Sponsored by
Wakey train gain may be Leeds loss
A RAIL station improvement project at Wakefield Westgate could draw passengers away from Leeds.
The 6.6m project at the busy Wakefield rail link ties in with the city’s £140m Merchant Gate development on the land around it.
Wakefield Westgate will see the 1960s buildings at its entrance and on platform one - where there is currently a cafe and travel centre - replaced by a new construction on land next to the station and the erection of a new bridge.
The buildings on platform two will remain but have recently received a new waiting room.
The new buildings will be built to high sustainability standards in the bid put forward by East Coast and Network Rail. It is due to be completed by March 2014.
Tim Hedley-Jones, stations and property director at East Coast, told a meeting of the first Friday networking organisation in Wakefield: “It will be a complete new building.”
He said the current Wakefield Westgate station is “out of keeping” with the standard of services being offered by the trains using it.
Mr Hedley-Jones said: “When it’s finished Wakefield Westgate will have a station for the twenty-first century.”
But he added that “the final designs are not completed yet” and would not include new track and platforms.
He said that the new multi-storey car park close to the station built as part of the Merchant Gate scheme would make the station more accessible than tackling the city centre roads to get to Leeds station.
Mr Hedley-Jones said: “The car park is exactly the sort of facility that will attract people into the location.”
He told the YEP: “Because of the accessibility of Wakefield from the M1 it provides a good rail head for people from a wide area whereas Leeds as a centre is quite constrained.
“I do not think it’s a case of one city against another. It’s about driving growth in all the north’s East Coast services.”
Email to a friend
Print this page
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Leeds
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 8 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 17 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 13 mph
Wind direction: East
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.