Horsforth railway station

Horsforth railway station is a railway station in West Yorkshire, England. It is on the Harrogate Line 5.75 miles (9 km) north west of Leeds station and the final stop in the West Yorkshire Metro regulated area towards Harrogate.

Horsforth
View of both platforms from the road bridge
Location
Place	Horsforth
Local authority	City of Leeds
Coordinates	53.8476°N 1.6302°W / 53.8476; -1.6302
Grid reference	SE244391
Operations
Station code	HRS
Managed by	Northern
Number of platforms	2
DfT category	F1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15	1.053 million
2015/16	1.091 million
2016/17	1.144 million
2017/18	1.103 million
2018/19	1.097 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	West Yorkshire (Metro)
Zone	2
History
Key dates	Opened 1849 (1849)
National Rail – UK railway stations
Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Horsforth from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

History

The station in 1988

The station (accessed from Station Road, Horsforth) serves Horsforth, Cookridge and Tinshill and was opened in 1849. In 1969 it was unstaffed and all the buildings demolished as part of the general retrenchment of railways in West Yorkshire at that time. The nearby North Eastern Railway signal box survived until 2013.

Growing traffic congestion in Leeds promoted an increased traffic from Horsforth in the 1990s, and in 2002/3 Horsforth station was extensively redeveloped to better cater for the greater number of passengers. New waiting rooms were built on both platforms, along with a ticket office on the Leeds (Up) platform which opened on 16 July 2003. The car park was extended, using land formerly occupied by the two sidings; these still remain, in a truncated form. The station is staffed from 06:10–19:00 Mon–Sat and 09:30–16:30 Sun. Ticket machines are also provided, along with a long-line P.A system and digital information screens. Step-free access is available to both platforms.[1]

The station is roughly 45 minutes by foot from Leeds Bradford International Airport and is roughly 5 minutes by road.

There had been plans for a neighbouring station, Horsforth Woodside, to be built on the same line just south of the station. However a West Yorkshire Transport Feasibility Study published in 2015 stated that the authority would discontinue with plans for the new station.[2] A turn-back facility for Horsforth station was constructed in 2012. This allows timetabling improvements to the line in future.[3][4][5]

Services

Monday to Saturday daytimes is generally a half-hourly service stopping southbound to Leeds and a half-hourly service northbound to Knaresborough with one train per hour onwards to York. Since the May 2019 timetable change, an additional express service in each direction operates every hour during the day (express to/from Leeds and thence calling only at Hornbeam Park en route to Harrogate).

In peak hours, there are extra services to and from Leeds.[6] The new Northern franchise (that started in April 2016) will see additional services running as far as Harrogate throughout the day (3tph from May 2019 with a fourth to follow) and a more frequent service from here in both directions as a result (up from 2 per hour to 4 on weekdays, plus one extra per hour to Harrogate & Knaresborough on Sundays).[7]

In the evenings there is an hourly service in each direction. As of the December 2017 timetable change, Sundays see a very frequent service. Services to York remains hourly, but services as far as Knaresborough, and to Leeds, are now every half an hour during the day, and into the evening.

Every morning between Mondays and Saturdays, there is one direct London North Eastern Railway service to London King's Cross in the Leeds direction only. The evening return service passes through the station non-stop.

Panorama of Horsforth station

See also

• Leeds-Northallerton Railway

References

1. Horsforth station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 30 November 2016
2. "New Railway Stations in North and West Yorkshire Feasibility Study" (PDF). West Yorkshire Combined Authority. 14 October 2014. p. 22. Archived from the original (PDF) on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
3. "Improved performance and capacity for Harrogate rail line". Harrogate Informer. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
4. "Network Rail Media Centre - IMPROVED PERFORMANCE AND CAPACITY FOR HARROGATE RAIL LINE". www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk. Retrieved 10 October 2015.
5. "Horsforth passengers to benefit from £16 million railway package". Ilkley Gazette. 13 November 2012. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
6. GB National Rail Timetable, May 2019 Edition - Table 35
7. Northern Franchise Improvements - DfT

External links

• Train times and station information for Horsforth railway station from National Rail

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Headingley		Northern Harrogate Line		Weeton
Leeds		London North Eastern Railway London to Harrogate (Limited service)		Harrogate