North Doncaster Chord

The North Doncaster Chord (also known as the Shaftholme Flyover) is a railway connection (chord) between the freight only lines between Hatfield & Stainforth railway station (the Skellow line) and the Askern branch line, in South Yorkshire, England. The line was built to allow heavy freight trains, mostly from the Port of Immingham, to access the power stations in the lower Aire Valley without the need for them to use the East Coast Main Line (ECML) and creating slower line speeds for faster passenger trains. The chord meant the creation of 2 miles (3.2 km) of new railway and the building of Shaftholme Viaduct, which straddles the East Coast Main Line.