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 Elmet and Rothwell parliamentary constituency. As of 2011, the popula ...

, near

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 popul ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It is one of the two stations in Garforth the other being East Garforth which is situated about 0.5 miles (900 metres) east from the main station and which was opened in 1987. 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, Northern and TransPennine Express operate passenger tr ...

. Garforth is east of

and south-west of

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

. The station is served 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 r ...

and

TransPennine Express TransPennine Express (TPE), legally First TransPennine Express Limited, is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup that operates the TransPennine Express franchise. It runs regional and inter-city rail services between the major ci ...

services.

History

The station was originally opened by the Leeds and Selby Railway 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 ...

. The current buildings date from 1872 and were designed by NER 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 metropolitan borough 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 eas ...

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

branch line A branch line is a phrase used in railway terminology to denote 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. Industrial spur An industr ...

to via

Ledston Ledston is a village and civil parish north of Castleford and east of Leeds in the county of West Yorkshire, England. The village is in the City of Leeds metropolitan borough. It had a population of 400 in 2001, which decreased slightly to 3 ...

which closed to passengers in 1951 and completely in 1969. 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.

Facilities

Garforth railway station (21st December 2015) 009

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

TransPennine Express Class 185 at Garforth station, August 2020

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 combined bus and coach station adjacent. The Interchange, which was designed in 1962, was hailed as a showpiece of Eu ...

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 market town in the Kirklees district 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 confluence i ...

and

Liverpool Lime Street Liverpool Lime Street is a terminus railway station and the main station serving the city centre of Liverpool. Opened in August 1836, it is the oldest still-operating grand terminus mainline station in the world. A branch of the West Coast ...

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 and ...

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 N ...

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