Bradford Interchange
Bradford Interchange
Main page
1941097

Bradford Interchange

logo
Community Hub0 subscribers
What are your thoughts?
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Be the first to start a discussion here.
Bradford Interchange

Bradford Interchange is a transport interchange in Bradford, West Yorkshire, England, which consists of a railway station and bus station adjacent. The Interchange, which was designed in 1962, was hailed as a showpiece of European design and was opened on 14 January 1973. It is served by the majority of bus services in the city centre, while the railway station, which is one of two in the city centre (along with Bradford Forster Square), is served by Northern and is also the terminus for Grand Central services from London King's Cross.

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, which 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 railway station was completely rebuilt on the same site in 1880 with ten bay platforms and two arched roofs. Constructed of wrought iron, these rested at the outer sides on plain stone walls and classical corinthian style columns down the middle. Glass covered the middle half and timber (inside)/ slate (outside) covered the outer quarters of each span. The four end screens were glazed in a fan pattern with decorative timber outer edging. The dimensions were a length of 450 feet (140 m), a width of 100 feet (30 m) for each arch and a height of 80 feet (24 m), track to apex. The railway station never had a formal frontage; instead, passengers entered by an opening in the northwest side.

In its 1920s heyday, it served routes to Wakefield Westgate via Ardsley (used by many of the city's through trains to London King's Cross), Wakefield Kirkgate via Batley and Ossett, Keighley & Halifax via Queensbury, Mirfield via Cleckheaton (the Spen Valley Line) and to Leeds via the Pudsey Loop in addition to the current lines. These however had all closed by the end of 1966 – most having fallen victim to the Beeching Axe.

By 1973, the railway 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 was used for a time as a car park; the site now houses the Bradford Law Courts 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 renamed Bradford Interchange to link buses and trains in a covered environment.

The bus station featured a large ridge and furrow design of overall roof, which was subsequently demolished in 1999 to allow for a rebuilding of the bus station, which was opened in 2001. This was paid for partly by the sale of some adjacent land to the south of the site and some now-surplus land on the old bus station site.[citation needed] During the 1970s and 1980s, the station was considered the mainline station for Bradford with express services to London King's Cross, Trans-Pennine services to Liverpool and Newcastle and 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.

The bus stands were once more plentiful and originally featured a large 'ridge and furrow' glass roof, but this was demolished in the 1990s, following the sale of some land for an office development. The bus station was completely rebuilt in 2001.

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

See all
User Avatar
No comments yet.