York railway station

The first York railway station was a temporary wooden building on Queen Street outside the walls of the city, opened in 1839 by the York and North Midland Railway. It was succeeded in 1841, inside the walls, by what is now York old railway station.[4] In due course, the requirement that through trains between London and Newcastle needed to reverse out of the old York station to continue their journey necessitated the construction of a new through station outside the walls.

The present station, designed by the North Eastern Railway architects Thomas Prosser and William Peachey and built by Lucas Brothers,[5] opened on 25 June 1877. It had 13 platforms and was at that time the largest in the world.[6] As part of the new station project, the Royal Station Hotel (now The Principal York), designed by Peachey, opened in 1878.

Interior, 1915

In 1909 new platforms were added, and in 1938 the current footbridge was built and the station resignalled.

The building was heavily bombed during the Second World War.[7] On one occasion, on 29 April 1942,[8] 800 passengers had to be evacuated from a King's Cross-Edinburgh train which arrived during a bombing raid.[7] On the same night, two railway workers were killed, one being station foreman William Milner, who died after returning to his burning office to collect his first aid kit. He was posthumously awarded the King's Commendation for Brave Conduct.[9] A plaque in his memory has been erected at the station.[7][8] The station was extensively repaired in 1947.

The station was designated as a Grade II* listed building in 1968.[1]

The track layout through and around the station was remodelled again in 1988 as part of the resignalling scheme that was carried out prior to the electrification of the ECML shortly afterwards by British Rail. This resulted in several bay platforms (mainly on the eastern side) being taken out of service and the track to them removed. Consequently, the number of platforms was reduced from 15 to 11. At the same time a new signalling centre (York IECC) was commissioned on the western side of the station to control the new layout and also take over the function of several other signal boxes on the main line. The IECC here now supervises the main line from Temple Hirst (near Doncaster) through to Northallerton, along with sections of the various routes branching from it. It has also (since 2001–2) taken over responsibility for the control area of the former power box at Leeds and thus signals trains as far away as Gargrave and Morley.

In 2006–7, to improve facilities for bus, taxi and car users as well as pedestrians and cyclists, the approaches to the station were reorganised. The former motive power depot and goods station now house the National Railway Museum.

The station was renovated in 2009. Platform 9 has been reconstructed and extensive lighting alterations were put in place. New automated ticket gates (similar to those in Leeds) were planned, but the City of York Council wished to avoid spoiling the historic nature of the station. The then operator National Express East Coast planned to appeal the decision but the plans were scrapped altogether upon handover to East Coast.[10]

• On 31 March 1920, a passenger train was derailed as it entered platform 8.[24]
• On 5 August 1958, a passenger train crashed into the buffers at platform 12.[24]
• On 18 January 2006, a freight train wagon derailed on points entering platform 3 before re-railing 400 sleepers later causing extensive damage to trackworks through the station. The derailment happened due to faulty suspension on one of the bogies causing the load to sit unevenly across the axles, lifting the axle off the tracks as it went round the corner over the points.[25]

All the platforms except 9, 10 and 11 are under the large, curved, glass and iron roof. They are accessed via a long footbridge (which also connects to the National Railway Museum) or via lifts and either of two pedestrian tunnels.[26] Between April 1984 and 2011 the old tea rooms housed the Rail Riders World/York Model Railway exhibition.[27]

The southern side of the station has been given new track and signalling systems. An additional line and new junction was completed in early 2011. This work has helped take away one of the bottlenecks on the East Coast Main Line.[29]

The York Rail Operating Centre

The station has also become the site of one of Network Rail's modern Rail Operation Centres, which opened in September 2014 on land to the west of the station[30] This took over the functions of the former IECC in December 2018 and will eventually control much of the East Coast Main Line from London to the Scottish border and various subsidiary routes across the North East, Lincolnshire and South, North and West Yorkshire. During Christmas 2020, major track replacement occurred, with Network Rail releasing time lapse footage of the works.[31]

In 2022, work began to redevelop the area outside the station. Queen Street Bridge, built to cross the lines into the old York station within the city walls, will be demolished.[32]

In 2023 a further £10.5 million has been confirmed for the massive revamp of the area at the front of York railway station.[33]

Located adjacent to the station, York Central is one of the largest city centre brownfield regeneration sites in the UK. The 45-hectare (110-acre) site has been designated as a UK Government ‘Housing Zone’ and has also been awarded ‘Enterprise Zone’ status, which offers commercial occupiers significant incentives. Outline planning approval was given for the site in March 2019. It is anticipated that development of the full site could take between 15 and 20 years to complete.[34]

