Sheffield station

Sheffield
Station buildings seen from Sheaf Square at night
Location
Place	Sheffield
Local authority	City of Sheffield
Coordinates	53°22′41″N 1°27′43″W / 53.378°N 1.462°W / 53.378; -1.462Coordinates: 53°22′41″N 1°27′43″W / 53.378°N 1.462°W / 53.378; -1.462
Grid reference	SK358869
Operations
Station code	SHF
Managed by	East Midlands Trains
Owned by	Network Rail
Platforms in use	9 (+2 tram platforms)
Live arrivals/departures and station information from National Rail
Annual rail passenger usage
2004/05 *	5.001 million
2005/06 *	5.167 million
2006/07 *	5.590 million
2007/08 *	5.848 million
Passenger Transport Executive
PTE	Travel South Yorkshire
Zone	Sheffield
History
1870	Opened
1905	Extension
1956	Rooftop removed
1973	Power signal box built
National Rail - UK railway stations
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
* Annual passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Sheffield from Office of Rail Regulation statistics.
UK Railways Portal

Sheffield station, formerly Pond Street^[1] and later Sheffield Midland, is a railway station and tram stop in central Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, England.

Current status

Sheffield is at the northern end of the core Midland Main Line route via Derby (or Nottingham) and Leicester to London St Pancras, which became the home of Eurostar international services on 14 November 2007.^[2] Direct services are also available to Leeds, the North East, North West, South West and East coast with the train operating companies CrossCountry, Northern Rail and First TransPennine Express.

The station is located on the Blue and Purple routes of the Sheffield Supertram network, and is linked to the city's bus station by a short covered walkway. A major revamp of the station approach was completed in 2006.

The station also has a PLUSBUS scheme, which allows train and bus tickets to be bought together at a saving, avoiding having to buy bus tickets at the end of the train journey.

History

Sheffield station seen from the north

The station was opened in 1870 by the Midland Railway and was the fifth and final station to be built in Sheffield City Centre. It was designed by the architect Charles Trubshaw.

The station was built on the "New Line" which ran between Grimesthorpe Junction, on the former Sheffield and Rotherham Railway, and Tapton Junction, just north of Chesterfield. This new line replaced Midland Railways's previous route to London, which ran from Sheffield Wicker station via Rotherham.

The new line and station was built despite some controversy and opposition locally. The Duke of Norfolk who owned land in the area insisted that the southern approach be placed in a tunnel and the land known as The Farm landscaped to prevent the line being seen. Some years later the tunnel was opened up into a cutting. The Town Council was so concerned about the eastern side of the town being cut off from the town centre that they insisted that public access be preserved across the railway site.

The station, along with Pond Street Goods Depot, opened on a damp and cold day without any celebrations. Originally there were different entrances for passengers of different social classes. The original station buildings can still be seen on the island platforms 2 to 5.

The station was given two extra platforms and a new frontage in 1905 at a cost of £215,000. The enlargements consisted of creating an island platform out of the old platform 1 and building a new platform 1 as well as a new entrance.

Offices were built at the north end of the 300 feet (91 m) long carriage way rooftop. A large parcels office was built to the south of the main buildings. Two footbridges connected to the platforms, the one to the north for passengers, the one to the south for station staff and parcels employees. The tracks were covered by two train sheds or rooftops. One spanned platforms 5 and 6, the second platforms 1 and 2. Wartime damage put the rooftops beyond economic repair, so they were removed in the autumn of 1956 and replaced by low-level awnings.

Platform 2A at Sheffield Station. The newly built bridge connecting the platforms to the concourse is also visible.

