The line, which passes through the former mining areas to the east of Wakefield and Castleford, has the greatest number of stations opened by the West Yorkshire Metro. MetroCards are available on the route as far as Knottingley; a limited service continues to Goole by this route.
History
Railways in the area opened as follows:
1 April 1848:[1] the Wakefield, Pontefract and Goole Railway opened, which was 27 miles (43km) in length. This line passed through and served Knottingley, which was then producing some 65,000 tons of burnt lime a year, mainly used for agricultural and building purposes
August 1850: Knottingley to Burton Salmon line opened. Trains were able to run from London to York via Knottingley, which was the station to change to and from trains into the heart of the West Riding, and so it became a major junction
The Wakefield service joins the Leeds service at Pontefract; the stations served for this section are:
Wakefield Westgate (also served by the Wakefield line): the station was jointly owned by GCR and GNR; to the south was the West Riding and Grimsby Joint Railway (also owned by those companies)
Wakefield Kirkgate, the previous terminus for most services on this line
leaving Wakefield, there were a large number of junctions between there and Crofton
there were two stations on this line serving Crofton and Sharlston
Both services now run hourly to Leeds from Knottingley; this provides a combined half-hourly service between Knottingley, Pontefract Monkhill and Leeds.[2]
