Wakefield Kirkgate railway station
Wakefield Kirkgate 
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Entrance to the railway station viewed from the car park
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| Location | |
| Place | Wakefield |
| Local authority | City of Wakefield |
| Coordinates | 53°40′44″N 1°29′17″W / 53.679°N 1.488°WCoordinates: 53°40′44″N 1°29′17″W / 53.679°N 1.488°W |
| Grid reference | SE339204 |
| Operations | |
| Station code | WKK |
| Managed by | Northern |
| Number of platforms | 3 |
| DfT category | F1 |
| Live arrivals/departures, station information and onward connections from National Rail Enquiries |
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| Annual rail passenger usage* | |
| 2011/12 |
 0.449 million |
| 2012/13 |
0.448 million |
| 2013/14 |
 0.508 million |
| 2014/15 |
0.527 million |
| 2015/16 |
0.535 million |
| Passenger Transport Executive | |
| PTE | West Yorkshire (Metro) |
| Zone | 3 |
| History | |
| Key dates | Opened 5 October 1840 |
| Original company | Manchester and Leeds Railway |
| Pre-grouping | Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway |
| Post-grouping | London, Midland and Scottish Railway |
| 5 October 1840 | Station opened |
| National Rail – UK railway stations | |
| * Annual estimated passenger usage based on sales of tickets in stated financial year(s) which end or originate at Wakefield Kirkgate from Office of Rail and Road statistics. Methodology may vary year on year. | |
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Wakefield Kirkgate railway station is a railway station in Wakefield, West Yorkshire, England. Unlike the nearby Wakefield Westgate railway station, Kirkgate is unstaffed. The station is managed by Northern but also served by Grand Central. It is on the Hallam, Pontefract, Huddersfield lines and also has a limited number of services to London Kings Cross.
The original Kirkgate station opened by the Manchester and Leeds Railway in 1840 was the only station in Wakefield until Westgate was opened in 1867. The station building dates from 1854.
Some demolition work took place in 1972, removing buildings on the island platform and the roof with its original ironwork canopy which covered the whole station. A wall remains as evidence of these buildings. After this, Kirkgate was listed in 1979.
Since Westgate developed as Wakefield's main station, Kirkgate was neglected for many years and deteriorated until it was in a poor state of repair. In January 2008 the former goods warehouse was demolished to make way for a depot for Network Rail. In October 2008, part of the station wall collapsed, destroying a parked car.
The station is unstaffed and, despite the presence of CCTV, it suffered from crime. A rape, a serious assault and several robberies took place there. In July 2009, Kirkgate station was visited by Secretary of State for Transport Lord Adonis who dubbed it "the worst medium-large station in Britain". Local consensus was that the state of its facilities discouraged its use.
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Wikipedia