First trains could run from Leeds Kirkstall Forge next month

Construction work on the station – regarded as a key way of easing traffic congestion along the busy A65 road route – is largely complete.

And the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, together with partners Leeds City Council, Network Rail, developer CEG and train operator Northern, is now waiting for the green light from the Office of Rail and Road to open the site to passengers,

Services could begin calling at Kirkstall Forge from Sunday, June 19 – although the big day may end up being even earlier than that.

Journey times between the station and the city centre will be just six minutes. Kirkstall Forge will form part of a wider redevelopment of 57 acres of land off the A65 that will eventually include more than 1,000 homes, 300,000 sq ft of office space and 100,000 sq ft of retail, leisure and community space.

It will also be the second new station to open in West Yorkshire recently, after Apperley Bridge in December last year.

Another station at Low Moor, between Bradford Interchange and Halifax, is set to open later this year.