We’re working with industry partners including Department for Transport and local train operators to improve your journeys in West Yorkshire.
We’re upgrading and expanding the railway surrounding Leeds City station so we can give you better and more frequent trains in the city and beyond.
A vital travel hub
Eighty percent of all trains in West Yorkshire start or terminate at Leeds City station. This makes it the ideal starting point for our upgrades to the railway in the region.
Your journeys through this station have significantly grown over the last 25 years. There were about nine million passenger journeys at the station in 2000, which grew to 34 million by 2018. And we expect this figure to reach 50 million by the 2040s.
That’s why we’ve put together an ambitious plan to expand and improve the railway around the station to make it fit for the future.
Running more trains at Leeds City
We plan to run more trains through this busy travel hub by extending the station’s platform 17 by 51 metres. The £21.4m project will allow more frequent and longer, six-carriage trains – giving you more comfortable journeys and more seats even at the busiest times.
Plus, we’ll have more flexibility when diverting or altering services during periods of high traffic on the railway. So, we can keep you and freight moving with fewer delays.
And this will be particularly important when work ramps up to electrify the Transpennine Route through the city in the next few years.
We’ll begin the building work next year and expect to finish by early 2027.
Linking Leeds to a vital route
The longer platform will also help us lay the groundwork for building a new line in the future that connects Leeds to the Midland Main Line. This will open up even more journeys for you and freight on this vital route running between London St Pancras International and Sheffield.
It will also help reduce congestion for smoother journeys, fewer delays and greater flexibility.
Better journeys across West Yorkshire
Our work in Leeds is just one part of our wider multi-million-pound upgrade of the region. Our Leeds Area Improvement Programme is made up of even more plans designed to improve your journeys across West Yorkshire.
We’re also extending platforms and adding new ones at some of the other stations in the area, including at Bradford Forster Square and Shipley (Yorks) station.
Plus, we’ll build new track and signals at some junctions to give us greater flexibility and more space to keep your trains running.
And we plan to electrify some of the most popular routes in the area to give you cleaner, greener and more reliable trains.
James Moy, project sponsor for the Leeds Area Improvement Programme, said: “Along with the Transpennine Route Upgrade and Northern Powerhouse Rail, the Leeds Area Improvement Programme provides significant investment in our region’s rail network.
“Passengers will see benefits through longer, faster, and more frequent train services, with our cities benefiting from continued economic growth which additional infrastructure capacity provides.”
