Network Rail submits plans for new train station in York

The City of York Council uploaded details to its planning portal on February 29 for a new station in Haxby, a town five miles north of York station.

Plans include two platforms, a footbridge, lift towers and staircases, a bus turning circle, cycle storage and a 154-space car park.

There will also be a new foot and cycle path to the west of the railway and one along Towthorpe Road.

Iain Kelly, Network Rail’s project sponsor for Haxby station, said: “The submission of this planning application is a major milestone in the development of Haxby station.

"A lot of behind-the-scenes work by Network Rail and the City of York Council has taken place to get the project to this stage and we are ready to press ahead with delivering a station local residents can be proud of.

“Haxby’s new station will provide residents with greater connectivity and offer more sustainable transport methods which tie in with Network Rail’s ambition to be simpler, better and greener.”

Coun Pete Kilbane, executive member for economy and transport on the City of York Council, said: “If approved, a new station at Haxby would greatly improve public transport in the north of the city, reducing the need for people to travel by car."

Coun Ian Cuthbertson, a local ward councillor in Haxby, said it took “many years of campaigning” to get the station, adding: “This will be a real boost to residents, allowing them to easily travel to York and beyond, reducing car journeys and increasing connectivity.”

It follows Prime Minister Rishi Sunak meeting with senior figures at Network Rail and York Outer MP Julian Sturdy to look over the plans.

Haxby station was part of Mr Sunak’s ‘Network North’ plans, which used money that would have been spent on HS2 before its northern leg was scrapped.

A sum of £379.67m was committed by the government over seven years from 2025 to 2032 for the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, which was established in December and will have its first metro mayor elected in May.

Mr Sunak said: “Through reallocating HS2 funding, we’re not only investing billions of pounds directly back into our smaller cities, towns and rural areas across the North and Midlands, but we are also empowering their local leaders to invest in the transport projects that matter most to their communities.”

The site of the new station is situated on Towthorpe Road to the northeast of Haxby village, occupying approximately 2.2 hectares of vacant agricultural land.

The original railway station at Haxby was opened in July 1845 by the York and North Midland Railway but was closed in 1930 due to increasing competition from local bus services.

Plans to reopen a station in Haxby were first discussed in the 1980s as the town had grown in size since the station closed.

The line through the former station remains operational, forming part of the York to Scarborough route.

In April and May 2022, the City of York Council consulted with the public in Haxby on whether they supported an application for the station to be re-opened.

Based on a total of 1,200 responses, 81 per cent of participants supported the proposal for a station in Haxby.

Of those who answered, 67 per cent strongly supported it, while 14 per cent were opposed and five per cent were neutral.