Bradford Interchange

Vorlage:Infobox UK station Bradford Interchange is a combined railway, coach and bus station in Bradford, England.

Services

Bus and coach

The bus station was re-built in 2001 and is managed by Metro. The main operators at the bus station include First West Yorkshire, Arriva Yorkshire and Centrebus with other services run by Geldards Coaches, Keighley and District and TLC Travel. National Express coaches run nationwide from the station, while Bharat Coaches run coach services to Derby, Leicester, Slough and Southall.

Local bus services run to many destinations, including Leeds, Halifax, Keighley, Ilkley, Otley, Dewsbury, Huddersfield and Wakefield, as well as services within the Bradford area, such as Shipley. A Free City Bus service also serve the Interchange, running to the main shopping sites of town, Bradford Forster Square railway station and the University of Bradford.

The bus services that use Bradford Interchange and its Stand Letter are.: (Places in bold are where services terminate)

No.	Operator	Destination	Stand
BCB	First West Yorkshire	FreeCityBus	W
15	First West Yorkshire until 24/07/2010 Centrebus from 26/07/2010	Intake via Thornbury and Farsley	W
72	First West Yorkshire	Leeds City bus station via Thornbury and Armley	X
253	Arriva Yorkshire	Wakefield via Mirfield and Dewsbury	3
256	Arriva Yorkshire	Brighouse via Cleckheaton	3
268	Arriva Yorkshire	Dewsbury via Cleckheaton and Heckmondwike	M
283	Arriva Yorkshire	Thornhill Lees via Birstall, Batley and Dewsbury	3
363	First West Yorkshire	Huddersfield via Brighouse	A
425 427	Arriva Yorkshire	Wakefield via Morley	G
570	First West Yorkshire	Halifax via Brighouse and Elland	F
571	First West Yorkshire	Halifax via Brighouse and Southowram	F
576	First West Yorkshire	Halifax via Queensbury	H
606	TLC Travel	Euroway	C
606 607	First West Yorkshire	Holme Wood	W1
607	First West Yorkshire	Thornton	Q2
610 611 612	First West Yorkshire	Shipley via Five Lane Ends	U2
611 612	First West Yorkshire	Buttershaw via Great Horton	H2
615	First West Yorkshire	Cottingley via Allerton	Q
		Eldwick via Allerton, Cottingley and Bingley	Q2
616	First West Yorkshire	Bingley via Allerton and Wilsden	Q
		Eldwick via Allerton, Wilsden and Bingley	Q2
617 618	First West Yorkshire	Holme Wood via Dudley Hill	S
Allerton via Bradford Royal Infirmary		U
619	First West Yorkshire	Bradford Royal Infirmary	L
620	First West Yorkshire	Bierley via Dudley Hill	R
Haworth Road via Bradford Royal Infirmary		V
621	First West Yorkshire	Bierley via Dudley Hill	R2
Haworth Road via Bradford Royal Infirmary		V2
622 623	First West Yorkshire	Scholes via Wyke	D
		Eldwick via Shipley and Bingley	Z
624	First West Yorkshire	West Bowling	P
		Shipley Glen via Shipley	T
625	First West Yorkshire	Brighouse via Wyke	D2
		Baildon via Shipley	Z2
626	First West Yorkshire	Brighouse via Wyke	D
		Baildon via Shipley	Z
627	First West Yorkshire	Brighouse via Wyke	D2
		Shipley Glen via Shipley	T2
630	First West Yorkshire	Tyersal	C
636 637	First West Yorkshire	Clayton	J2
		Bradford Moor	T2
640 641	First West Yorkshire	Buttershaw	B2
		Five Lane Ends	Z2
645	First West Yorkshire	Buttershaw via Odsal	E
649	First West Yorkshire	Esholt via Shipley	C
650	First West Yorkshire	Ilkley via Shipley and Guiseley	J3
653	First West Yorkshire (1 Saturday journey) TLC Travel	Otley via Shipley and Guiseley	J
654	First West Yorkshire	Otley via Shipley and Guiseley	J4
656 to 659	First West Yorkshire	Baildon Lucy Hall via Shipley	N
660	First West Yorkshire	Saltaire via Five Lane Ends and Shipley	P
662	Keighley and District	Keighley via Saltaire and Bingley	Y
670	First West Yorkshire	Leeds City bus station via Greengates, Calverley and Kirkstall	K
675 677	First West Yorkshire	West Bowling	N
		Cottingley via Bolton Woods and Shipley	T
680	First West Yorkshire	Smiddles Lane via Heaton	K
681	First West Yorkshire	Halifax via Odsal and Shelf	G
682	First West Yorkshire	Halifax via Odsal and Shelf	G2
		Fagley	V2
696 697	Keighley and District	Keighley via Denholme	P
698	Keighley and District	Oxenhope via Denholme	P5
709 710	First West Yorkshire	Troydale via Pudsey	T6
711	Geldards	White Rose Centre via Pudsey	T
714	First West Yorkshire	Owlcotes Centre via Thornbury	T7
737	Centrebus	Leeds Bradford Airport via Shipley and Guiseley	C
747	Centrebus	Leeds Bradford Airport via Greengates and Yeadon	C
845	First West Yorkshire	Mayo Avenue	L
846	First West Yorkshire	Buttershaw	L
963	First West Yorkshire	Ilkley via Shipley and Guiseley	J8
X6	First West Yorkshire	Huddersfield Limited Stop via Brighouse	B
		Leeds City bus station Limited Stop	X
X11	First West Yorkshire	Leeds Eastgate via Pudsey	T
Coaches	National Express Bharat Coaches	National Express and Bharat services	1 2

Notes:

• First's 606 and TLC's 606 are two separate services
  

1	Evenings and Sundays only. Service 606 runs one Sunday journey only
2	Evenings and Sundays only
3	Sunday daytime only
4	One afternoon journey only
5	Peak afternoon journey only
6	Early morning journey only
7	Weekdays only
8	Evenings only

Rail

Bradford Interchange is on the Caldervale Line and is one of the two railway stations serving the city of Bradford. The other station is Forster Square, ten minutes' walk away.

