Doncaster railway station

Doncaster railway station is on the East Coast Main Line serving the city of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It is 155 miles 77 chains (251 km) down the line from London King's Cross and is situated between Retford and York on the main line. It is managed by London North Eastern Railway. It is the second busiest station in South Yorkshire (after Sheffield), and the fourth busiest station in Yorkshire & the Humber.^[2]

Doncaster
The frontage at Doncaster station in May 2008
General information
Location	Doncaster, South Yorkshire England
Coordinates	53.5225°N 1.1395°W / 53.5225; -1.1395
Grid reference	SE571032
Managed by	London North Eastern Railway
Transit authority	South Yorkshire
Platforms	9 (numbered 0-8)
Tracks	11
Other information
Station code	DON
Fare zone	Doncaster
Classification	DfT category B
Passengers
2019/20	3.946 million
Interchange	1.767 million
2020/21	0.890 million
Interchange	0.264 million
2021/22	3.520 million
Interchange	1.011 million
2022/23	3.635 million
Interchange	0.987 million
2023/24	3.916 million
Interchange	1.509 million
Listed Building – Grade II
Feature	Station Booking Hall and Offices
Designated	25 April 1988
Reference no.	1193202[1]
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Line-up of steam locomotives (left-to-right: an A2/3, A3 and a B1) at Doncaster station in August 1953

Down Express, headed by an A2/3, departing in April 1957

A Deltic Class 55 locomotive no.55012 Crepello coupling to the Hull-London King's Cross train as trainspotters watch on, July 1977

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 London North Eastern Railway services branching off to Leeds diverge from the main route continuing north towards Edinburgh.

History

The railway station was built in 1850 replacing a temporary structure constructed two years earlier, located some 450 yards (410 m) further south.^[3][4] Between 1850 and 1873 the station had two main platforms, with loops to each platform diverting off the main running lines.^[5] It was rebuilt in its present form in 1938, where the platform on the townside of the station (the eastern side) was converted into an island platform thereby creating a fourth through running line.^[6] The station has had several slight modifications since that date - in 1976, a project to refurbish the passenger facilities was completed at a cost of £125,000, and in 2006, the new interchange and connection to Frenchgate Centre opened.^[7][8] The station was evacuated and services on the East Coast Main Line stopped in March 1997 due to a bomb hoax called in by the IRA. Actual bombs were left at Wilmslow railway station in Cheshire on the same day.^[9]

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 is used by terminating Northern Trains services to Hull, Beverley, Bridlington and Scarborough.^[10] This allowed these services to operate independently of the East Coast Main Line.^[11][12] It is joined to the rest of the station via a fully accessible overbridge.^[13]

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; platforms 0, 6 and 7 are north facing bays. A first class lounge is available on platform 3A.

• Platform 0 is used to take almost exclusively Northern Trains services to and from Hull, Beverley and Bridlington. The brand new platform opened on 12 December 2016.^[14]
• Platform 1 is used by southbound London North Eastern Railway, Grand Central and Hull Trains services to London King's Cross.
• Platform 2 has no scheduled trains.
• Platform 3A is used by London North Eastern Railway, Grand Central and Hull Trains services to London King's Cross
• Platform 3B is used by Northern Trains services to Sheffield and TransPennine Express services to Manchester Piccadilly
• Between platforms 3 and 4 are the high speed up and down lines to/from London
• Platform 4 is used by northbound London North Eastern Railway services to York, Newcastle and Edinburgh, Grand Central services to Bradford Interchange, Hull Trains services to Hull, Northern Trains through services to Bridlington and Scarborough and TransPennine Express services to Cleethorpes. Southbound CrossCountry services towards Birmingham New Street also use this platform.
• Platform 5 is a bay platform used by East Midlands Railway services to Lincoln and Northern Trains services to Sheffield
• Platform 6 is a bay platform used by Northern Trains services to Leeds.
• Platform 7 is seldom in public use, but is used by Northern Trains services to Scunthorpe when it is.
• Platform 8 is used by northbound London North Eastern Railway services towards Leeds; CrossCountry services to Newcastle; and Northern Trains services in both directions – southbound to Sheffield and northbound to Adwick and Scunthorpe. Services towards Birmingham New Street also use this platform.

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.

