A new platform zero in West Yorkshire has allowed us to triple the number of daily services running between Bradford and London. That’s an extra 1.9 million train seats a year.
We’ve worked with industry partners including train operator London North Eastern Railway and government body Department for Transport to build the new platform at Bradford Forster Square station.
More services, more choice, more opportunities
The additional platform and track mean more London North Eastern Railway trains running to and from London King’s Cross station between Monday and Saturday.
You now have a choice of seven daily services instead of just two between the two cities. This is a 250% increase in weekday services with even more trains and seats to choose from.
In fact, the first train from London to Bradford now arrives at 09:52 instead of 19:30 like before. It means you can now travel directly to and from London to make morning meetings and travel home after an evening out. This wasn’t possible previously without changing trains elsewhere.
The additional line also gives us more flexibility when diverting or altering services during periods of high traffic on the railway – so we can keep you moving.
Plus, it gives the local community access to even more jobs, education and leisure opportunities and drives forward further investment in the area.
Minister for Local Transport, Simon Lightwood, who officially opened the platform, said: “These additional services will not only create a more reliable and comfortable journey but bring an estimated extra £4m into the local economy each year.”
The new services to Bradford comes as the city celebrates its status as Britain’s City of Culture for 2025.
James Moy, a project sponsor at Network Rail, said: “The new platform zero and track layout at Bradford provide a significant capacity improvement for our customers.
“Not only does the city of Bradford directly benefit from more services to London on a more reliable, flexible and operationally resilient railway, but the social and economic boost we expect it will bring will be truly life changing for the local community.”
More than just a platform …
We worked with our industry partners under the Central Rail Systems Alliance – a partnership between us, infrastructure group Balfour Beatty, engineering company AtkinsRealis and railway specialist TSO on the £35m project. Teams from building companies BAM Nuttall and Volker Rail also took part.
Building a new platform is a complex task and it’s not just limited to the station work. We also had to build new track, signals and overhead line equipment to accompany the platform. Plus, we relocated a nearby crossover to make room for the new track.
It involved:
- 300 metres of rail
- two sets of points
- 150 metres of track drainage
- 350 metres of fencing.
Sub-zero temperatures in the winter of 2024 to 2025 and Storm Éowyn in January threw up further challenges. But we forged ahead to open the new platform zero on schedule on Monday 18 May.
