Thorpe Park is a proposed railway station, to be sited in the

Thorpe Park Thorpe Park Resort, commonly known as Thorpe Park, is an amusement park located in the village of Thorpe between the towns of Chertsey and Staines-upon-Thames in Surrey, England, southwest of Central London. It is operated by Merlin Entertai ...

area to the east of

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

, England 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, Northern and TransPennine Express operate passenger tr ...

. The station has no connection to the amusement park

in southern England, which is served by

Staines railway station Staines railway station is on the Waterloo to Reading line and is the junction station for the diverging Windsor line, in southern England to the west of London. It is down the line from . History The station was opened on 22 August 1848 ...

History

It would be served by trains from the west of

which would normally terminate at Leeds station; by continuing eastwards to this station, it is hoped that extra capacity for through trains would be created at Leeds. The station would also form the first phase of electrifying the railway line to the east of Leeds. As a parkway station (an early name was East Leeds Parkway), the intention would be to allow for a park-and-ride service and the plans include parking for 500 cars. £20 million was allocated to the scheme by the Yorkshire and Humber Regional Transport Board in April 2008. It was originally hoped that construction would begin in 2011, with a completion date of 2012, but the

business case A business case captures the reasoning for initiating a project or task. It is often presented in a well-structured written document, but may also come in the form of a short verbal agreement or presentation. The logic of the business case is that, ...

was not submitted to the

Department for Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The d ...

until 2011. The scheme was put on hold due to a lack of central government funding. The station is likely to be made up of two island platforms, capable of serving inter-city trains. The station also featured in plans by Alliance Rail as a stopping point for services between

Ilkley Ilkley is a spa town and civil parish in the City of Bradford in West Yorkshire, in Northern England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, Ilkley civil parish includes the adjacent village of Ben Rhydding and is a ward within the ...

/ Bradford Forster Square and

London Kings Cross King's Cross railway station, also known as London King's Cross, is a passenger railway terminus in the London Borough of Camden, on the edge of Central London. It is in the London station group, one of the List of busiest railway stations in ...

to begin in 2017. However in May 2016, the Office of Rail and Road rejected Alliance Rail's plans to runs services under its GNER banner. The proposals for East Leeds Parkway have been downplayed in favour of an alternative site at Thorpe Park (which is further west). The West Yorkshire Combined Authority has stated that it is to review the options because of the lack of clarity over the Northern Powerhouse enhancement would mean that only stopping trains (operated by

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ra ...

) would stop at any future site. In November 2017, the ‘Connecting People: Strategic Vision for Rail’ Report by the Government proposed a new station in Thorpe Park as part of a plan to reverse the Beeching Cuts. In May 2021, the government announced £15 million worth of funding for the two railway stations in Leeds to be built (the other being , which is also on the TransPennine line, but on the west side of Leeds). The railway station is very close to the new East Leeds Orbital Road (A6120 bypass), which is at Junction 46 of the M1 motorway.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorpe Park Railway Station Proposed railway stations in England Thorpe Park Leeds