# Doncaster railway station

Doncaster railway station is on the East Coast Main Line serving the city of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It is 155 miles 77 chains (251 km) down the line from London King's Cross and is situated between Retford and York on the main line. It is managed by London North Eastern Railway. It is the second busiest station in South Yorkshire (after Sheffield), and the fourth busiest station in Yorkshire & the Humber.
It is a major passenger interchange between the main line, Cross Country Route and local services running across the North of England. It is also the point for which London North Eastern Railway services branching off to Leeds diverge from the main route continuing north towards Edinburgh.

## History

The railway station was built in 1850 replacing a temporary structure constructed two years earlier, located some 450 yards (410 m) further south. Between 1850 and 1873 the station had two main platforms, with loops to each platform diverting off the main running lines. It was rebuilt in its present form in 1938, where the platform on the townside of the station (the eastern side) was converted into an island platform thereby creating a fourth through running line. The station has had several slight modifications since that date - in 1976, a project to refurbish the passenger facilities was completed at a cost of £125,000, and in 2006, the new interchange and connection to Frenchgate Centre opened. The station was evacuated and services on the East Coast Main Line stopped in March 1997 due to a bomb hoax called in by the IRA. Actual bombs were left at Wilmslow railway station in Cheshire on the same day.
In May 2015, construction commenced on a new Platform 0 to the north-east of the station adjacent to the Frenchgate Centre on the site of the former cattle dock. It is used by terminating Northern Trains services to Hull, Beverley, Bridlington and Scarborough. This allowed these services to operate independently of the East Coast Main Line. It is joined to the rest of the station via a fully accessible overbridge.

## Platforms

The station has nine platforms on three islands. Platforms 1, 3, 4 and 8 can take through trains. Platforms 2 and 5 are south-facing bays; platforms 0, 6 and 7 are north facing bays. A first class lounge is available on platform 3A.
* Platform 0 is used to take almost exclusively Northern Trains services to and from Hull, Beverley and Bridlington. The brand new platform opened on 12 December 2016.
* Platform 1 is used by southbound London North Eastern Railway, Grand Central and Hull Trains services to London King's Cross.
* Platform 2 has no scheduled trains.
* Platform 3A is used by London North Eastern Railway, Grand Central and Hull Trains services to London King's Cross
* Platform 3B is used by Northern Trains services to Sheffield and TransPennine Express services to Manchester Piccadilly
* Between platforms 3 and 4 are the high speed up and down lines to/from London
* Platform 4 is used by northbound London North Eastern Railway services to York, Newcastle and Edinburgh, Grand Central services to Bradford Interchange, Hull Trains services to Hull, Northern Trains through services to Bridlington and Scarborough and TransPennine Express services to Cleethorpes. Southbound CrossCountry services towards Birmingham New Street also use this platform.
* Platform 5 is a bay platform used by East Midlands Railway services to Lincoln and Northern Trains services to Sheffield
* Platform 6 is a bay platform used by Northern Trains services to Leeds.
* Platform 7 is seldom in public use, but is used by Northern Trains services to Scunthorpe when it is.
* Platform 8 is used by northbound London North Eastern Railway services towards Leeds; CrossCountry services to Newcastle; and Northern Trains services in both directions – southbound to Sheffield and northbound to Adwick and Scunthorpe. Services towards Birmingham New Street also use this platform.
There were plans to add platforms 9 and 10 to cope with Eurostar trains but this project was cancelled when it was decided that Eurostar would not serve Britain outside the South East of England.
There are presently no ticket barriers in operation at this station; however, on race days at Doncaster Racecourse, manual ticket checks are in operation in the subway.
The station was refurbished in 2006 and is now directly connected to the Frenchgate Centre extension in Doncaster town centre. The station now has a new booking office for tickets and information, three new lifts, refurbished staircases and subway. There is a newsagent and some food outlets. More recently, interactive touch screens have been installed around the station by London North Eastern Railway services to provide information about local attractions, live departures and disruptions and station facilities. In addition, mobile phone charging points are now available on the concourse, touch screen and self-service ticketing machines have been installed across the concourse; the stairways to the subway have now been divided into two way systems to improve the flow of passengers during peak times.
In a route study by Network Rail, it was proposed that new platforms could be built on the western side of the station to meet expected demand in the future.
In March 2019, it was revealed that there were plans, as part of the East Coast improvement programme in Control Period 6, to add an additional platform at Doncaster.

