Halifax railway station
Encyclopedia
Halifax railway station serves the town of Halifax
in West Yorkshire
, England
. It lies on the Caldervale Line
and is 17 miles (27.4 km) west from .
The station at Halifax is an example of a single island platform
acting as two platforms. Platform 2 heads eastbound, towards Bradford
while Platform 1 heads westbound towards , , and Manchester Victoria. The two routes divide about a mile south of the station at Dryclough Junction.
To the east, the line also divided with the current line passing into Beacon Hill tunnel and a disused line via Halifax North Bridge to Ovenden, then going on to a junction at Holmfield with the Halifax High level line which had stations in Pellon and at St Paul's, Queens Road; and via to Bradford and Keighley, for destinations in the North-West.
Entry to the station is via a cobbled road bridge from opposite the bottom of Horton Street. Passengers arriving by foot who have walked down Winding Road from the bus station
are forced to cross over this bridge to access the right hand pavement, which is the only pedestrian
access. The decision to allow car parking on the left side some years ago makes for safety issues at peak period times.
A campaign, run by the local newspaper the Halifax Evening Courier was started to get the station refurbished. The paper said that it wanted a station fit "for the 21st century" and that its current state was "disgraceful". Due to the amount of support generated, Network Rail
and Northern Rail
agreed to do so.
Work on a £2.5 million refurbishment scheme has seen the station footbridge and canopies repaired, new glazing and lighting installed and repainting of the structures and was begun in May 2009. The second phase of the refurbishment, covering the platform and the concourse, was completed in November 2010.
as the terminus of a branch off their main line from Manchester to Normanton
. This was then extended and used as a goods depot prior to the building of a new railway station building at the current site. This was designed by Thomas Butterworth and opened in 1855, some five years after the completion of the line onwards to Bradford
. This Grade II listed building now houses the nursery associated with the Eureka! Children's Museum
.
A new line
was constructed by the Great Northern Railway
in the mid 1870s from the main station over a long viaduct to a station at North Bridge
, and then across and indeed partly in tunnel beneath the hilly terrain north of the town to an unusual triangular station at Queensbury
, where the line divided into track for Keighley
(and Skipton, Carlisle and Morecambe) to the north-west, and Bradford in the east.
The Halifax High Level Railway was a related branch line opened in 1890, leading from Holmfield
near Ovenden
, on the line to Queensbury, through a half-mile tunnel through the ridge and across the Wheatley Valley on a ten arch viaduct past Samuel Webster's
brewery, to Pellon
, where there were sizeable goods facilities and then to St Paul's
railway station in Queens Road. This branch line gradually fell into disuse, losing its regular passenger service as early as 1917. The last goods train ran in 1960 and the line was then dismantled, leaving the viaduct standing as a reminder of the former freight link.
The Queensbury branch as a whole was closed in stages from 1955 onwards although many of its engineering features remain. The route has lately been adopted and to an extent brought back into public use and attention by Sustrans
as a walking and cycle route. The principal structure on the line, Queensbury Tunnel, was, at its opening, the longest on the GNR system at 2511 yards (2.3 km). It is currently derelict, partially flooded and impassible.
To distinguish it from Halifax St. Paul's and Halifax North Bridge stations, the main station was known from 1890 as Halifax Old Station. In 1951 the name was changed again to Halifax Town, and in 1961 it reverted to Halifax.
Westbound: Monday to Saturday daytimes there is a half-hourly service to Manchester Victoria
(hourly evenings), one train an hour to and one per hour to via Huddersfield and Brighouse. One of the two Manchester trains is semi-fast (calling only at Hebden Bridge, Todmorden and Rochdale), whilst the other calls at all intermediate stations to Rochdale.
On Sundays there is an hourly service to Manchester Victoria and to Blackpool North and one train every two hours to Huddersfield.
s to run a Bradford Interchange to London service accepted by the Office of Rail Regulation
. Three trains per day operate now that full approval for the service has been granted - these use Class 180
units and started running from the 23 May 2010.
Halifax, West Yorkshire
Halifax is a minster town, within the Metropolitan Borough of Calderdale in West Yorkshire, England. It has an urban area population of 82,056 in the 2001 Census. It is well-known as a centre of England's woollen manufacture from the 15th century onward, originally dealing through the Halifax Piece...
in West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire
West Yorkshire is a metropolitan county within the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England with a population of 2.2 million. West Yorkshire came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972....
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It lies on the Caldervale Line
Caldervale Line
The Caldervale Line is a railway route in Northern England between the cities of Leeds and Manchester as well as the seaside resort of Blackpool...
and is 17 miles (27.4 km) west from .
