The Harrogate line is a passenger rail line through parts of North Yorkshire and the West Yorkshire area of northern England connecting Leeds to York by way of Harrogate and Knaresborough. Service on the line is operated by Northern, with a few additional workings by London North Eastern Railway starting and terminating at Harrogate. West Yorkshire Metro's bus and rail MetroCard ticket is available for journeys between Leeds and Harrogate. Route History The routes over which the Harrogate line trains now run were opened in 1848 by two of the railways which came to be part of the North Eastern Railway: the Leeds Northern Railway and the East and West Yorkshire Junction Railway. At the time of the 1923 Grouping the Harrogate area formed the junction for five routes: the main line was that of the Leeds-Northallerton railway; the other lines were to: Pateley Bridge; Pilmoor on the East Coast Main Line, the junction for the line to York (the only remaining section open) Wetherby, the junction with the Cross Gates–Wetherby line; Church Fenton, terminus of the Harrogate–Church Fenton line The Leeds station at the time was Leeds Central station, jointly owned by the NER and the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway. The line terminated in Harrogate at the Brunswick station which was opened in 1848 but closed in 1862 when a new and more central station was opened. Description The line is composed of all or part of the following Network Rail routes: LNE 9 from Leeds to Leeds West Junction LNE 6A from Leeds West Junction LNE 6 from Harrogate LNE 2 from Skelton Junction to York Stations and features Currently open stations are shown in bold font. Leeds is a major transport hub where several long-distance and commuter lines meet. Trains scheduled to operate via Harrogate to York are shown with the destination of "Poppleton via Harrogate" because the Leeds-York journey via this route takes 40 minutes longer than on the route of the York and Selby Lines via Garforth. Royal Gardens, only a short distance from Burley Park, was closed in 1858. Cardigan Road Goods station is closed and now the site of a builders yard. Burley Park opened in 1988 making it the newest station on the line Headingley near Kirkstall Lane (B6157 road) is the closest station to the Kirkstall Lane end of Headingley Stadium. Horsforth Woodside was located near Leeds Outer Ring Road, today's