North Doncaster Chord

North Doncaster Chord
North Doncaster Chord
	The green viaduct carries the new Doncaster North Chord over the ECML
Overview
Other name(s)	Doncaster North Chord; Shaftholme Flyover
Status	Open
Owner	Network Rail
Locale	Owston, South Yorkshire, England
Coordinates	53°35′13″N 1°07′19″W / 53.587°N 1.122°W
Service
Type	Heavy rail
History
Commenced	13 January 2013
Opened	1 June 2014; 10 years ago; 26 June 2014 (official opening)
Technical
Line length	2 miles (3.2 km)
Number of tracks	2
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge

Legend

North Doncaster Chord					Other lines

					To York
To Church Fenton
Milford Junction					To Hull
					Hambleton Junction (South)
					To Selby
Ferrybridge power station
Eggborough power station					Drax power station
					To Goole

Askern branch line
					New overbridge
					Abandoned Joan Croft level crossing
Haywood Junction					Shaftholme Viaduct

To Wakefield					To Goole
					Hatfield and Stainforth
Applehurst Junction					To Scunthorpe

					Doncaster railway station
To Rotherham					To Lincoln
					To Retford

The North Doncaster Chord (also known as the Shaftholme Flyover) is a railway connection (chord) between the freight only lines between Hatfield & Stainforth railway station (the Skellow line) and the Askern branch line, in South Yorkshire, England. The line was built to allow heavy freight trains, mostly from the Port of Immingham, to access the power stations in the lower Aire Valley without the need for them to use the East Coast Main Line (ECML) and creating slower line speeds for faster passenger trains. The chord meant the creation of 2 miles (3.2 km) of new railway and the building of Shaftholme Viaduct, which straddles the East Coast Main Line.