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 was 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 London North Eastern Railway services to provide information about local attractions, live departures and disruptions and station facilities. In addition, mobile phone charging points are now available on the concourse, touch screen and self-service ticketing machines have been installed across the concourse; 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 to meet expected demand in the future.^[15]

In March 2019, it was revealed that there were plans, as part of the East Coast improvement programme in Control Period 6, to add an additional platform at Doncaster.^[16]

Accidents and incidents

• Main article: Doncaster rail crash (1947)
  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.^[17]
• Main article: Doncaster rail crash (1951)
  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 call at Doncaster, which is the highest number of companies in the UK and is also equal in number only to Crewe, and Edinburgh Waverley in the UK. Their off-peak weekday service patterns are as follows:

CrossCountry^[18]

• 6 tpd to York, of which:
  • 4 tpd continue to Newcastle Central, via Darlington and Durham
• 4 tpd to Reading via Derby, Birmingham New Street and Oxford
• 1 tpd to Birmingham New Street via Sheffield and Derby

East Midlands Railway^[19]

• 5 tpd to Peterborough via Gainsborough Lea Road, Lincoln Central and Sleaford

Grand Central^[20]

• 4 tpd to London King's Cross (3 tpd non-stop, 1 tpd via Peterborough)
• 4 tpd to Bradford Interchange via Wakefield Kirkgate, Mirfield and Halifax (2 tpd calling at Pontefract Monkhill)

Hull Trains^[21]

• 7 tpd to London King's Cross via Retford and Grantham
• 7 tpd to Hull Paragon via Selby, Howden and Brough, of which:
  • 2 tpd continue to Beverley via Cottingham

London North Eastern Railway^[22]

• 3 1/2tph to London King's Cross, of which:
  • 1 tp2h slow via Retford
  • 3 tph semi-fast
• 2 tph to Leeds via Wakefield Westgate, of which:
  • 1 tp2h continue to Harrogate via Horsforth
  • 1 tp2h continue to Bradford Forster Square via Shipley
  • 1 tpd continues to Skipton via Keighley
• 1 tph to Edinburgh Waverley via York, Darlington and Newcastle Central
• 1 tpd to Hull Paragon via Selby and Brough

Northern Trains^[23]

• 2 tph to Sheffield, of which:
  • 1 tph slow via Mexborough, Rotherham Central and Meadowhall Interchange
  • 1 tph semi-fast via Meadowhall Interchange
• 1 tp2h to Scunthorpe via Kirk Sandall, Crowle and Althorpe
• 2 tph to Hull Paragon Interchange, of which:
  • 1 tph continues to Scarborough via Beverley, Bridlington and Seamer, and operates semi-fast to Hull Paragon
• 1 tph to Adwick via Bentley
• 1 tph to Leeds via Adwick, Fitzwilliam and Wakefield Westgate

TransPennine Express^[24]

• 1 tph to Liverpool Lime Street via Sheffield, Manchester Piccadilly and Warrington Central
• 1 tph to Cleethorpes via Scunthorpe, Barnetby and Grimsby Town

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Sheffield		CrossCountry Cross Country Route		York
Retford or Newark Northgate		London North Eastern Railway London – York/Newcastle/Edinburgh		York
Newark Northgate		London North Eastern Railway London – Edinburgh/Scotland express		York
Retford or Newark Northgate		London North Eastern Railway London – Doncaster		Terminus
Grantham or Peterborough or Retford		London North Eastern Railway London – Leeds		Wakefield Westgate
Newark Northgate or Grantham		London North Eastern Railway London – Hull One train per day		Selby
Terminus		East Midlands Railway Doncaster-Lincoln Line		Gainsborough Lea Road
Retford		Hull Trains London – Hull/Beverley		Selby
Meadowhall		TransPennine Express South Humberside Main Line		Scunthorpe
Conisbrough		Northern South Humberside Main Line		Kirk Sandall
Terminus		Northern Wakefield Line		Bentley
Peterborough or London King's Cross		Grand Central West Riding		Pontefract Monkhill or Wakefield Kirkgate
	Future Services
Sheffield		Northern Connect Sheffield – Hull		Hull
Sheffield		TBA Northern Powerhouse Rail		Hull
	Historical railways
Terminus		Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint		Bessacarr Line open, station closed
Rossington Line open, station closed		Great Northern Railway East Coast Main Line		Arksey Line open, station closed

See also

• Listed buildings in Doncaster (Town Ward)
• Joan Croft Halt railway station (North Doncaster Chord project)
• Doncaster Works – a locomotive works adjacent to the station.