Huddersfield railway station

The station building

Designed by the architect James Pigott Pritchett and built by the firm of Joseph Kaye in 1846–50 using the neo-classical style, the station is well known in architectural circles for its classical-style facade, with a portico of the Corinthian order, consisting of six columns in width and two in depth, which dominates St George's Square. It faces out towards Lion Buildings. It is a grade I listed building. The station frontage was described by John Betjeman as the most splendid in England and by Sir Nikolaus Pevsner as 'one of the best early railway stations in England'.

Two pubs are within the station frontage, to each side of the main entrance: The Head Of Steam and The King's Head (previously known as The Station Tavern). Both facilities are accessible from Platform 1. At the building's entrance, the booking office is to the left and to the right are the train timetables and a newsagent. Platforms 4 to 8 are located via a lift or subway, accessed from Platform 1. The public conveniences are located through this subway at the top of the steps to Platforms 4–8. The platforms are all covered by a large canopy. To the rear of the station are some carriage sidings.

The station is staffed 24 hours a day, with booking office open from 05:45 to 20:00 Mondays to Saturdays and 07:45 to 20:00 on Sundays. There is also a self-service ticket machine available in the ticket hall for use when the booking office is closed or for collecting pre-paid tickets. Automated train announcements, customer help points and digital display screens provide train running information on all platforms. In addition to the aforementioned pubs, the station has a waiting room and buffet on platform 4 and a coffee kiosk on platform 1.

Location

The station is situated on St George's Square, which was refurbished in 2009. The square has been made a pedestrian zone. No car parking is available in front of the station entrance, but it is nearby on Brook Street.

The station is situated a short distance from Huddersfield bus station, so interchange facilities are possible but limited. The Huddersfield FreeCityBus connects the railway station with the bus station, as well as the University of Huddersfield and other areas of the town centre.

There are six platforms:

Development

In 2010, Network Rail and First TransPennine Express completed a series of improvements to the station in order to provide better access for passengers. This consisted of two new lifts, and a new staircase to the subway on Platform 1. The new staircase replaced the existing staircase inside the booking hall. As well as this each platform received new information screens.

In early 2011, further improvement works were carried out to the concourse and waiting area. This phase of improvements was funded by the Railway Heritage Trust, Metro, Kirklees council and the National Station’s Improvement Programme. The main purpose of this was to reduce bottlenecks at peak times as well as general crowding. The redundant stable block on Platform 1 was also turned into a staff training centre and toilets.

In May 2013, ticket barriers were installed at the station.

Work is currently underway on Network Rail's Northern Hub project which will see electrification of the Huddersfield Line by 2022, allowing many of the services through the station to switch to newer, faster electric rolling stock.

Services

During Monday to Friday daytimes, TransPennine Express now operate hourly services to Newcastle Central (Journey time approx. 2 hours 10 mins), Hull (approx. 1 hour 20 mins), Scarborough (approx. 1 hour 45 mins), and Middlesbrough (approx. 2 hours 20 mins) plus one further service that terminates at York, all of which call at Leeds (approx. 20 mins), which creates a fast service roughly every 12 minutes. These are supplemented by stopping Northern services. There are four trains per hour to Manchester Piccadilly (approx. 35 mins); two continue to Manchester Airport (approx. 15 mins from Manchester Piccadilly); and another continues to Liverpool Lime Street (approx. 50 mins from Manchester Piccadilly) via Warrington Central. Since the May 2014 timetable change, a further service runs over this line to Liverpool via Manchester Victoria.

Northern operates hourly stopping services to Sheffield, Manchester Victoria, Wakefield Westgate, Leeds via Bradford Interchange and Leeds via Batley.

Future services

In June 2014, Network Rail accepted Alliance Rail t/a Great North Western Railway Company (GNWR) outline plan to operate services six daily services in both directions between London Euston and Leeds and a daily service between Euston and Huddersfield in both directions, via Eccles and Warrington Bank Quay. The services were proposed to start in 2017 using Pendolino trains. However, in January 2015 the GNWR proposal was rejected.

Virgin Trains East Coast plan to operate services from London King's Cross via Leeds, beginning in 2019.

Steam trains

In keeping with the on-site Head of Steam railway pub, several steam trains still pass through Huddersfield station, including the Cotton Mill Express and the Scarborough Flyer.

On the disused side of Platform 2, an old carriage is bolted to the ground. Set in its window is a plaque commemorating 100 years of Steamtrain Hoorn Medemblik, a Dutch steam train.

Station cat

The station cat, Felix, joined the staff as a nine week old kitten in 2011. Since then she has patrolled the station to keep it free from rodents, and even has her own cat-flap to bypass the ticket barriers. In 2016 Felix was promoted to Senior Pest Controller and has her own hi-vis jacket and name badge. She has over 100,000 followers on Facebook