Current Services
Services which operate over the entire length of the route are provided by Northern Rail as well as by a number of CrossCountry trains. Freight trains also regularly use the route.
The Northern Rail services, which currently make just two round trips daily, call at Sheffield, Meadowhall, Rotherham Central, Swinton, Moorthorpe, Pontefract Baghill, Sherburn-in-Elmet, Church Fenton, Ulleskelf (except on Sundays) and York. This service was more frequent in the 1970s and 80s (e.g. the 1988 timetable had seven trains per day in each direction Mon-Sat, including a summer only through service to and from Scarborough, and four each way on Sundays), but since a major round of cutbacks in 1991 (due to a shortage of rolling stock) the service frequency has gradually declined.
The northern part of the route as far as Colton Junction is used by all Edinburgh to London Kings Cross expresses, as well as the numerous Leeds–York workings which continue as far as Church Fenton. Sherburn-in-Elmet is served by some York–Selby/Hull trains which diverge from the route at Sherburn South Junction, but beyond this point the only passenger trains are the infrequent Sheffield–York local services, until Moorthorpe is reached.
The effect of this is that there are only two departures in each direction from Pontefract Baghill per day, although there are two other stations in Pontefract (Pontefract Monkhill and Tanshelf). The line is however a busy freight artery (particularly with bulk loads of imported coal for the power stations at Ferrybridge, Eggbrough and Drax and also further afield in the East Midlands) and also a useful diversionary route, which ensures its continuing survival.
Read more about this topic: Dearne Valley Line
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