Leeds railway station facts for kids

Leeds railway station or Leeds City Station is one of the largest railway stations in the United Kingdom. The station is the largest one in Leeds as well as being the main public transport facility in West Yorkshire. There is no larger railway interchange in Yorkshire or North East England.

The station is one of 17 in Great Britain to be managed by Network Rail. It is the busiest English station outside London, and the UK's second busiest station outside London after Glasgow Central.

History

North Concorse

South Concorse

Leeds City Station was built as Leeds New Station, to operate alongside Leeds Central Station (which has since closed). Leeds City Station was rebuilt twice, once in 1963 and again in 2002. Automatic ticket barriers were installed in 2008 replacing manned ticket booths.

Future

There are plans to build a entrance to the station from the South side. This would let passengers leave with a short walk to Bridgewater Place and Granary Wharf at the moment they have to walk from the North Side and under the station in a tunnel. As part of High Speed 2 a new station is planned to the south called Leeds New Lane railway station, this will be linked to the current railway station by a bridge. Because of the number of trains now using Leeds railway station new platforms have been proposed.

Destinations

The railway station has services to London, Sheffield, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Kingston upon Hull and Scarborough. There are also many local services to Wakefield, Bradford, Huddersfield, Halifax, York, Harrogate and other local towns and cities.

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  Commuter trains. A Northern Rail train (British Rail Class 144) in the West Yorkshire Metro livery. These trains are used for commuter routes around Leeds.

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  An East Coast British Rail Class 43. This route runs from London Kings Cross and stops at Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield Westgate before finishing at Leeds.

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  A Metro train to Bradford Forster Square. These trains run the electrified commuter routes to Bradford Forster Square, Skipton and Ilkley.

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  A First Transpennine Express train. These run from Leeds to Kingston upon Hull, Newcastle upon Tyne, Middlesborough and Scarborough in the East as well as Manchester Picadilly, Manchester Airport, Liverpool Lime Street and Blackpool North in the West.

Images for kids

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  The North Concourse (Wellington Quarter) by William Henry Hamlyn dating from 1937/38 – The shops on the right were previously platform entrances

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  The 6-foot high 'LEEDS' letters inside the main entrance to the station

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  Platform hall

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  The Western Entrance into the railway station.

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  Neville Street passes under the railway station

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  Railway lines in central Leeds in 1913

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  The river Aire and Southern station entrance

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  The railway station seen in 1974

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  A trolley point showing the historical name of 'Leeds City' after the 2002 rebuilding

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  Leeds City South Station: west end, in 1961

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  Platforms three to five

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  Outer platforms

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  A graphical mockup showing how new HS2 platforms (blue) will be joined to the existing Leeds station platforms (pink).