Leeds railway station

Leeds
National Rail
The New Station Street entrance in August 2022
General information
Other namesLeeds City
LocationLeeds, City of Leeds
England
Coordinates53°47′38″N 1°32′49″W / 53.794°N 1.547°W / 53.794; -1.547
Grid referenceSE299331
Managed byNetwork Rail
Transit authorityWest Yorkshire Metro
Platforms18 - numbered 0-17 (National Rail)
Other information
Station codeLDS
Fare zone1
ClassificationDfT category A
History
Opened2 May 1938
Rebuilt 1967
Rebuilt 2002
Passengers
2018/19Decrease 30.839 million
2019/20Increase 31.021 million
2020/21Decrease 5.854 million
2021/22Increase 19.263 million
 Interchange  1.798 million
2022/23Increase 23.964 million
 Interchange Increase 2.489 million
Location
Map
Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail & Road

Leeds railway station (also known as Leeds City railway station)[1][2][3][4] is the mainline railway station serving the city centre of Leeds in West Yorkshire, England. It is located on New Station Street to the south of City Square, at the foot of Park Row, behind the landmark Queens Hotel. It is one of 20 stations managed by Network Rail.[5] As of December 2023, it was the busiest station in West Yorkshire, as well as in Yorkshire & the Humber, and the entirety of Northern England.[6] It is the second busiest station in the UK outside of London, after Birmingham New Street.

Leeds is an important hub on the British rail network. The station is the terminus of the Leeds branch of the East Coast Main Line (on which London North Eastern Railway provides high speed inter-city services to London King's Cross every half hour from the station) and is an important stop on the Cross Country Route between Scotland, the Midlands and South West England connecting to major towns and cities such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Derby, Birmingham, Bristol, Exeter, Plymouth and Penzance. There are also regular inter-city services to major destinations throughout Northern England including Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield. It is also the terminus for trains running on the scenic Settle & Carlisle line. Future expansion might link the station to the proposed High Speed 2 network.

The City Square entrance in July 2018

Leeds is a major hub for local and regional destinations across Yorkshire such as to Harrogate, York, Scarborough, Hull, Doncaster and Sheffield. The station lies at the heart of the West Yorkshire Metro commuter network for West Yorkshire providing services to Bradford, Wakefield, Dewsbury, Huddersfield and Halifax.

With 24 million passenger entries and exits between April 2022 and March 2023, Leeds is the busiest railway station in the North of England, overtaking Manchester Piccadilly, and the second-busiest railway station in the United Kingdom outside London, after Birmingham New Street.[7]

  1. ^ "Leeds Station". Network Rail Virtual Archive. Network Rail. 7 March 2012. Archived from the original on 5 March 2016. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  2. ^ "Leeds Railway Station". Railway-Technology. Retrieved 3 December 2015.
  3. ^ "Automatic ticket gates at Leeds City Station".
  4. ^ "leedsliveitloveit". leedsliveitloveit. Archived from the original on 2 November 2014. Retrieved 3 May 2014.
  5. ^ "Commercial information". Our Stations. London: Network Rail. April 2014. Archived from the original on 10 April 2014. Retrieved 12 April 2014.
  6. ^ "ORR Statistics 2022-23" (PDF).
  7. ^ "ORR Statistics 2022-23" (PDF).