The Airedale line is one of the rail services in the West Yorkshire Metro area centred on West Yorkshire in northern England. The service is operated by Northern, on the route connecting Leeds and Bradford with Skipton. Some services along the line continue to Morecambe or Carlisle. The route covered by the service was historically part of the Midland Railway. According to SELRAP, the Airedale line is the most heavily used passenger route outside the South East of England. The route and its history The first section, between Leeds and Bradford (Forster Square station), was opened by the Leeds and Bradford Railway on 1 July 1846. A number of the intermediate stations were closed in March 1965 (as a result of the Beeching Axe), however the line and its major stations remained open. Some of the closed stations, such as , were re-opened during the 1980s. In 1994 under Regional Railways, the line was electrified at 25 kV AC overhead between Leeds and Skipton, and new British Rail Class 333 trains were introduced in the early 2000s. Investment in the line has seen passenger numbers grow, and now overcrowding on trains is a problem. New stock and longer trains were introduced by the former Northern franchise Arriva Rail North in 2019 to tackle this issue. The route is described below. The line originally included a number of stations which are now closed: Leeds – the station was named Leeds (Wellington) to differentiate it from the other main line stations in the city, belonging to the North Eastern Railway (NER) Kirkstall Forge Location of Apperley Junction for the Wharfedale line Apperley Bridge & Rawdon – closed in 1965; new Apperley Bridge station opened in 2015 Location of Thackley Tunnel This is the location of the triangular junction for the branch line serving Shipley and . The main line, which was opened from here to Skipton by the Leeds and Bradford Extension Railway in 1847, continues: Saltaire Location of Bingley tunnel Crossflatts Keighley Location of the Worth Valley Branch junction to Oxenhope. The branch is now the Keighley and Worth Valley Railway heritage line. Steeton & Silsden Skipton. Trains of the Leeds–Morecambe line and Settle–Carlisle line also run along the Airedale line from Leeds. The line today The line is operated by Northern Trains. The fare structure is as follows (these show the West Yorkshire Metro rail zones): Zone 1 Leeds railway