Huddersfield railway station

Huddersfield railway station serves the town of Huddersfield in West Yorkshire, England.

Huddersfield
Huddersfield railway station in St Georges Square
Location
PlaceHuddersfield
Local authorityKirklees
Coordinates53.648°N 1.785°W / 53.648; -1.785
Grid referenceSE143168
Operations
Station codeHUD
Managed byTransPennine Express
Number of platforms6
DfT categoryB
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2014/15 4.994 million
2015/16 5.042 million
2016/17 5.093 million
2017/18 5.101 million
2018/19 4.898 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTEWest Yorkshire (Metro)
Zone5
History
Original companyLondon and North Western Railway
Pre-groupingLondon and North Western Railway/Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway joint
Post-groupingLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
3 August 1847Station opened[1]
Listed status
Listed featureRailway Station
Listing gradeGrade I listed
Entry number1277385[2]
Added to list3 March 1952
National Rail – UK railway stations
  • Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Huddersfield from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.

The station is managed by TransPennine Express, which provides trains between Manchester and Liverpool in the North West and Newcastle and Middlesbrough in the North East and also to York, Scarborough and Hull via Leeds. It is also served by local Northern trains on the Huddersfield, Penistone and Caldervale lines, which between them provide service to Leeds, Wakefield Westgate, Manchester Victoria, Sheffield, Brighouse, Halifax and Bradford Interchange.

Huddersfield station is the second busiest station in West Yorkshire, with Leeds being the first.

The station building
Huddersfield railway station by night

Designed by the architect James Pigott Pritchett and built by the firm of Joseph Kaye in 1846–50[3][4] using the neo-classical style, the station is well known in architectural circles for its classical-style facade, with a portico of the Corinthian order, consisting of six columns in width and two in depth, which dominates St George's Square. It faces out towards Lion Buildings. It is a Grade I listed building.[2] In the 1880s, the station was extended with the installation of an island platform with an overall roof. The roof partially collapsed on 10 August 1885, killing four people.[5]

The station frontage was described by John Betjeman as "the most splendid in England" and by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as "one of the best early railway stations in England" and "the only important Victorian railway station [in the West Riding]".[6] Similarly, Simon Jenkins reported it to be one of the best 100 stations in Britain.[7]

Two pubs are within the station frontage, to each side of the main entrance: The Head Of Steam and The King's Head (previously known as The Station Tavern).[8] Both facilities are accessible from Platform 1. At the building's entrance, the booking office is to the left and to the right are the train timetables and a newsagent. Platforms 4 to 8 are located via a lift or subway, accessed from Platform 1. The public conveniences are located through this subway at the top of the steps to Platforms 4–8. The platforms are all covered by a large canopy. To the rear of the station are some carriage sidings.

Freemasons' circular, dated 25 September 1846, regarding attendance at the laying of the station's foundation stone by the Earl Fitzwilliam

The station is staffed 24 hours a day, with the booking office open from 05:45 to 20:00 Mondays to Saturdays and 07:45 to 20:00 on Sundays. There are also four self-service ticket machines available in the ticket hall for use when the booking office is closed or for collecting pre-paid tickets. Automated train announcements, customer help points and digital display screens provide train running information on all platforms. In addition to the aforementioned pubs, the station has a waiting room and buffet on platform 4 and a coffee kiosk on platform 1.[9]

Location
The view from the south with platforms 1 and 2 on the right

The station fronts Saint George's Square, which was refurbished in 2009. The square has been made a pedestrian zone. No car parking is available in front of the station entrance, but it is nearby on Brook Street.

The station is situated a short distance from Huddersfield bus station, so interchange facilities are possible but limited. The Huddersfield FreeCityBus connects the railway station with the bus station, as well as the University of Huddersfield and other areas of the town centre.

There are six platforms:

  • Platform 1 — Express services to Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Airport and Liverpool (via Manchester Victoria).
  • Platform 2 — Terminus platform for Penistone Line services to/from Sheffield.
  • Platform 4 — Stopping services to Leeds (4a) and Manchester Piccadilly (4b). (One evening train from Hull terminates at Platform 4a.)
  • Platforms 5 and 6 — Terminus platforms for local services to/from Leeds (via Brighouse, Halifax and Bradford) and Wakefield Kirkgate.
  • Platform 8 — Express services to Leeds, Hull, York, Scarborough, Middlesbrough and Newcastle.

Development

In 2010, Network Rail and First TransPennine Express completed a series of improvements to the station in order to provide better access for passengers. This consisted of two new lifts, and a new staircase to the subway on Platform 1. The new staircase replaced the existing staircase inside the booking hall. As well as this each platform received new information screens.[10]

In early 2011, further improvement works were carried out to the concourse and waiting area. This phase of improvements was funded by the Railway Heritage Trust, Metro, Kirklees council and the National Station's Improvement Programme. The main purpose of this was to reduce bottlenecks at peak times as well as general crowding. The redundant stable block on Platform 1 was also turned into a staff training centre and toilets.[11]

Automatic ticket barriers were installed at the station in May 2013.[12]

Work is underway on Network Rail's Transpennine Route Upgrade project which will see electrification of the Huddersfield Line by 2025, allowing many of the services through the station to switch to newer, faster electric rolling stock. As part of this project the signal box on platform 4 which was decommissioned previously will be removed, its control area already passed to the York Rail Operating Centre as a part of the Huddersfield Re-signalling project.[13]

Services
A westbound TransPennine Express Class 185

During Monday to Friday daytimes, TransPennine Express operate services to Newcastle, Hull, Scarborough, and Redcar Central, all of which call at Leeds. A sixth service terminates at Leeds. Four of these are expresses (either non-stop or calling at Dewsbury only), one calls at Dewsbury and Batley and the other serves most local stops to Leeds.

