Rail
The rail network is of great importance. Leeds railway station at New Station Street is one of the busiest in the UK outside central London, with around 1000 trains serving more than 100,000 passengers who pass through the main ticket gates daily. Its modern interior provides connections to London, Southampton and the south, Birmingham and the Midlands, Bristol and the West Country and Newcastle via CrossCountry. Edinburgh and the north can be accessed via Cross Country or East Coast services to Aberdeen, although changes are often required at York or Newcastle. Manchester, Liverpool and the west are accessible by First Transpennine Express, as are Scarborough and Hull in the east. There is a large commuter rail network co-ordinated by Metro and operated by Northern Rail to many villages, towns and cities in the city region.
The station has 17 platforms, making it the largest in Britain outside London, having been rebuilt from 12 platforms in 2001 at a cost of £265m.
From Leeds, MetroTrains operated by Northern Rail operate to all parts of West Yorkshire and surrounding local and commuter locations and other operators including East Coast, Arriva Cross Country, East Midlands Trains and TransPennine Express operate services to the rest of the country.
Leeds has two railway lines offering direct services to London. The principal route is along the electrified East Coast Main Line which operates half-hourly through the day, and is planned to increase to every 20 minutes. This service terminates at London Kings Cross, adjacent to St Pancras station. East Midlands Trains offer an alternative route via Leicester and Sheffield along the Midland Main Line to St Pancras, for Paris and Brussels by Eurostar. Through tickets can be bought on East Coast or East Midlands Trains from Leeds to European destinations thanks to this interchange. The East Midlands Trains service operates principally because the its fleet of former Midland Mainline diesel high speed trains (HSTs) are based at the Neville Hill maintenance depot in Leeds. There are three trains per day in each direction.
Read more about this topic: Transport In Leeds
Famous quotes containing the word rail:
“If goodness were only a theory, it were a pity it should be lost to the world. There are a number of things, the idea of which is a clear gain to the mind. Let people, for instance, rail at friendship, genius, freedom, as long as they will—the very names of these despised qualities are better than anything else that could be substituted for them, and embalm even the most envenomed satire against them.”
—William Hazlitt (1778–1830)
“For this is the mark of a wise and upright man, not to rail against the gods in misfortune.”
—Aeschylus (525–456 B.C.)
“Old man, it’s four flights up and for what?
Your room is hardly any bigger than your bed.
Puffing as you climb, you are a brown woodcut
stooped over the thin rail and the wornout tread.”
—Anne Sexton (1928–1974)