Pontefract Baghill railway station

Pontefract Baghill National Rail

View from Platform 2
Location
Place Pontefract
Local authority City of Wakefield
Coordinates 53°41′31″N 1°18′11″W / 53.692°N 1.303°W / 53.692; -1.303Coordinates: 53°41′31″N 1°18′11″W / 53.692°N 1.303°W / 53.692; -1.303
Grid reference SE461219
Operations
Station code PFR
Managed by Northern
Number of platforms 2
DfT category F1
Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections
from National Rail Enquiries
Annual rail passenger usage*
2010/11 Increase 4,308
2011/12 Increase 5,168
2012/13 Increase 5,252
2013/14 Increase 5,666
2014/15 Increase 5,406
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE West Yorkshire (Metro)
Zone 3
History
Key dates Opened 1879 (1879)
National Rail – UK railway stations
* Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Pontefract Baghill from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year.
UK Railways portal
Railway Clearing House diagram showing lines in Castleford and Pontefract area in 1912

Pontefract Baghill railway station is the least busy of the three railway stations in Pontefract, West Yorkshire, England. The other stations, Monkhill and Tanshelf, both lie on the Pontefract Line, while Baghill lies on the Dearne Valley Line 21.25 miles (34 km) south of York towards Sheffield. The station dates from 1879 (when the Ferrybridge to Moorthorpe section of the Swinton and Knottingley Joint Railway opened) and was also once linked to the Wakefield, Pontefract & Goole main line by means of a short chord to Pontefract Monkhill near where the two lines intersect (as can be seen from the RCH map below). This closed in November 1964,[1] but the bay platform it once used at the northern end can still be made out. There are also two short curves north of the station, connecting the line to Knottingley station westbound & Monkhill eastbound, which are now only in use for freight and diverted passenger services.

In the Strategic Rail Authority's 2002/3 financial year, only 15 people bought tickets for journeys from Pontefract Baghill station, and 21 bought tickets for journeys ending there,[2] making it the sixth least busy station in the United Kingdom.

Services

Pontefract Baghill railway station in 1987.
Main station buildings in 1987.

The low level of usage can be attributed to there being only two trains each day (including Sundays) serving the station northbound to York and southbound to Sheffield.[3] The neighbouring cities of Leeds and Wakefield are not served by the station and the station is situated some distance from the town centre.

Notes

  1. ↑ Body, p.52
  2. ↑ The usage information (Station Entries and Station Exits) is based on ticket sales in the financial year 2002/03 and covers all National Rail stations. By 2004/05 the figure has risen to 53. The SRA finds it difficult to allocate passenger usage numbers for stations grouped together (tickets are booked to Pontefract Stations and not a particular station). Adjusted figures can be wrong either way (hence the sudden increase in the figures right). In any event usage is low although the figure can probably never be ascertained accurately. Continued usage notes, and Excel format table for all stations available.
  3. ↑ National Rail Timetable May 2009, Table 33 - pp. 441-2

References

External links

Media related to Pontefract Baghill railway station at Wikimedia Commons

Preceding station   National Rail   Following station
Northern Rail
View of Platform 2 from Platform 1
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Thursday, April 07, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.