The station at Halifax is an example of a single island platform
Island platform
An island platform is a station layout arrangement where a single platform is positioned between two tracks within a railway station, tram stop or transitway interchange...
acting as two platforms. Platform 2 heads eastbound, towards Bradford
Bradford Interchange railway station
Bradford Interchange is a combined railway, coach and bus station in Bradford, England. Designed in 1962 and hailed as a showpiece of European design, the building was opened in 1971.-Bus station:...
while Platform 1 heads westbound towards , , and Manchester Victoria. The two routes divide about a mile south of the station at Dryclough Junction.
To the east, the line also divided with the current line passing into Beacon Hill tunnel and a disused line via Halifax North Bridge to Ovenden, then going on to a junction at Holmfield with the Halifax High level line which had stations in Pellon and at St Paul's, Queens Road; and via to Bradford and Keighley, for destinations in the North-West.
Description
The station has a car park, bicycle parking and a pick up point that are standard at many stations. There is also a staffed ticket booth with option of paying for a ticket using a ticket machine. A lift to the platform is available for wheelchair users however there are currently no lower counters for easy access to buy tickets.Entry to the station is via a cobbled road bridge from opposite the bottom of Horton Street. Passengers arriving by foot who have walked down Winding Road from the bus station
Bus station
A bus station is a structure where city or intercity buses stop to pick up and drop off passengers. It is larger than a bus stop, which is usually simply a place on the roadside, where buses can stop...
are forced to cross over this bridge to access the right hand pavement, which is the only pedestrian
Pedestrian
A pedestrian is a person traveling on foot, whether walking or running. In some communities, those traveling using roller skates or skateboards are also considered to be pedestrians. In modern times, the term mostly refers to someone walking on a road or footpath, but this was not the case...
access. The decision to allow car parking on the left side some years ago makes for safety issues at peak period times.
A campaign, run by the local newspaper the Halifax Evening Courier was started to get the station refurbished. The paper said that it wanted a station fit "for the 21st century" and that its current state was "disgraceful". Due to the amount of support generated, Network Rail
Network Rail
Network Rail is the government-created owner and operator of most of the rail infrastructure in Great Britain .; it is not responsible for railway infrastructure in Northern Ireland...
and Northern Rail
Northern Rail
Northern Rail is a British train operating company that has operated local passenger services in Northern England since 2004. Northern Rail's owner, Serco-Abellio, is a consortium formed of Abellio and Serco, an international operator of public transport systems...
agreed to do so.
Work on a £2.5 million refurbishment scheme has seen the station footbridge and canopies repaired, new glazing and lighting installed and repainting of the structures and was begun in May 2009. The second phase of the refurbishment, covering the platform and the concourse, was completed in November 2010.
History
The original station was built at Shaw Syke, approximately 220 yards (201.2 m) west of the current location and opened in 1844 by the Manchester and Leeds RailwayManchester and Leeds Railway
The Manchester and Leeds Railway was a railway company in the United Kingdom which opened in 1839, connecting Manchester with Leeds via the North Midland Railway which it joined at Normanton....
as the terminus of a branch off their main line from Manchester to Normanton
Normanton railway station
Normanton railway station serves the town of Normanton in West Yorkshire, England. It lies south-east of Leeds railway station on the Hallam Line, which is operated by Northern Rail.-History:...
. This was then extended and used as a goods depot prior to the building of a new railway station building at the current site. This was designed by Thomas Butterworth and opened in 1855, some five years after the completion of the line onwards to Bradford
Bradford Interchange railway station
Bradford Interchange is a combined railway, coach and bus station in Bradford, England. Designed in 1962 and hailed as a showpiece of European design, the building was opened in 1971.-Bus station:...
. This Grade II listed building now houses the nursery associated with the Eureka! Children's Museum
Eureka! (museum)
Eureka! The National Children's Museum is an interactive educational museum for children in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. It is run as an educational charity and not-for-profit organisation....
.
The Queensbury Lines
The Queensbury Lines were part of the Great Northern Railway in West Yorkshire, England. They opened in 1882 and closed in 1955, however goods trains continued to run until 1974 between Bradford Exchange and Horton Park Station....
was constructed by the Great Northern Railway
Great Northern Railway (Great Britain)
The Great Northern Railway was a British railway company established by the Great Northern Railway Act of 1846. On 1 January 1923 the company lost its identity as a constituent of the newly formed London and North Eastern Railway....
in the mid 1870s from the main station over a long viaduct to a station at North Bridge
North Bridge railway station
North Bridge railway station served on the Halifax and Ovenden Junction Railway in West Yorkshire, England. The North bridge itself had to be rebuilt higher by the L&YR and the GNR to clear the tracks...
, and then across and indeed partly in tunnel beneath the hilly terrain north of the town to an unusual triangular station at Queensbury
Queensbury railway station
Queensbury railway station was a station on The Queensbury Lines serving the village of Queensbury, West Yorkshire, England. The station was unusual due to its triangular shape, and at its opening the only other example of this arrangement was Ambergate station in Derbyshire; since then Shipley...
