Doncaster railway station is on the East Coast Main Line in the United Kingdom, serving the town of Doncaster, South Yorkshire. It is 155 miles 77 chains (251.0 km) down the line from London King's Cross and is situated between Retford and York on the main line. It is managed by Virgin Trains East Coast.
It is a major passenger interchange between the main line, Cross Country Route and local services running across the North of England. It is also the point for which Virgin Trains East Coast services from London divide, either branching off to Leeds or continuing north towards Edinburgh.
Video Doncaster railway station
History
The railway station was built in 1849 replacing a temporary structure constructed a year earlier. It was rebuilt in its present form in 1938 and has had several slight modifications since that date, most notably in 2006, when the new interchange and connection to Frenchgate Centre opened.
In May 2015, construction commenced on a new Platform 0 to the north-east of the station adjacent to the Frenchgate Centre on the site of the former cattle dock. It will be used by terminating Northern services to Hull, Beverley, Bridlington and Scarborough. This will allow these services to operate independently of the East Coast Main Line. It is joined to the rest of the station via a fully accessible overbridge.
Station Masters
Maps Doncaster railway station
Platforms
The station has nine platforms on three islands. Platforms 1, 3, 4 and 8 can take through trains. Platforms 2 and 5 are south-facing bays, and 0, 6 and 7 are north facing bays. A First Class Lounge is available on platform 3A.
Platform 0 is scheduled to take almost exclusively Northern services to and from Hull, Beverley and Bridlington. The brand new platform opened on 12 December 2016.
Platform 1 is scheduled to take southbound Virgin Trains East Coast, Grand Central and First Hull Trains trains towards London King's Cross. Virgin Trains East Coast services come from Leeds and Edinburgh, Grand Central services from Bradford Interchange to London King's Cross, which operate non-stop from Doncaster and First Hull Trains services from Hull
Platform 2 has no scheduled trains and is not normally for public use. From 2017, East Midlands Trains services to Lincoln Central will move to this platform from Platform 5.
Platform 3A is scheduled to take some southbound East Coast Main Line trains towards London King's Cross - Virgin Trains East Coast services here usually originate in York calling at all stations along the route (Retford, Newark North Gate, Grantham, Peterborough, and Stevenage); and the platform is scheduled to take some southbound Hull Trains services to London King's Cross.
Platform 3B takes services to Sheffield and Manchester / Manchester Airport, operated by Northern and TransPennine Express and will take services from Sheffield when there is congestion.
Between platforms 3 and 4 are the high speed up and down lines from London
Platform 4 is scheduled to take northbound Virgin Trains East Coast services towards York, Newcastle and Edinburgh; Hull Trains services to Hull; Northern through services to Bridlington and Scarborough from Sheffield; and TransPennine Express services to Cleethorpes. However, southbound CrossCountry services towards Birmingham New Street and beyond also depart from this platform.
Platform 5 is a bay platform used for Northern and East Midlands Trains services to Sheffield and Lincoln Central (some of which extend to Peterborough).
Platform 6 is a bay platform used almost exclusively for Northern commuter services to Leeds.
Platform 7 is seldom in public use, but when it is, is used for Northern services towards Scunthorpe via all stations.
Platform 8 is used for northbound East Coast Main Line services towards Leeds; and CrossCountry services to Newcastle; and local services both north to Sheffield and south to Adwick. The platform is also used for Northern local services to Scunthorpe via all stations. Southbound CrossCountry services are also scheduled to use this platform, but only at times when the station is otherwise congested.
There are presently no ticket barriers in operation at this station; however on Race Days (at Doncaster Racecourse), manual ticket checks are in operation in the subway.
The station has been recently refurbished in 2006 and is now directly connected to the Frenchgate Centre extension in Doncaster town centre. The station now has a new booking office for tickets and information, three new lifts, refurbished staircases and subway. There is a newsagent and some food outlets. More recently, interactive touch screens have been installed around the station by Virgin Trains East Coast services to provide information about local attractions, live departures and disruptions and station facilities. As well as this, mobile phone charging points are now available on the concourse, touch screen, self service ticketing machines have been installed across the concourse and the stairways to the subway have now been divided into two way systems to improve the flow of passengers during peak times.
In a route study by Network Rail it was proposed that new platforms could be built on the western side of the station which meet demand expected in the future.
Accidents and incidents
- On 9 August 1947, a passenger train was in a rear-end collision with another due to a signalman's error. 18 people were killed and 188 were injured.
- On 16 March 1951 a derailment occurred south of the station in which 14 passengers were killed and 12 seriously injured.
Services
Seven train operating companies (or TOCs) call at Doncaster, which is the highest number of companies in the UK and is also equal in number only to Crewe in the UK. Train operators include the following:
CrossCountry
CrossCountry have dropped most Doncaster to Edinburgh services. They offer an hourly service to Newcastle and Reading with one service per day running through to both Edinburgh Waverley and Guildford or Southampton Central. The majority of CrossCountry services at Doncaster use 4-car Voyager DEMUs (Class 220s).
East Midlands Trains
East Midlands Trains offer a limited direct service to London St. Pancras and to Leeds, York and Scarborough. Services to London (St Pancras) run via Sheffield, Chesterfield, Derby and Leicester but less often than Virgin Trains East Coast, and take considerably more time than Virgin Trains East Coast services. They also operate a local service to Lincoln which occasionally extends to Sleaford and Peterborough.
Hull Trains
Hull Trains operates services between London King's Cross and Hull or Beverley via Selby.
TransPennine Express
TransPennine Express serve stations towards the east to Cleethorpes, and to the west towards Manchester Airport. TransPennine services operate hourly in each direction generally.
Grand Central
Grand Central offers four trains a day between Bradford Interchange and King's Cross. All Bradford-London services call at Doncaster. Southbound the next stop is King's Cross with a journey time of around 90 minutes - the fastest on the route due to the non-stop nature of the service.
Northern
Northern generally offers services from Doncaster to stations within Yorkshire and Lincolnshire, such as Sheffield, Leeds and Lincoln. It provides stopping services, stopping at every station along-route, and 'fast' services, stopping at just the principal stations. It is possible to travel on Northern Rail to Retford from Doncaster, via Sheffield, on a direct train. However, this involves a journey of 80 min from Adwick. The direct Virgin Trains East Coast service takes, on average, just 14 min. On top of this, there are also two services a day, originating at Adwick, through to Manchester Piccadilly calling at all stations along the route, including those through the rural areas of the Pennines.
Virgin Trains East Coast
Virgin Trains East Coast offers regular (55 trains per day) direct trains services to London King's Cross, which can be reached in 100-115 mins, depending on the service. All trains to Leeds call at Doncaster, and an hourly service to Newcastle or Scotland (Edinburgh and the once daily Glasgow Central service). Virgin Trains East Coast also offer services to cities such as Leeds (terminating services), York, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness and Aberdeen.
There were plans to add platforms 9 and 10 to cope with Eurostar trains but this project was cancelled when it was decided that Eurostar would not serve Britain outside the South East of England.
In the media
In 1973 the station was featured in the first episode of Whatever Happened to the Likely Lads?, entitled Strangers on a Train, featuring James Bolam and Rodney Bewes. Although it is not stated where the scenes in the station were filmed, signs for Grimsby Town and Scunthorpe are visible in the background.
See also
- Joan Croft Halt railway station (North Doncaster Chord project)
- Doncaster Works - a locomotive works adjacent to the station.
References
External links
Media related to Doncaster railway station at Wikimedia Commons
- Train times and station information for Doncaster railway station from National Rail
Source of article : Wikipedia
0 Comments