'Christmas market train' introduced between Leeds and York

The additional service, which starts running on December 10 and stops only at Church Fenton, is part of Northern’s wider December revisions.

All you need to know about Leeds Christmas marketThe introduction of the new hourly service has coincided with the start of Christmas market events in both cities and will provide a quick link for visitors. It will continue to operate in 2019.

The first train from York to Leeds will start at 7.03 and run at 12 past every hour until 20.12. From Leeds to York, the first train is at 7.42 and services leave at either 42 or 43 minutes to the hour until 21.42. The fast trains do not operate on Sundays, when stopping services will run as normal.

It is an extension of Northern’s current Preston to Leeds route. The changes will mean the local stopping service will no longer call at Church Fenton.

Steve Hopkinson, Regional Director at Northern said: “The new fast service provides an excellent new link between York and Leeds and builds on existing services to give commuters and leisure travellers more choice.

All you need to know about the St Nicholas Fair in York“And, of course we will retain the current stopping services to ensure our customers along the route are still able to get where they need to be.”

Further changes to the timetable will now also require some customers travelling across Leeds to the east or west to change at Leeds. This will particularly affect customers travelling towards Bradford and Halifax and towards Cross Gates and Garforth.

Steve added: “We have made some changes to the timetables to address some of the issues our customers have experienced during the past few months. These alterations will bring further stability and reliability for our customers and the timetables have been designed to allow plenty of time at stations where changes are necessary.”

For further details about Northern’s new timetables please visit our website.