Meadowhall Interchange

Meadowhall Interchange is a transport interchange located in north-east Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It consists of a combined heavy rail station, tram stop, and bus and coach station. The second-busiest heavy rail station in the city in terms of passenger numbers, Meadowhall Interchange provides connections between National Rail services, the Sheffield Supertram light rail network, inter-city coach services and the city bus network.

The interchange was opened in 1990 by British Rail, within the Regional Railways sector, to serve the new Meadowhall shopping centre, which opened at the same time and is connected to the interchange by a pedestrian footbridge. The interchange is now owned by Network Rail and operated by Northern Trains, with additional services provided by TransPennine Express.

The first station to be named after the Meadowhall area, Meadowhall & Wincobank, was opened in 1868 by the South Yorkshire Railway on the Blackburn Valley Line from Sheffield Victoria to Barnsley. Meadowhall & Wincobank station closed in 1953 and the track was eventually lifted and converted into a cycle path in 1987, although the station building survives in good condition.

Upon opening in 1990, Meadowhall Interchange effectively replaced Brightside station, located around 1 mile (1.6 km) further down the line towards Sheffield. However, limited services continued to serve Brightside for several years after the opening of Meadowhall Interchange, with Brightside station finally closing in 1995.

In 1989, the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive received a European Regional Development Fund grant for 50% of the cost of Meadowhall Interchange.

Meadowhall Interchange was constructed to serve the new Meadowhall shopping centre, which opened on 4 September 1990 on the former site of steelworks in the Don Valley in north-east Sheffield. The interchange was constructed to the north of the shopping centre on the opposite bank of the River Don, with a pedestrian suspension bridge linking the interchange with the shopping centre. The heavy rail and bus and coach stations opened in 1990.

The Sheffield Supertram light rail platforms opened on 21 March 1994. The section of line from Meadowhall to Fitzalan Square, in the city centre, was the first phase of the network to open.

Meadowhall Interchange was selected as the initial site for Sheffield's High Speed 2 station, with a high-level viaduct station planned to be constructed parallel to the M1 motorway's Tinsley Viaduct adjacent to the mainline station. However, these plans were eventually dropped, with plans for High Speed 2 services to instead serve Sheffield station in the city centre.