Place Norton Station code MLT DfT category E Opened 1845 | Grid reference SE787713 Managed by TransPennine Express 2011/12 0.292 million Number of platforms 1 | |
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Address Norton, Malton YO17 9RD, United Kingdom Similar Seamer railway station, Burdale railway station, Burdale Tunnel, Driffield railway station, Wharram railway station | ||
Malton railway station is a Grade II listed station which serves the towns of Malton and Norton-on-Derwent in North Yorkshire, England. It is operated by TransPennine Express that provide all passenger train services, running on the York to Scarborough Line.
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Services
The typical Monday-Saturday off-peak service is the following:
On Sundays this is reduced to the following:
A half-hourly service, with timetable and fares integration with Yorkshire Coastliner buses, has been suggested as a means of providing relief to the parallel A64 trunk road that would be considerably cheaper than the option of dual carriageway.
History
Services from Malton station started on 7 July 1845 when the York to Scarborough Line was opened. The station buildings were designed by the architect George Townsend Andrews.
On 3 May 1870 there was a gas explosion at the station. The platform edging stones were built on a double wall of bricks, separated by a gap, into which gas had leaked. A porter passing with a lamp caused the explosion which lifted a 50 yards (46 m) length of the flagstones off the platform.
The station is only served by trains between Scarborough and York (and beyond), however prior to the Beeching Axe Malton station was also served by the Pickering Branch of the York and North Midland Railway with trains heading north (diverging at Rillington junction) to Pickering and then onwards to Grosmont and Whitby. This line closed entirely north of Pickering in 1965, with a freight-only service to Pickering surviving until 1966.
Trains still run from Pickering to Grosmont as part of the preserved North Yorkshire Moors Railway, but the tracks between Rillington, where the line branched, and Pickering have since been lifted.
Until 1958 the Malton & Driffield Railway, with trains heading south to Driffield, survived for freight and the occasional (summer-only) through excursion to the coast. After 1958 excursion and express trains from the Thirsk and Malton Line had to reverse at Scarborough Road junction on the easterly edge of Malton, back down towards Malton station before reversing again and heading off to Scarborough. Prior to 1950, there had been a passenger service nicknamed the 'Malton Dodger' between Malton and Driffield.
As an interchange between three lines, Malton station was considerably busier than it is now.
Though Malton station now has only one platform in use, at its peak, there were two through platforms and an additional bay platform serving (mainly) Whitby local trains. The George Townsend Andrews overall roof was removed in 1989 and replaced by the canopy recovered from the Whitby platform.
One of Malton station's claim to fame was the novel solution adopted to allow passengers to access the second (island) platform, instead of a footbridge or barrow crossing the NER installed a removable section of platform, in the form of a wheeled trolley running on rails set at right-angles to the (single) running line. When a train had to use the platform, the trolley was wheeled back under the up (York) platform; the trolley was interlocked, with the signals giving access to the platform.
Until Northern took over in 2004, Arriva Trains Northern had services that stopped at Malton, the current York to Blackpool service to Scarborough alongside TransPennine Express services. This service was usually worked by a Metro liveried Class 158 DMU, occasionally a Class 155 DMU. There was also a local service from York to Scarborough usually worked by a Pacer DMU or a Class 156.
Facilities
The station is staffed, with the ticket office open from start of service until 19:30 each day. Ticket machines are also available. Automated train announcements and passenger information screens provide train running information and there is step-free access to the platform from the station entrance and ticket hall. A cafe and taxi office are also located within the main building.
Future
There has been talk of reopening the old line between Rillington Junction and Pickering for some years, most notably in 2003, but no attempt has come to fruition.
There was a petition on 10 Downing Street to reopen the line and upgrade the North Yorkshire Moors railway to cope with higher speeds (40-50 mph as opposed to 25 mph), to improve transport in the region, and to provide relief for the A64 more cheaply than dualling it in its entirety.
From time to time the prospect of extending the North Yorkshire Moors Railway line from Pickering to Malton is raised. However, this is not in the immediate vision of the North Yorkshire Moors Railway.
The franchise agreement for the new Northern franchise inaugurated in April 2016 includes provision for a second York to Scarborough service each hour - both on weekdays and Saturdays/Sundays. This will give the station 14 extra trains each way Mon-Sat and 13 each way on Sundays from December 2017.