The station is operated by London North Eastern Railway and is used by the following train operating companies:

Northern Trains

Northern Trains Route 9
Calder Valley Line and East Lancashire Line
York Ulleskelf Church Fenton Micklefield East Garforth Garforth Cross Gates Leeds Bramley New Pudsey Bradford Interchange Low Moor Halifax Sowerby Bridge Mytholmroyd Hebden Bridge Manchester Victoria Moston Mills Hill Castleton Rochdale Smithy Bridge Littleborough Walsden Todmorden Colne Nelson Brierfield Burnley Central Burnley Barracks Burnley Manchester Road Rose Grove Hapton Huncoat Accrington Church and Oswaldtwistle Rishton Blackburn Mill Hill Cherry Tree Pleasington Bamber Bridge Lostock Hall Preston Salwick Kirkham and Wesham Poulton-le-Fylde Blackpool North Moss Side Lytham Ansdell and Fairhaven St Annes-on-the-Sea Squires Gate Blackpool Pleasure Beach Blackpool South
Burnley Barracks, Hapton and Pleasington are request stops.

Northern Trains route 29
York – Harrogate – Leeds via Knaresborough
York Poppleton Hammerton Cattal Knaresborough Starbeck Harrogate Hornbeam Park Pannal Weeton Horsforth Headingley Burley Park Leeds

Northern Trains route 34
York to Hull and Sheffield
York Ulleskelf Church Fenton Sherburn-in-Elmet Pontefract Baghill Moorthorpe Swinton (South Yorkshire) Rotherham Central Meadowhall Sheffield Selby Wressle Howden Eastrington Gilberdyke Broomfleet Brough Ferriby Hessle Hull Paragon

Northern Trains operates a mostly hourly service towards Hull, Blackpool North and Leeds with a half-hourly service towards Leeds via Harrogate serving most stations en-route (plus three per day to Sheffield via Pontefract Baghill).[39]

Rolling stock used: Sprinter (Class 150/155/158), Class 170 Turbostar and Civity Class 195 units. Pacer (Class 142/144) diesel multiple units were in regular use on the Harrogate and Sheffield lines until December 2019, but have now been phased out.

Former services

Until May 2021 East Midlands Railway provided one weekend return journey between York and London St Pancras via the Midland Main Line.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Leeds		CrossCountry Cross Country Route		Darlington
Doncaster
Garforth		TransPennine Express North TransPennine		Thirsk
				Northallerton
Leeds				Malton
				Terminus
London King's Cross		Grand Central London-Sunderland		Thirsk
Doncaster or Peterborough		London North Eastern Railway London-Newcastle/Edinburgh		Northallerton
Doncaster or Retford or Peterborough		London North Eastern Railway London-York		Terminus
London King's Cross or Doncaster or Peterborough		London North Eastern Railway London-Newcastle/Edinburgh/Scotland express services		Darlington
Leeds		London North Eastern Railway Leeds-Aberdeen		Darlington
Ulleskelf		Northern Trains Dearne Valley Line		Terminus
Poppleton		Northern Trains Harrogate Line
Selby		Northern Trains Hull-York Line
Ulleskelf
Ulleskelf		Northern Trains Micklefield Line
	Future services
Leeds		TBA Northern Powerhouse Rail		Darlington
Sheffield		TBA Northern Powerhouse Rail		Darlington
East Midlands Hub		TBA Northern Powerhouse Rail		Darlington
	Historical railways
Terminus		Y&NMR York to Scarborough Line		Haxby Station closed; Line open
	Disused railways
Terminus		NER York to Beverley Line		Earswick
Naburn		NER East Coast Main Line		Beningbrough

• 
  Platforms 9 and 10
• 
  Former signal box, now WHSmith
• 
  Station by night
• 
  Station entrance
• 
  1951 signal box, above Platform 9
• 
  Decorative ironwork
• 
  Gilded clock
• 
  Two of the four overall roofs
• 
  The York Tap, a pub within the station premises
• 
  Station forecourt with hotel to the right

• "York facelift". Rail Enthusiast. EMAP National Publications. March 1983. p. 49. ISSN 0262-561X. OCLC 49957965.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to York railway station.

• Train times and station information for York railway station from National Rail
• Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1256554)". National Heritage List for England.
• Historic England. "Old Station (1256403)". National Heritage List for England.
• The Railway Revolution – on 'History of York' website
• Winchester, Clarence, ed. (18 April 1935), "Famous Railway Centres 1: York", Railway Wonders of the World, pp. 375–380, description of the station in the 1930s
• – live webcam