The 1960s saw the introduction of the Class 45 and Class 46 diesel-electric engines, known as Peaks.^[3] Sheaf House was built in 1965 (Railway Magazine Aug 1965 p483) adjacent to the station to house British Rail's Sheffield Division headquarters. As part of the reconstruction of the area as the "Gateway to Sheffield", it was demolished in early 2006. In 1972 the station was resignalled and its track layout remodelled. In 1984 British Rail introduced the High Speed Train to Sheffield to serve on the Midland Main Line. The Cross Country services had seen the introduction of the HSTs in 1982. On 21 December 1991, the station was flooded by the River Sheaf, which flows under it. A log (that was part of the debris) has a plaque commemorating the event and it is on show on platform 5.

Sheffield station under repair

In 2002, Midland Mainline, as station managers, commenced major regeneration work including a new footbridge to link the station with the Supertram stop;^[4] new platform surfaces; a revamped passenger hall with new shops, ticketing facilities and destination boards; and remodelling of Sheaf Square, outside the station, to incorporate a new large open pedestrian space, water features and sandblasting of the station front.^[5] Before the revamp of Sheaf Square began, archaeologists and researchers were allowed to dig to study the remains of Bamford Dam.

On 11 November 2007, East Midlands Trains, an amalgamation of Midland Mainline and part of Central Trains, took over the management of the station.

"Supertram Bridge" controversy

In 2008 East Midlands Trains revealed their intention to restrict access to certain parts of the station by installing gates, in an attempt to prevent passengers from travelling without a ticket. This proposal met with widespread opposition from residents and Council members, because the footbridge would be closed off to non-ticket holders - severing a popular thoroughfare from the Norfolk Park residential area and the Supertram stop on one side, to the station travel centre, the bus station ("interchange"), the town centre and Hallam University on the other. On 6 May 2009, East Midlands Trains implemented their proposal for the first time. They used temporary barriers and ticket inspectors to bar access to the footbridge to non-ticket holders. Without any warning, local residents and Supertram passengers were forced to use longer routes to pass the station.^[6]

Up to 9 September 2009 this action has been repeated many times during the rush hour, but ticket barriers have not yet been installed. It is not clear whether the inspectors have instructions to allow people who have (for example) arrived at the station by Supertram to pass the cordon in order to buy train tickets (or simply make enquiries) at the station ticket office ; or, in the other direction, to allow people with all-day tram tickets to cross the bridge to catch the tram.

Station layout

Plan of Sheffield station. Key.

The station currently has 9 platforms, numbered 1 to 8 and "2C". Along with platform 1, platforms 3 and 4 are divided into A and B sections to allow a brief stabling of terminating services before they are scheduled to depart. The station also has four through roads which are used for through running or more commonly for stabling stock. Between platforms 5 and 6 these are known as "1-Up" and "2-Up" (they are on the "Up" or London-bound side of the station) whilst between platforms 1 and 2 can be found the "through road" with a direct path through the station or by a central crossover to the north end of platform 1 (1b) and "down station siding".

The new facilities at Sheffield station:

Destination boards on platform 5.

Station concourse.

In a normal day's service local trains run by Northern use platforms 1A/B, 2B/C, 3A/B and 4A/B. Terminating services run by East Midlands Trains normally use platform 5. CrossCountry services use platform 2 for northbound and platform 6 for southbound departures. East Midlands Trains services passing through use platform 2 for northbound departures and platforms 6, 7 and 8 for southbound departures. East Midlands Trains services on the Liverpool-Norwich (via Peterborough) services generally use platform 1B for services to Liverpool with platforms 5 and 7 being used for services to Norwich. Platform 7 is generally used if an EMT service is running late. First TransPennine Express use platform 2 eastbound and platform 8 westbound leaving platform 2C for the use of the Sheffield-Manchester local trains run by Northern. The recently introduced Northern service between Leeds and Nottingham normally uses platform 1A/B northbound and platform 6 southbound.

Prior to the 1972 multiple-aspect signalling (MAS) scheme, the southern half of the current platform 8 was called platform 9. Trains from the north from platform 9 could avoid trains stood at platform 8 via an additional through road.

More services from Sheffield are also planned, offering more trains per hour at peak times and extra carriages.

Services

References and notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sheffield Midland station

• Station history