Glasshoughton railway station

Railway station in West Yorkshire, England

53°42′31″N 1°20′26″W / 53.70861°N 1.34056°W / 53.70861; -1.34056Grid referenceSE436237Managed byNorthernTransit authorityWest Yorkshire MetroPlatforms2Other informationStation codeGLHFare zone3ClassificationDfT category F1HistoryOpened21 February 2005Passengers2018/19

0.160 million2019/20

0.160 million2020/21

26,1342021/22

99,2942022/23

0.113 million

Notes
Passenger statistics from the Office of Rail and Road

Glasshoughton railway station serves Glasshoughton, Castleford in West Yorkshire, England. It lies on the Pontefract Line, operated by Northern, 12 miles (19 km) south-east of Leeds.

It was opened by West Yorkshire Metro on 21 February 2005.^[1] It is located near to the Xscape indoor ski slope and leisure complex near Castleford, all of which occupy the former site of Glasshoughton Colliery^[2] which ceased winding coal in 1986.^[3]

Demand for the new station was seriously under-estimated by Metro. For example, passenger journeys in 2008/09 were forecast to be 50,989 but were actually 135,279. This was chiefly because usage was modelled on the basis of demand for travel by current local residents and businesses only. No attempt was made to estimate possible travel to the station for local retail and leisure attractions, nor possible travel by people driving to the 100-space car park on a park and ride basis, e.g. from the nearby M62. Demand from future residential developments at Glasshoughton was also ignored.^[4]

Facilities

The station is unstaffed but has two ticket machines, one on each platform; passengers must buy their tickets in advance, on the train, or at their destination (if available). It has waiting shelters, customer help points, timetable poster boards, digital CIS displays on each platform, and an automatic announcement system to offer train running information. Step-free access is available to both platforms via ramps from the footbridge, which connects to the car park and station entrance.^[5]

Services

There is an hourly service to Leeds and Knottingley Monday through Saturday (plus one single afternoon service through to Goole), and a service every two hours in each direction on Sunday.^[6]

Platform 1, photo taken in July 2006
Platform 2, photo taken in July 2006

References

^ Lowson, Rob (11 December 2015). "Transport chiefs optimistic Apperley Bridge station will open on Sunday – despite safety certificate delay". Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
^ "More than 900 homes at former pit". Pontefract and Castleford Express. 18 July 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
^ Shannon, Paul (June 2009). "How King Coal lost his Throne". Railways Illustrated. Vol. 7, no. 6. p. 12. ISSN 1479-2230.
^ Steer Davies Gleave (August 2010). "Station Usage and Demand Forecasts for Newly Opened Railway Lines and Stations" (PDF). Department for Transport. pp. 139–140. Retrieved 30 August 2013.
^ Glasshoughton station facilities National Rail Enquiries; Retrieved 19 January 2017
^ Table 32 National Rail timetable, May 2023