Pontefract line

The Pontefract line is a West Yorkshire Metro railway route in Yorkshire, England. The route links Wakefield and Leeds with Goole, via Pontefract. The Metro timetable for the line also includes services operated as the Dearne Valley line between York and Sheffield via Pontefract.
The line, which passes through the former mining areas to the east of Wakefield and Castleford, has the greatest number of stations opened by the West Yorkshire Metro. MetroCards are available on the route as far as Knottingley; a limited service continues to Goole by this route.

History

Railways in the area opened as follows:

1 April 1848: the Wakefield, Pontefract and Goole Railway opened, which was 27 miles in length. This line passed through and served Knottingley, which was then producing some 65,000 tons of burnt lime a year, mainly used for agricultural and building purposes
February 1854: the Great Northern Railway and Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway jointly administered Knottingley station
August 1850: Knottingley to Burton Salmon line opened. Trains were able to run from London to York via Knottingley, which was the station to change to and from trains into the heart of the West Riding, and so it became a major junction
May 1879: The Swinton and Knottingley Railway opened, connecting Sheffield and York via Pontefract; opened three years later.

Before the 1923 Grouping the lines over which the service operates were owned by:

Leeds – Methley: Midland Railway
Methley – Pontefract – Goole: L&YR
Wakefield Westgate station: joint GNR/L&YR
Wakefield – Pontefract : L&YR

Route description

Leeds–Goole

Trains using the Pontefract line from Leeds use the same route as the Hallam line to Methley Junction:

here is Methley Junction, where lines of the MR, L&YR and the Great Northern Railway converged
: junction with Wakefield line
: joint L&YR/GNR station. The Dearne Valley line has a junction at this point; there is also the Askern branch line for Doncaster
runs under the East Coast Main Line
: junction for the Hull and Barnsley Railway ; and the joint GCR/HBR line crossed the line about a mile further east
Oakhills Junction with the Selby–Goole line closed in 1964
.

Wakefield–Pontefract

The Wakefield service joins the Leeds service at Pontefract; the stations served for this section are:

: the station was jointly owned by GCR and GNR; to the south was the West Riding and Grimsby Joint Railway
, the previous terminus for most services on this line
leaving Wakefield, there were a large number of junctions between there and Crofton
there were two stations on this line serving Crofton and Sharlston
, where the Leeds line joins.

Service

Both services now run hourly to Leeds from Knottingley; this provides a combined half-hourly service between Knottingley, Pontefract Monkhill and Leeds.