Leeds

Introduction

Leeds Station is a main railway station serving Leeds city centre in West Yorkshire, England. As of 2016, this station is the third busiest station outside the London area. The station is located at the new station street south of the city square, at the back of the park road, behind the landmark Queens Hotel. The station is one of the 19 stations managed by the British National Railways.

Leeds is an important hub in the UK rail network. This station is the terminus of the East Coast main line Leeds branch line, providing high-speed intercity rail service to London. It is also an important stopover between the Scottish, Central and South West England railway lines connecting Birmingham and Glasgow. Major cities such as Edinburgh, Beatby, Nottingham, Redding, Bristol, Axal, Plymouth, Penzance. The station also offers regular intercity rail services to major cities in North England including Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle and Sheffield. In addition, this station is also the terminus of the beautiful Settle-Carlisle Railway. Future stations will be expanded to connect to the No. 2 high-speed railway under construction.

Leeds is a local and regional railway hub in the Yorkshire region, connecting major cities such as York, Scarborough, Houcheng, Doncaster and Sheffield. This station is the center of the West Yorkshire Metro commuter rail system, providing rail services to Baraford, Wakefield, Desbury, Huddersfield and Halifax.

With a passenger volume of approximately 23 million passengers between April 2014 and March 2015, it is the busiest station in North England and the third busiest station outside London, second only to Birmingham New Street and Central Glasgow. .

Platform

Station 1 -6: This part of the station is the terminal and therefore at the same height as the main hall, although stations 3 and 4 are far from the ticket gate. The "C" portion of these platforms is closest to the lobby, but Part A is furthest from the ticket gate.

These five northern trains usually use this part of the station: (1) Round-trip Bradford, including trains from Bradford to Manchester via the Hebden Bridge (2) Wharfedale train to and from Ilkley (3) Express trains to and from Skipton via Keighley & Worth Valley Railway and Saltaire to Saltaire Mills (4) Harrogate Line Train (5) Trains to Carlisle along the spectacular routes of Hellifield and Settle (6) Trains to Lancaster via Hellifield and Carnforth

Stations 7 and 8: The platform 8 is on the right side of the ticket gate line, and the platform 7 next to the main hall is at its far end, so that the trains using these stations are accessible. LNER trains to and from London usually use platform 8.

Platform 9 -17: The main feature of the Leeds station is a huge bridge that connects these platforms to the ticket gate through the main hall.

The hall and each platform are connected to the bridge via escalators and lifts (elevators) and there are stairs.

Long-distance trains using these platforms include: (i) Cross-country trains to multiple destinations including Birmingham, Bristol, Derby, Edinburgh, Durham, Newcastle. Sheffield and York (ii) Trans Pennine Express trains can reach multiple destinations including Durham, Hull, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Scarborough and York.

Watford

Leeds is a city in the United Kingdom, located in the county of West Yorkshire in Northern England, approximately 170 miles north of central London. Leeds has one of the most diverse economies of all the UK's main employment centres and has seen the fastest rate of private-sector jobs growth of any UK city. It also has the highest ratio of private to public sector jobs of all the UK's Core Cities, with 77% of its workforce working in the private sector. Leeds has the third-largest jobs total by local authority area, with 480,000 in employment and self-employment at the beginning of 2015. Leeds is ranked as a High Sufficiency level city by the Globalization and World Cities Research Network. Leeds is the cultural, financial and commercial heart of the West Yorkshire Urban Area. Leeds is served by five universities, and has the fourth largest student population in the country and the country's fourth largest urban economy.Leeds was a small manorial borough in the 13th century, and in the 17th and 18th centuries it became a major centre for the production and trading of wool, and in the Industrial Revolution a major mill town; wool was still the dominant industry, but flax, engineering, iron foundries, printing, and other industries were also important. From being a market town in the valley of the River Aire in the 16th century, Leeds expanded and absorbed the surrounding villages to become a populous urban centre by the mid-20th century. It now lies within the West Yorkshire Urban Area, the United Kingdom's fourth-most populous urban area, with a population of 2.6 million.Today, Leeds has become the largest legal and financial centre outside London with the financial and insurance services industry worth £13 billion to the city's economy. The finance and business service sector account for 38% of total output with more than 30 national and international banks located in the city, including an office of the Bank of England. Leeds is also the UK's third-largest manufacturing centre with around 1,800 firms and 39,000 employees, Leeds manufacturing firms account for 8.8% of total employment in the city and is worth over £7 billion to the local economy. The largest sub-sectors are engineering, printing and publishing, food and drink, chemicals and medical technology. Other key sectors include retail, leisure and the visitor economy, construction, and the creative and digital industries. The city saw several firsts, including the oldest-surviving film in existence, Roundhay Garden Scene (1888), and the 1767 invention of soda water.Public transport, rail and road communications networks in the region are focused on Leeds, and the second phase of High Speed 2 will connect it to London via East Midlands Hub and Sheffield Meadowhall. Leeds currently has the third busiest railway station and the tenth busiest airport outside London.

Watford ( ) is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, South East England, 15 miles (24 km) northwest of central London. The town developed on the River Colne on land belonging to St Albans Abbey until the 16th century. During the 12th century a charter was granted allowing a market, and the building of St Mary's Church began. The town grew partly due to travellers going to Berkhamsted Castle and the royal palace at Kings Langley. A mansion was built at Cassiobury in the 16th century. This was partly rebuilt in the 17th century and another country house was built at The Grove. The Grand Junction Canal in 1798 and the London and Birmingham Railway in 1837 resulted in Watford's rapid growth, with paper-making mills such as John Dickinson at Croxley, influencing the development of printing in the town. Two brewers, Benskins and Sedgwicks, amalgamated and flourished in the town until their closure in the late 20th century. Hertfordshire County Council designates Watford to be a major sub-regional centre. Several head offices are based in Watford. Both the 2006 World Golf Championship and the 2013 Bilderberg Conference took place at The Grove.Watford became an urban district under the Local Government Act 1894 and a municipal borough by grant of a charter in 1922. The borough, which had 90,301 inhabitants at the time of the 2011 census, is separated from Greater London to the south by the parish of Watford Rural in the Three Rivers District. Watford Borough Council is the local authority with the Mayor of Watford as its head; one of only 18 directly elected mayors in England and Wales. Watford elects one MP for the Watford constituency. Prior to the establishment of this constituency in 1885, the area was part of the three-seat constituency of Hertfordshire.