## Accidents and incidents

* Main article: Doncaster rail crash (1947) On 9 August 1947, a passenger train was in a rear-end collision with another due to a signalman's error. 18 people were killed and 188 were injured.
* Main article: Doncaster rail crash (1951) On 16 March 1951, a derailment occurred south of the station in which 14 passengers were killed and 12 seriously injured.

## Services

Seven train operating companies call at Doncaster, which is the highest number of companies in the UK and is also equal in number only to Crewe, and Edinburgh Waverley in the UK. Their off-peak weekday service patterns are as follows:
CrossCountry
* 6 tpd to York, of which:
** 4 tpd continue to Newcastle Central, via Darlington and Durham
* 4 tpd to Reading via Derby, Birmingham New Street and Oxford
* 1 tpd to Birmingham New Street via Sheffield and Derby
East Midlands Railway
* 5 tpd to Peterborough via Gainsborough Lea Road, Lincoln Central and Sleaford
Grand Central
* 4 tpd to London King's Cross (3 tpd non-stop, 1 tpd via Peterborough)
* 4 tpd to Bradford Interchange via Wakefield Kirkgate, Mirfield and Halifax (2 tpd calling at Pontefract Monkhill)
Hull Trains
* 7 tpd to London King's Cross via Retford and Grantham
* 7 tpd to Hull Paragon via Selby, Howden and Brough, of which:
** 2 tpd continue to Beverley via Cottingham
London North Eastern Railway
* 3 1/2tph to London King's Cross, of which:
** 1 tp2h slow via Retford
** 3 tph semi-fast
* 2 tph to Leeds via Wakefield Westgate, of which:
** 1 tp2h continue to Harrogate via Horsforth
** 2 tpd continue to Bradford Forster Square via Shipley
** 1 tpd continues to Skipton via Keighley
* 1 tph to Edinburgh Waverley via York, Darlington and Newcastle Central, of which:
** 1 tpd continues to Glasgow Central via Haymarket and Motherwell
* 1 tpd to Hull Paragon via Selby and Brough
Northern Trains
* 2 tph to Sheffield, of which:
** 1 tph slow via Mexborough, Rotherham Central and Meadowhall Interchange
** 1 tph semi-fast via Meadowhall Interchange
* 1 tp2h to Scunthorpe via Kirk Sandall, Crowle and Althorpe
* 2 tph to Hull Paragon Interchange, of which:
** 1 tph continues to Scarborough via Beverley, Bridlington and Seamer, and operates semi-fast to Hull Paragon
* 1 tph to Adwick via Bentley
* 1 tph to Leeds via Adwick, Fitzwilliam and Wakefield Westgate
TransPennine Express
* 1 tph to Liverpool Lime Street via Sheffield, Manchester Piccadilly and Warrington Central
* 1 tph to Cleethorpes via Scunthorpe, Barnetby and Grimsby Town
| Preceding station | National Rail | National Rail | National Rail | Following station |
| Sheffield | | CrossCountryCross Country Route | | York |
| Retford or Newark Northgate | | London North Eastern Railway London – York/Newcastle/Edinburgh | | York |
| Newark Northgate | | London North Eastern Railway London – Edinburgh/Scotland express | | York |
| Retford or Newark Northgate | | London North Eastern Railway London – Doncaster | | Terminus |
| Grantham or Peterborough or Retford | | London North Eastern Railway London – Leeds | | Wakefield Westgate |
| Newark Northgate or Grantham | | London North Eastern Railway London – Hull One train per day | | Selby |
| Terminus | | East Midlands RailwayDoncaster-Lincoln Line | | Gainsborough Lea Road |
| Retford | | Hull Trains London – Hull/Beverley | | Selby |
| Meadowhall | | TransPennine ExpressSouth Humberside Main Line | | Scunthorpe |
| Conisbrough | | NorthernSouth Humberside Main Line | | Kirk Sandall |
| Terminus | | NorthernWakefield Line | | Bentley |
| Peterborough or London King's Cross | | Grand Central West Riding | | Pontefract Monkhill or Wakefield Kirkgate |
| | Future Services | Future Services | Future Services | |
| Sheffield | | Northern Connect Sheffield – Hull | | Hull |
| Sheffield | | TBA Northern Powerhouse Rail | | Hull |
| | Historical railways | Historical railways | Historical railways | |
| Terminus | | Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint | | Bessacarr Line open, station closed |
| Rossington Line open, station closed | | Great Northern Railway East Coast Main Line | | Arksey Line open, station closed |