Garforth railway station

Garforth railway station serves the town of Garforth in West Yorkshire, England. It is one of the two stations in Garforth, the other being East Garforth, which is situated about 0.5 miles (800 m) east from the main station. It lies on the Selby Line. Garforth is 7.1 miles (11.5 km) east of Leeds and 16 miles (26 km) south-west of York. The station is served by Northern and TransPennine Express services.

Garforth
Garforth station platforms from the footbridge in 2020
General information
Location	Garforth, City of Leeds England
Coordinates	53.7966°N 1.3824°W / 53.7966; -1.3824
Grid reference	SE407335
Managed by	Northern
Transit authority	West Yorkshire Metro
Platforms	2
Other information
Station code	GRF
Fare zone	2
Classification	DfT category E
History
Opened	1834
Passengers
2019/20	0.629 million
2020/21	0.114 million
2021/22	0.345 million
2022/23	0.425 million
2023/24	0.488 million
Location
Notes Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

History

The station was originally opened by the Leeds and Selby Railway in 1834. The road bridge crosses the line at an oblique angle; this was considered something of a marvel at the time of construction. The station then linked the town with the former Leeds Marsh Lane railway station. The current buildings date from 1872 and were designed by NER architect Thomas Prosser.^[1]

Garforth station also connected with the privately owned Aberford Railway (known locally as the 'fly line' or simply 'the lines') which closed in 1924, and is now a public path commonly used for horses, dog walkers and travelling to and from Garforth Academy part way upon it. East of the station was the junction to the branch line to Castleford via Ledston which closed to passengers in 1951 and completely in the 1990s.^[2]

Though East Garforth is fully accessible to wheelchair users, the main Garforth station is not; wheelchair users can only access platform 2 which serves trains towards Leeds.

In 2015 additional shelters were placed on both platforms, doubling the sheltered capacity.

In July 2023, the footbridge, connecting both platforms to Aberford Road, was closed and demolished, for the new replacement bridge to be built. The new bridge will be built by April 2024 in the same spot, and will include lifts. This was done in order to install new overhead wires and to include step free access on to the platforms and Aberford Road.^{[citation needed]}

The footbridge was transported to Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway in Kent.^[3][4]

A Class 43 train passing by Garforth station. Pictured when the footbridge was just closed, before demolition

A TransPennine Express Class 68 bound for Scarborough passing Garforth. Pictured when the footbridge was partially demolished

A demolished footbridge waiting to be transported to Bredgar & Wormshill Light Railway.

The new footbridge at Garforth in 2024.

Facilities

Waiting shelters on platform 1

The station buildings are concentrated on the Leeds bound platform, which is disabled accessible (the opposite platform can only be accessed via a footbridge).^[5] There is a ticket office (open 06:00–14:00 Mondays to Saturdays) and waiting room in the buildings; the remaining space is leased out to a taxi company. The Leeds bound platform also has an automatic ticket machine that can be used out of hours and a vending machine. As well as the heated waiting room on the Leeds bound platform, there are two shelters available for use out of office hours. The York bound platform has two passenger shelters. The two platforms are connected by a footbridge with stepped access, this also links to Aberford Road. The station has a large car park which is free for passenger use. There is CCTV and lighting throughout the station and car park. Refreshments can purchased from the Station House Café, which opened in August 2016, and is situated on the Leeds bound platform (2).

Services

TransPennine Express Class 185 calling at Garforth in 2020

Northern Trains Route 9
v t e
Calder Valley Line and East Lancashire Line
York Ulleskelf Church Fenton Micklefield East Garforth Garforth Cross Gates Leeds Bramley New Pudsey Bradford Interchange Low Moor Halifax Sowerby Bridge Mytholmroyd Hebden Bridge Manchester Victoria Moston Mills Hill Castleton Rochdale Smithy Bridge Littleborough Walsden Todmorden Colne Nelson Brierfield Burnley Central Burnley Barracks Burnley Manchester Road Rose Grove Hapton Huncoat Accrington Church and Oswaldtwistle Rishton Blackburn Mill Hill Cherry Tree Pleasington Bamber Bridge Lostock Hall Preston Salwick Kirkham and Wesham Poulton-le-Fylde Blackpool North Moss Side Lytham Ansdell and Fairhaven St Annes-on-the-Sea Squires Gate Blackpool Pleasure Beach Blackpool South
Burnley Barracks, Hapton and Pleasington are request stops.

Northern operates three trains each hour to Leeds, as well as twice-hourly services to York and once per hour to Hull via Selby to the east.^[6] The Hull service began operating at the winter 2019 timetable change and runs through to Halifax via Bradford Interchange in the westbound direction, restoring the link to Bradford lost when the York to Blackpool North service ceased calling in May 2018.^[7]However, in December 2022, the service to Preston and Blackpool North began calling here again and continues to do so in the summer 2025 timetable (replacing off-peak calls by TransPennine Express services).

TransPennine Express trains only stop here in the morning and evening peak periods, with four trains to Manchester Victoria westbound calling (three of which continue to Liverpool Lime Street) in the morning and four eastbound in the evening, which run to either Redcar Central or Hull.^[8]. Passengers otherwise must change at Leeds, York or Selby for onward connections.

Preceding station	National Rail			Following station
Leeds		TransPennine Express North TransPennine		York
Cross Gates		Northern Selby Line		East Garforth
	Disused railways
Cross Gates		North Eastern Railway Castleford–Garforth line		Kippax

Proposed services

National Express East Coast proposed to operate trains directly between Garforth and London from December 2009.^[9] This proposal was supported by the Office of the Rail Regulator in January 2009, however the Department of Transport had rejected the plans because the proposal would require changes to franchised services and there was not enough capacity for these services, however Virgin Trains East Coast had plans to increase capacity and introduce a number of direct services between Garforth and London from 2019. The plans have not as yet (summer 2019) been implemented, as VTEC no longer operates the East Coast franchise and a private successor is yet to be agreed upon.

Other transport links

The main station building with taxi rank and car park

The station has a taxi-office with the taxi rank directly outside the main buildings. Buses serve the station on Aberford Road, to which there is a direct link from the stations' footbridge, as well as operate nearby from Main Street, just a short walk away.