The opening of a direct line from Shaftholme Junction to York via Selby in January 1871 saw the end of regular express trains using the route, but it remained busy with goods traffic, mainly coal from various collieries along its length and continued to carry a local stopping service from Wakefield to Doncaster until closure to passengers on 27 September 1948.

[2] These trains run between London King's Cross and Bradford Interchange via Doncaster, Knottingley, then on via Pontefract Monkhill, Wakefield Kirkgate, Mirfield, Brighouse and Halifax.

[3] For the December 2011 timetable change, the company announced that it wished to remove the stops at Pontefract and divert its remaining services via Adwick to significantly reduce journey times, but permission for this from the ORR was not forthcoming.

A new flyover was constructed that permits freight services from the ex-West Riding and Grimsby Railway route between Hatfield and Stainforth and Adwick to bridge the ECML and join the line just north of Askern Junction.

[5][6] This allows coal trains from the deep water import terminal at Port of Immingham to run directly to the Aire valley power stations without needing to join the ECML at Joan Croft Junction and use a 15-mile (24 km) section from there towards York, thus freeing up capacity on a busy section of the route.