Askern Branch Line

Askern Branch Line
Overview
Locale	Yorkshire and the Humber Doncaster South Yorkshire North Yorkshire West Yorkshire
Operation
Opened	1848
Owner	Network Rail
Technical
Track gauge	Standard gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)

The Askern Branch Line is a railway line in South, North and West Yorkshire in England which runs from Shaftholme Junction north of Doncaster (on the East Coast Main Line between Doncaster and York), via Askern, Norton and Womersley to Knottingley, where it joins the Pontefract Line.

History

It was opened by the Lancashire & Yorkshire Railway on 6 June 1848 and running powers were granted to the Great Northern Railway (with which it made an end-on junction at Askern) giving the latter company its initial access to Leeds (using part of the current Pontefract Line) and the former to Doncaster. The line subsequently became part of the newly established East Coast Main Line with the opening of a branch from Knottingley to Burton Salmon in 1850, which gave access to the York & North Midland Railway's line from Normanton to York. The opening of a direct line from Shaftholme Junction to York via Selby in January 1871 saw the end of regular express trains using the route, but it remained busy with goods traffic, mainly coal from various collieries along its length and continued to carry a local stopping service from Wakefield to Doncaster until closure to passengers on 27 September 1948.^[1] Today it remains open to carry coal traffic destined for the power stations at Ferrybridge, Drax and Eggborough and the occasional passenger train diverted when either the ECML or Doncaster - Leeds line is closed for engineering work .

Askern Branch Line
Legend Pontefract Line Knottingley Womersley Hull and Barnsley Railway Norton Askern East Coast Main Line Wakefield Line Arksey Doncaster East Coast Main Line

The line today

The line now also sees regular scheduled passenger services for the first time in more than sixty years, run by open-access operator Grand Union. These run between London Kings Cross and Bradford Interchange via Doncaster, Knottingley, then on via Pontefract, Wakefield Kirkgate, Brighouse and Halifax. The necessary track access rights (for an initial three trains per day each way) were awarded to Grand Union by the ORR in January 2009.^[2] Grand Union/Central have announced that they will commence services at the May 2010 timetable change, with the first services running as planned on 23 May 2010.^[3] The company has however since announced that it wishes to remove the stops at Pontefract at the next timetable change and divert its remaining services via Adwick to significantly reduce journey times.

Notes

1. ^ Body, p154
2. ^ ORR Track Access Applications Decision for the ECML 28 January 2009 ORR Website; Retrieved 2009-01-29
3. ^ West Riding Timetable Grand Central Rail website; Retrieved 2010-05-24

References

• Body, G. (1988), PSL Field Guides - Railways of the Eastern Region Volume 2, Patrick Stephens Ltd, Wellingborough, ISBN 1-85260-072-1