During Monday to Saturday daytimes, services run every 15 minutes between the Interchange and Leeds, and hourly onwards to York and Selby respectively. On evenings and Sundays there is a half-hourly service to Leeds and usually hourly to York.

In the other direction there is a train every 15 minutes to Vorlage:Rws with two trains an hour continuing to Manchester Victoria (one limited stop, the other serving all stations to Rochdale), one to Blackpool North and one to Wakefield Westgate via Vorlage:Rws where customers can change for Sheffield and Manchester Airport.
Sundays there is a half-hourly service to Halifax with an hourly service on to Manchester Victoria and one train an hour alternates between Blackpool North and Huddersfield.

Due to the geography of Bradford, the station was built as a terminus. Trains have to reverse out of the station, and drivers have to change to the other end of the train.

London services

The station now also sees regular services to London Kings Cross via Pontefract and Doncaster. In January 2009, Grand Northern had their application for train paths to run a Bradford Interchange to London service accepted by the Office of Rail Regulation. Three trains per day operate initially now that full approval for the service has been granted - these use Class 180 units and started running from 23 May 2010.

Layout and facilities

The main entrance with the taxi rank and car park is on a lower level, while the train platforms and bus/coach stops are on a split upper level, both separate with pedestrian access. Downstairs in the central concourse there are a few shops, a newsagent, a cafe and sandwich shop and a fast food outlet on the train platforms, where hot drinks are also available. Toilets are located off the main concourse.

There is also a British Transport Police office and lost luggage desk, provided for passengers' concern and safety at the railway station, with a separate security and lost luggage unit for bus travellers, on the bus concourse. A smoking ban is observed in all parts of Bradford interchange, and CCTV is also in operation with security officers and police regularly patrolling the station.

The rail station has 4 platforms and a short bay that was previously used for the Red Star parcels facility. Platforms 1 and 2 have a run-round facility for locomotive hauled trains (mainly freight services). The track layout and associated signalling was remodelled during the course of a week-long engineering blockade from 25 October to 3 November 2008 to permit higher speeds on both routes into the station and also allow trains to approach the station from both Leeds and Halifax simultaneously (something that was not possible with the old track configuration).

Ticket offices

Bradford Interchange has separate bus and train ticket outlets. The bus and Metro office, which also deals with National Express coach enquiries from a separate desk, is located in the central concourse. The train ticket office by the pedestrian entrance to the train platforms.

History

LMS Fairburn 2-6-4T 42072 at Bradford Exchange, 1966/7

Platform view in 1961

Internal view in 1961

The original railway station, named Bradford Exchange, was opened by the joint efforts of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway and the Great Northern Railway on 9 May 1850. In 1867, the Leeds, Bradford and Halifax Junction Railway, who had previously used Bradford Adolphus Street, built a link to the tracks into Exchange station to join the two existing companies; Adolphus Street station was then closed to passenger use.

The station was completely rebuilt on the same site in 1880 with ten platforms, in a similar style to London King's Cross with two arched roofs. Until 1963 raceday specials ran to Wetherby railway station taking passengers to Wetherby Racecourse. These services ceased when passenger services were removed from the Cross Gates to Wetherby line.

By 1973, the station with its 10 platforms was deemed too large and was again rebuilt, this time on a different site slightly further south. The old Exchange station was demolished soon afterwards and for a time was used as a car park; the site now houses Bradford Crown Court and is due to be developed as a 'Justice Quarter' with new Magistrates' and Coroner's Courts. In 1977 a bus station was built alongside and in 1983 the station was re-named Bradford Interchange to link buses and trains in a covered environment.

During the 1970s and 1980s, the station was considered the main-line station for Bradford with express services to London King's Cross, Trans-Pennine services to Liverpool and Newcastle as well as summer Saturday services to the South-West. The Inter-city services were moved to Forster Square station in 1992 when the line was electrified. The station also had an adjacent Red Star Parcels terminus but, like most other mainline stations following the privatisation of British Rail, it lost this facility during the 1990s.

Ongoing improvements

The railway station has not seen significant improvements in many years.

The bus platforms were once more plentiful, but were reduced in the 1990s following the sale of some of land for an office development. The bus station was completely rebuilt in 2001.

Metro are currently considering improvements to the bus and rail platforms, including better access between facilities and pedestrian access between the bus concourse and the rail platforms, to save walking down and up the escalators.

The information displays were replaced in early 2009, following a modest face-lift in autumn 2008 which included new signage and a repaint. In January 2010, automatic ticket barriers were installed by Northern Rail.

Further improvements under the National Station Improvement Plan are proposed, which will include refurbished canopies, new flooring, more lighting and CCTV, a new waiting room and extra seating.

Other interchanges

With the option to combine bus and rail transport, Bradford Interchange allows a flexibility in public transport not experienced in many other major Northern cities such as Manchester and Liverpool. Leeds have recently tried to combine access to buses and trains with a small dual transport terminal, Leeds Station Interchange, however most buses from Leeds continue to operate from the city's main bus station.

A train arriving

External links

• Bradford Exchange station
• Metro: Bradford Interchange
• 8 o'clock special with a view of the Bradford Exchange 10 years before its closure