Wakefield Kirkgate
National Rail
Entrance to the railway station
General information
LocationWakefield, City of Wakefield
England
Coordinates53°40′44″N 1°29′17″W / 53.679°N 1.488°W / 53.679; -1.488
Grid referenceSE339204
Managed byNorthern
Transit authorityWest Yorkshire (Metro)
Platforms3
Other information
Station codeWKK
Fare zone3
ClassificationDfT category F1
History
Opened5 October 1840
Original companyManchester and Leeds Railway
Pre-groupingLancashire and Yorkshire Railway
Post-groupingLondon, Midland and Scottish Railway
Key dates
5 October 1840Station opened
Passengers
2018/19Decrease 0.525 million
2019/20Decrease 0.511 million
2020/21Decrease 0.115 million
 Interchange  37,859
2021/22Increase 0.380 million
 Interchange Increase 88,600
2022/23Increase 0.508 million
 Interchange Decrease 82,663
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Wakefield Kirkgate railway station is a railway station in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. Unlike the nearby Wakefield Westgate railway station, Kirkgate is unstaffed.[1] The station is managed by Northern but also served by Grand Central and TransPennine Express. It is on the Hallam, Calder Valley, Pontefract and Huddersfield lines. It has a limited number of services to London King's Cross.

History

Wakefield Kirkgate platform, 2013

The original Kirkgate station opened by the Manchester and Leeds Railway in 1840 was the only station in Wakefield until Westgate was opened in 1867. The railway station building dates from 1854. It is named for the nearby Kirkgate street.

Some demolition work took place in 1972, removing buildings on the island platform and the roof with its original ironwork canopy which covered the whole station. A wall remains as evidence of these buildings. After this, Kirkgate was listed in 1979.[2]

Since Westgate developed as Wakefield's main railway station, Kirkgate was neglected for many years and deteriorated until it was in a poor state of repair. In January 2008 the former goods warehouse was demolished to make way for a depot for Network Rail.[3] In October 2008, part of the station wall collapsed, destroying a parked car.[4]

The station is unstaffed and, despite the presence of CCTV,[1] it suffered from crime. A rape,[5] a serious assault[6] and several robberies took place there. In July 2009, Kirkgate station was visited by Secretary of State for Transport Lord Adonis who dubbed it "the worst medium-large station in Britain".[7] Local consensus was that the state of its facilities discouraged its use.[8]

Refurbishment 2013–15

Following a campaign supported by the Wakefield Express newspaper,[9] plans to redevelop the station[10] were formulated. In July 2011, Wakefield Council was asked to decide upon a £500,000 grant to the environmental regeneration charity Groundwork UK as part of its £4 million Kirkgate project in which new life would be breathed into the area.[11] The proposal was approved and funds raised in March 2013.[12] The work was carried out in two phases between 2013 and 2015.[13]

Work completed by June 2013 included the following items:[14]

  • Removal of life-expired and unused canopies
  • Refurbishment and reglazing of the Leeds-bound canopy
  • Creation of new entrances to the subway
  • Installation of electronic information screens on the platforms and entrance hall

A second phase of work, completed in September 2015,[15][16] included

  • Units for new businesses
  • Café
  • Retail outlet
  • Exhibition spaces
  • Meeting rooms for community and local business
  • Accommodation for Groundwork Wakefield

Grand Central opened a first class lounge for its customers in April 2017.[17]

Usage

Historically, figures for annual passenger usage at Kirkgate were comparatively low, with only 769 tickets sold to/from the station in the 2006/07 financial year.[18] However this was because most tickets are bought to "Wakefield Stations", and it was hard to determine the true use of Wakefield Westgate and Kirkgate as separate entities. Following changes in the way the statistics are collected, Kirkgate's usage figure increased significantly to a value which more accurately reflects its true usage.[18] In 2022/23, 508,000 journeys to and from the station were estimated along with 82,000 interchanges.

Station layout

Platform 1 – Served by northbound Northern services to Leeds and Castleford, and also by services to and from York.

Platform 2 – Served by southbound Northern services towards Barnsley, Meadowhall Interchange, Sheffield, Lincoln and Nottingham. The newly introduced TransPennine Express service to Manchester Piccadilly via Huddersfield also calls at this platform four times each day.

Platform 3 – Served by north-eastbound Northern services towards Knottingley, westbound to Wakefield Westgate and Leeds and also several times each day by Grand Central eastbound towards London King's Cross (which then begin a southbound journey after Doncaster) and westbound towards Bradford Interchange via Halifax.

