Wakefield Westgate railway station

Wakefield Westgate railway station is the mainline railway station for the city of Wakefield in West Yorkshire, England. It is located on the western edge of the main city centre, on the opposite side from Wakefield's other station, Kirkgate.

Services

The station is managed by East Coast, whose services run south from platform 1 to Doncaster, Newark, Grantham, Retford, Peterborough, Stevenage and London Kings Cross and north from platform 2 to Outwood, Leeds and further north to York, Newcastle upon Tyne and Scotland operated by CrossCountry.

There is generally a half-hourly service from Wakefield to London which takes approximately just over 2 hours for the 175 miles (282 km) journey. The service is well used by people from the Wakefield district for travel to the capital.

The station is also served by CrossCountry, Northern Rail and East Midlands Trains. CrossCountry operate train services to Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow to the north and services to Birmingham, Bournemouth and the South West of England. There is an hourly service in each direction.

Northern Rail operate services north to Leeds and south to Doncaster and Sheffield as part of the Wakefield Line and services to Selby via Wakefield Kirkgate, Huddersfield, Halifax, Bradford Interchange and Leeds. During evenings, there are also trains as part of the Pontefract Line towards Knottingley which go via Wakefield Kirkgate.

East Midlands Trains services from Leeds to London St Pancras International via either Derby or Nottingham call at Wakefield Westgate. However there are only up to three departures per day (all early morning) from Leeds and up to four late afternoon/evening return trips from St Pancras. This is principally because the main maintenance depot for the former Midland Mainline HST power cars is the Maintrain depot at Neville Hill in Leeds. This provides a limited but useful service between West Yorkshire and the East Midlands. The former operator Midland Mainline had serious plans for a regular service between St Pancras and Leeds via the Erewash Valley and Leicester but these were rejected by the (then) Strategic Rail Authority. These services are however useful for people making trips to places such as Bedford and Luton for business or leisure.

Facilities

The station is manned, with a cafe, information kiosk, ticket office, and a shop. Vending machines sell snacks and drinks on the station platform. On Platform 1 there is a small Costa Coffee shop selling drinks and snacks. There is a taxi waiting point outside the station, and a cashpoint. Opening hours 0500-0015 Mon-Sat 0800-0030 Sun. Ticket Office open 0600-2000 Mon-sat 0900-2000 Sun. Short Sstay carparking available at the station front £1 per hour. Long stay carparking is available in the new multi-storey car park on Mulbery Way (footpath link to platform) 750 spaces £12.50 per 24hrs.

Television appearances

Wakefield Westgate appears in the TV series A Touch of Frost as Denton Station.

History and regeneration

The station originally opened in 1867 but was rebuilt in the 1960s. Opened after the original Kirkgate station, Westgate has become the main station in the city.

There are plans to regenerate the entire Westgate area of Wakefield, with the station being moved back down the line to allow for longer platforms to enable two trains to use the platforms at once. This means that express trains will be able to pull into the station as local trains terminate or stop, enhancing the passenger capabilities and train numbers the station can manage. Half of the old goods yard is to be purchased for private railway heritage whilst the other half is to see a station hotel, a small number of restaurants and new housing.^[1]

2007–2009 regeneration

A new £1.4 million platform was planned for the station by the end of 2009.^[2] This will form part of the Westgate Key Development Area^[1] which would have put "offices, leisure, small scale retail, hotel, restaurants and a substantial amount of new housing" on the site of the old dairy and the disused railway goods yards.

Public art

Platform two, since 1988, has housed the sculpture 'A Light Wave' by the Leeds-based artist Charles Quick. The installation comprises a series of wooden planks in the form of waves which are lit by a rippling light at night.^[3] However, in recent years the sculpture fell into disrepair and as of 2009 has been removed.

References

External links

• Photograph of 'A Light Wave' by Charles Quick