| York and Doncaster branch | |
|---|---|
 The roadbridge over the Trans-Pennine Trail at Escrick | |
| Overview | |
| Other name(s) | York and Doncaster branch line East Coast Main Line (old route) |
| Status | Partially closed |
| Owner | Network Rail |
| Locale | Yorkshire |
| Termini | |
| Stations | 11/12[note 1] |
| Service | |
| Type | Heavy rail High speed rail |
| Operator(s) | |
| History | |
| Opened | 2 January 1871 |
| Technical | |
| Line length | 33.5 mi (53.9 km) |
| Track length | 27 mi (43 km) |
| Number of tracks | 2 |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge |
| Electrification | 25 kV overhead (partial) |
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The York and Doncaster branch was a railway line that opened in 1871 connecting Doncaster with York via Selby in Yorkshire, England. This line later became part of the East Coast Main Line (ECML) and was the route that express trains took between London King's Cross, the north of England and Scotland. It was opened by the North Eastern Railway (NER) between York and Shaftholme Junction, some 4.5 miles (7.2 km) north of Doncaster railway station. Between its opening in 1871 and the grouping in 1923, the line was used by both the NER, and the Great Northern Railway (GNR). All of the intermediate local stations that had opened with the line in 1871 closed down in the 1950s and 1960s leaving just Selby open between the town of Doncaster and the city of York.
In the 1970s, a plan for extracting the coal from underneath the northern section of the line between Selby and York, led to British Rail building an avoiding line, the Selby Diversion, which fully opened to traffic in October 1983.[note 2] The southern section of the line between Doncaster and Selby is still open to enable trains from Doncaster to access the East Riding of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.[note 3]
The trackbed of the line between Selby and York is now used partly by the A19 (as a bypass at Riccall), whilst the rest of the route forms part of the Trans-Pennine Trail and National Cycle Route 65.
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