The island platform consisting of platforms 2 and 3, is linked to platform 1 and the station building by a newly refurbished subway, featuring better lighting and new bright white paint. Art panels were added to the subway in February 2017, and a brass band rendition of 'Jerusalem' plays in the background.[19]

Services

View westward, towards Mirfield in 1966
Pacer DMU at Wakefield Kirkgate platform one. May 2006
142066 at Wakefield Kirkgate platform two. May 2006
153352 DMU at Wakefield Kirkgate platform three. May 2006
45407 The Lancashire Fusilier at Wakefield Kirkgate Station in August 2010

Current services

Most services through this station are operated by Northern but those to London and Bradford are operated by Grand Central.

Summer Special trains

During the summer, excursion trains using heritage rolling stock run through the station; the Scarborough Spa Express on alternate Thursdays and The Dalesman to Carlisle running over the Settle-Carlisle line on occasional Mondays and Tuesdays. These services are hauled by diesel locomotives through West Yorkshire and changed to steam haulage part way along the routes, usually at Hellifield.[25][26]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Station Facilities: Wakefield Kirkgate". National Rail. Retrieved 22 August 2009.
  2. ↑ "List of Listed Buildings, Scheduled Ancient Monuments and Buildings of Local Interest" (PDF). City of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council. 26 April 2005. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 February 2009. Retrieved 22 August 2009.
  3. ↑ "Going..Going..nearly Gone..!". Wakey S&T..Online. Archived from the original on 8 July 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2008.
  4. ↑ Wright, Rebecca (3 October 2008). "Car crushed as Kirkgate Station wall collapses". Wakefield Express. Retrieved 22 August 2009.
  5. ↑ "Kirkgate rapist jailed indefinitely". Wakefield Express. 3 April 2009. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
  6. ↑ Bradley, Lisa (29 July 2009). "Man attacked at Wakefield Kirkgate Station". Wakefield Express. Retrieved 1 August 2009.
  7. ↑ "Lord Adonis criticises Network Rail in letter about state of Wakefield Kirkgate". Wakefield Express. Johnston Press Digital Publishing. 30 July 2009. Retrieved 1 August 2009.
  8. ↑ "Rail Safety at Kirkgate and Services on the Pontefract Line" (PDF). City of Wakefield Metropolitan District Council. Retrieved 3 April 2008.
  9. ↑ "Kirkgate Station Petition". Wakefield Express. Retrieved 21 April 2009.
  10. ↑ "West Yorkshire Metro | Schemes under development | Wakefield Kirkgate Station Redevelopment". Archived from the original on 7 December 2008. Retrieved 4 February 2009.
  11. ↑ "Council vote on Kirkgate". Wakefield Express. 11 July 2011. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  12. ↑ "Wakefield Kirkgate: £4.6m raised for 'worst' station's upgrade". BBC News. 18 March 2013. Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  13. ↑ "Kirkgate Station officially open after multi-million pound renovation". Pontefract and Castleford Express. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  14. ↑ "Wakefield Kirkgate Rail Station Redevelopment". Retrieved 7 June 2013.
  15. ↑ "Wakefield Kirkgate Station opens after £5.6m revamp - Yorkshire Evening Post". Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  16. ↑ "Transport Minister opens Wakefield Kirkgate station - News stories - GOV.UK". Archived from the original on 8 March 2016. Retrieved 15 September 2015.
  17. ↑ "Grand Central Rail unveils First Class lounge Wakefield". Buying Business Travel. 5 April 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  18. 1 2 "Office of Rail Regulation statistics". Archived from the original on 4 July 2012. Retrieved 4 February 2009.
  19. ↑ "Permanent art show in Wakefield Kirkgate station underpass". BBC News. 2 February 2017. Retrieved 9 August 2017.
  20. ↑ Table 27 National Rail timetable, December 2023
  21. ↑ GB eNRT, Table 32
  22. ↑ Northern Timetable 33 Leeds to Nottingham Northern; Retrieved 12 May 2017
  23. ↑ "West Yorkshire and Doncaster timetable". Grand Central Trains. Grand Central. Retrieved 30 December 2016.
  24. ↑ "Castleford to York direct trains to run on route again after 50 years". BBC News. 11 December 2023. Retrieved 11 December 2023.
  25. ↑ "The Dalesman - Fare Prices". westcoastrailways.co.uk.
  26. ↑ "The Scarborough Spa Express – Timetable". Archived from the original on 14 July 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.

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