode 4 (from minute 21).

References

External links

{{Calderdale Lines, collapse=yes Brighouse Former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway stations Railway stations in Calderdale DfT Category F1 stations Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 1840 Railway stations in Great Britain closed in 1970 Railway stations in Great Britain opened in 2000 Reopened railway stations in Great Britain Railway stations served by Grand Central Railway Railway stations served by Northern