The station was originally opened by the Leeds and Selby Railway in 1834. The road bridge crosses the line at an oblique angle; this was considered something of a marvel at the time of construction. The station then linked the town with the former Leeds Marsh Lane railway station. The current buildings date from 1872 and were designed by NER architect Thomas Prosser. Garforth station also connected with the privately owned Aberford Railway which closed in 1924, and is now a public path commonly used for horses, dog walkers and travelling to and from Garforth Academy part way upon it. East of the station was the junction to the branch line to via Ledston which closed to passengers in 1951 and completely in 1969. Garforth also has another railway station, East Garforth, situated approximately east of the main station which was opened in 1987. Though East Garforth is fully accessible to wheelchair users, the main Garforth station is not; wheelchair users can only access platform 2 which serves trains towards Leeds. In 2015 additional shelters were placed on either platform doubling the sheltered capacity.
Facilities
The station buildings are concentrated on the Leeds bound platform, which is disabled accessible. There is a ticket office and waiting room in the buildings; the remaining space is leased out to a taxi company. The Leeds bound platform also has an automatic ticket machine that can be used out of hours and a vending machine. As well as the heated waiting room on the Leeds bound platform, there are two shelters available for use out of office hours. The York bound platform has two passenger shelters. The two platforms are connected by a footbridge with stepped access, this also links to Aberford Road. The station has a large car park which is free for passenger use; part of the car park is leased to a veterinary practice which has a compound and temporary building on this land. There is CCTV and lighting throughout the station and car park. Refreshments can purchased from the Station House Café, which opened in August 2016, and is situated on the Leeds bound platform.
Services
operates a half-hourly service to Leeds, as well as hourly services to York and via to the east. The Hull service began operating at the winter 2019 timetable change and runs through to via Bradford Interchange in the westbound direction, restoring the link to Bradford lost when the York to Blackpool North service ceased calling inMay 2018. TransPennine Express trains also stop at Garforth hourly towards Leeds, Huddersfield and Liverpool Lime Street westbound and eastbound. The service now also stops here on Sundays since the start of the winter 2019 timetable.
Proposed services
proposed to operate trains directly between Garforth and London from December 2009. This proposal was supported by the Office of the Rail Regulator in January 2009, however the Department of Transport had rejected the plans because the proposal would require changes to franchised services and there was not enough capacity for these services, however Virgin Trains East Coast had plans to increase capacity and introduce a number of direct services between Garforth and London from 2019. The plans have not as yet been implemented, as VTEC no longer operates the East Coast franchise and a private successor is yet to be agreed upon.
Other transport links
The station has a taxi-office with taxirank outside the main buildings. Buses serve the station on Aberford Road, to which there is a direct link from the stations' footbridge.
