The Pontefract line is one of the rail services in the West Yorkshire Metro area of northern England. The service is operated by Northern, and links Wakefield and Leeds with Goole via Pontefract. The Metro timetable for the line also includes services operated as the Dearne Valley line between York and Sheffield via Pontefract. 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 of trains continues to Goole by this route.

The route

History

Railways in the area opened as follows: Before the 1923 Grouping the lines over which the service operates were owned by:

Description of route

Leeds–Goole

Trains using the Pontefract line from Leeds use the same route as the Hallam line to Methley Junction:

Wakefield–Pontefract

The Wakefield service joins the Leeds service at Pontefract; the station served for this section are: Both services now run hourly to Leeds from Knottingley to provide a combined half-hourly service between Knottingley, Pontefract Monkhill and Leeds