York railway station
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- This article is about a railway station in England. For the similarly named subway station in Brooklyn, New York City, see York Street (IND Sixth Avenue Line).
York railway station is a main-line railway station in the historic city of York, England. It lies on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) 188.5 miles (303 km) north of London's King's Cross station towards Edinburgh's Waverley Station. Originally it was part of the North Eastern Railway.
[edit] History
The first York railway station was a temporary building on Queen Street outside the walls of the city, opened in 1839 by the York and North Midland Railway, and was the terminus of the original trunk route for trains to London, via Derby and Birmingham. A second station, inside the walls, was built by George Townsend Andrews in 1840 and opened on 4 January 1841. This station closed in 1877 when the present station opened but remained in use for a further 88 years as carriage storage space. Andrews also designed the neo-Tudor arch where the walls were breached and the hotel across the head of the lines, completed in 1853. This station was the first to incorporate a hotel in its structure. The hotel and flanking departure and arrival buildings, now used as offices, still stand (on Toft Green/Tanner Row), although the train-shed was largely demolished in 1965.[1]
It was replaced by the present station, designed by the North Eastern Railway architect Thomas Prosser and William Peachey. On completion in 1877, it had 13 platforms and was the largest in the world.
In 1909 new platforms were added, and in 1938 the current footbridge was built. The building was damaged during the Second World War and extensively repaired in 1947. In 2006–7, the approaches to the station were reorganised in order to improve facilities for bus, taxi and car users as well as pedestrians and cyclists. The former motive power depot and goods station now house the National Railway Museum.
[edit] Layout
All the platforms except 9/10/11 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 by lifts and a tunnel.
[edit] Major Renovation
Measures are now underway to completely renovate the station. This has already started with the reconstruction of Platform 9 (currently closed).
Phase 2 will continue in 2009 with a new first class lounge to be built, extensive lighting alterations and new automated Leeds Station style ticket gates.
[edit] Platforms
The platforms at York have been renumbered several times, the current use is:
Platforms 10 and 11 exist outside the main body of the station. Another siding (the former fruit dock) exists opposite Platform 11.
[edit] Services
The station is operated by National Express East Coast on behalf of Network Rail, and provides services to:
The station is used by the following TOCs
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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