, where the line divided into track for Keighley
Keighley railway station
Keighley railway station serves the town of Keighley in West Yorkshire, England.First opened in March 1847 by the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway , the station is located on the Airedale Line north west of Leeds. It is managed by Northern Rail, who operate most of the passenger trains...
(and Skipton, Carlisle and Morecambe) to the north-west, and Bradford in the east.
The Halifax High Level Railway was a related branch line opened in 1890, leading from Holmfield
Holmfield railway station
Holmfield railway station is a closed railway station that served the village of Holmfield in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England.-History:The station was opened by the Great Northern Railway on 14 October 1878 as the terminus of the line from , following delays to the Halifax and Ovenden Junction...
near Ovenden
Ovenden railway station
Ovenden railway station served the village of Ovenden in West Yorkshire, England. It was on the Halifax and Ovenden Junction Railway, and closed in 1955...
, on the line to Queensbury, through a half-mile tunnel through the ridge and across the Wheatley Valley on a ten arch viaduct past Samuel Webster's
Samuel Webster's
Webster's , was a brewery founded in 1838 by Samuel Webster which operated at the Fountain Head Brewery in Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England until 1996. Its two most famous brands, Webster's Green Label, a light mild, and Yorkshire Bitter continue to be sold, although the cask...
brewery, to Pellon
Pellon railway station
Pellon railway station is a closed station that served the area of Pellon in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England.-History:It was one of two stations on the short lived Halifax High Level Railway, which was built to serve the west side of Halifax. The station opened on 5 September 1890...
, where there were sizeable goods facilities and then to St Paul's
St Pauls railway station (Halifax)
St Pauls railway station served the St. Paul's area of Halifax, West Yorkshire, England on the Halifax High Level Railway.-History:It was one of two stations on the short lived Halifax High Level Railway, which was built to serve the west side of Halifax. The station opened on 5 September 1890...
railway station in Queens Road. This branch line gradually fell into disuse, losing its regular passenger service as early as 1917. The last goods train ran in 1960 and the line was then dismantled, leaving the viaduct standing as a reminder of the former freight link.
The Queensbury branch as a whole was closed in stages from 1955 onwards although many of its engineering features remain. The route has lately been adopted and to an extent brought back into public use and attention by Sustrans
Sustrans
Sustrans is a British charity to promote sustainable transport. The charity is currently working on a number of practical projects to encourage people to walk, cycle and use public transport, to give people the choice of "travelling in ways that benefit their health and the environment"...
as a walking and cycle route. The principal structure on the line, Queensbury Tunnel, was, at its opening, the longest on the GNR system at 2511 yards (2.3 km). It is currently derelict, partially flooded and impassible.
To distinguish it from Halifax St. Paul's and Halifax North Bridge stations, the main station was known from 1890 as Halifax Old Station. In 1951 the name was changed again to Halifax Town, and in 1961 it reverted to Halifax.
Services
Eastbound: Monday to Saturdays there is a train every 15 minutes heading to Bradford Interchange and Leeds with two trains per hour going beyond Leeds to and respectively. During the evenings and on Sundays it is half-hourly to Leeds and hourly to York.Westbound: Monday to Saturday daytimes there is a half-hourly service to Manchester Victoria
Manchester Victoria station
Manchester Victoria station in Manchester, England is the city's second largest mainline railway station. It is also a Metrolink station, one of eight within the City Zone...
(hourly evenings), one train an hour to and one per hour to via Huddersfield and Brighouse. One of the two Manchester trains is semi-fast (calling only at Hebden Bridge, Todmorden and Rochdale), whilst the other calls at all intermediate stations to Rochdale.
On Sundays there is an hourly service to Manchester Victoria and to Blackpool North and one train every two hours to Huddersfield.
London services
The station now sees regular services to London Kings Cross via Pontefract and Doncaster. In January 2009, Grand Central had their application for train pathTrain path
A train path is the infrastructure capacity needed to run a train between two places over a given time-period. In Europe, a train operator needs to purchase a train path from a rail infrastructure company to run a train on their tracks....
s to run a Bradford Interchange to London service accepted by the Office of Rail Regulation
Office of Rail Regulation
The Office of Rail Regulation is a statutory board which is the combined economic and safety regulatory authority for Great Britain's railway network. It was established on 5 July 2004 by the Railways and Transport Safety Act 2003, replacing the Rail Regulator...
. Three trains per day operate now that full approval for the service has been granted - these use Class 180
British Rail Class 180
The Class 180 is a type of British diesel multiple unit train built by Alstom between 2000 and 2001 for use on then-new express services by First Great Western . They were built at Washwood Heath in Birmingham and are part of the Coradia 1000 family along with the Class 175. FGW stopped using the...
units and started running from the 23 May 2010.