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 ), is served by Northern and is also the terminus for Grand Central services from London King's Cross.
Layout and facilities
The main entrance with the taxi rank and car park is on a lower level, while the train platforms and bus 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 railway station has four platforms and a short bay that was previously used for the Red Star parcels facility. Platform 1 has 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).
All tracks run south out of the station about 600m to the Mill Lane junction where the westbound and eastbound routes separate. Originally it was possible for trains on the Calder Valley line to bypass the station, but that possibility was removed when the diversionary track was lifted.
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 on the bus departure concourse. The train ticket office is next to the pedestrian entrance to the train platforms and is open seven days a week (except for late evenings). Escalators and lifts link the two levels and there is step-free access to all platforms.
History
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 , a width of for each arch and a height of , 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 via Ardsley (used by many of the city's through trains to London King's Cross), via and Ossett, & Halifax via Queensbury, 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.