Westbound there are two trains per hour to Manchester Piccadilly, two to Manchester Airport (via Manchester Victoria) and two to Liverpool Lime Street via Newton-le-Willows).[14]

Northern operates hourly stopping services to Sheffield,[15] Wakefield Kirkgate and to Leeds via Bradford Interchange.

Concerns have been raised about regular disruption to services through Huddersfield as a result of police incidents involving football supporters and drinkers taking part in the local Ale Trail pub crawl.[16]

Preceding station   National Rail   Following station
Manchester Victoria
TransPennine Express
North TransPennine
TerminusNorthern Trains
Calder Valley line
Northern Trains
Huddersfield to Castleford
Northern Trains
Penistone line
Disused railways
L&YRTerminus

Future services

London North Eastern Railway plan to operate services from London King's Cross via Leeds, beginning in May 2020.[17]

Steam trains

In keeping with the on-site Head of Steam railway pub, several steam trains still pass through Huddersfield station, including the Cotton Mill Express and the Scarborough Flyer.[18]

On the disused side of Platform 2, an old carriage is bolted to the ground. Set in its window is a plaque commemorating 100 years of Steamtrain Hoorn Medemblik, a Dutch heritage railway.

Station cats
Felix by the door of the station offices on Platform 1

The first station cat, Felix, joined the staff as a nine-week-old kitten in 2011.[19] Since then she has patrolled the station to keep it free from rodents, and even has her own cat-flap to bypass the ticket barriers.[20] In 2016, Felix was promoted to Senior Pest Controller.[21] In 2016, local artist Rob Martin painted a portrait of Felix which now hangs in the station.[22]

The second station cat, Bolt, joined the staff in September 2018 as an eight-week-old kitten.[23][24]

gollark: This... is... ESOLANGS!
gollark: You can leave some unassigned, some as aliases for others, some as aliases for other ones with a parameter value already filled in...
gollark: You don't need to use all of them.
gollark: there are not at present sufficient characters for base131072, sadly.
gollark: 🚿 🚿 🌡

References
  1. Bairstow, Martin (1993). The Huddersfield & Sheffield Junction Railway. Martin Bairstow. ISBN 1-871944-08-2.
  2. Historic England. "Railway Station  (Grade I) (1277385)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 16 October 2019.
  3. Railway Magazine, June 1956
  4. Robert William Rennison (1996), Civil Engineering Heritage, 2nd ed, pp 187–188. London: Thomas Telford. ISBN 0-7277-2518-1
  5. Tuffrey, Peter (4 June 2019). "A Splendid Station". The Yorkshire Post. Picture Past. p. 11. ISSN 0963-1496.
  6. Pevsner, Nikolaus (2001). Ratcliffe, Enid (ed.). Yorkshire : the West Riding (2 ed.). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. p. 64. ISBN 0-14-071017-5.
  7. Jenkins, Simon (1 October 2017). "10 of the best railway stations in Britain". Theguardian.com. Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  8. Examiner, Huddersfield (6 March 2008). "Concert for Alyson's cause". Retrieved 1 October 2017.
  9. Huddersfield Station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 16 January 2017
  10. Access improvements complete at Huddersfield Station(Huddersfield Examiner, 20 August 2010)
  11. Above and beyond unveils plans for Huddersfield railway station revamp (Huddersfield Examiner, 5 September 2009)
  12. Ticket barriers go in at Huddersfield railway station(Huddersfield Examiner, 13 May 2013)
  13. "Huddersfield and Dewsbury stations close for signal works" BBC News article 5 August 2017
  14. Table 39 National Rail timetable, May 2018
  15. Table 34 National Rail timetable, December 2018
  16. Goodier, Michael; Lavigueur, Nick (25 February 2020). "Drunks and hooligans have caused thousands of train passengers to be delayed". YorkshireLive. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
  17. "Stagecoach-Virgin company awarded InterCity East Coast rail franchise" (Press release). Perth: Stagecoach Group plc. 27 November 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  18. UK Steam "Mainline Steam Tour Programme 2010", 2010 listing.
  19. "Huddersfield Railway Station welcomes a new member of staff – Felix the station cat" Douglas, Joanne Huddersfield Examiner 21 November 2011
  20. "Felix the cat gets special entrance at Huddersfield station after coming unstuck at new barriers" James, Richard Metro.co.uk 14 June 2013
  21. "Felix the Huddersfield Station cat gets a purr-motion" Beever, Susie Huddersfield Examiner 2 February 2016
  22. Douglas, Joanne (30 November 2016). "New oil portrait unveiled of Felix the cat". Huddersfield Examiner. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  23. Beever, Susie (2 September 2018). "Huddersfield Station take on SECOND cat as Felix's apprentice". Huddersfield Examiner. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
  24. Bevis, Gavin (29 December 2019). "The commuter cats who became fur-mous". BBC News. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.