City leaders welcome 'desperately needed' £1.1bn rail upgrade in Leeds and Yorkshire
City leaders have welcomed billion-pound plans to upgrade railway lines and improve stations across Leeds and Yorkshire.
Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) plans unveiled yesterday aim to drastically improve how people travel for work, education and leisure - growing the productivity of five largest cities to the national average would add up to £40 billion a year to UK economy.
Phase one will prioritise upgrades and electrification between Leeds-Sheffield, Leeds-York and Leeds-Bradford to transform commutes, set to be delivered in the 2030s.
News of the “desperately needed” upgrades have been welcomed by both Leeds City Council leader James Lewis and Mayor of West Yorkshire Tracy Brabin.
“This is a proper plan and commitment from the Government to modernise the rail network around Leeds and the North. I welcome this and the recommitment on funding for West Yorkshire Mass Transit,” Coun Lewis said.
“Both are desperately needed following years of underinvestment under the previous Government, who repeatedly let residents and businesses in Leeds down. In the 2010s we spent a decade preparing for HS2 and then suffered the heartbreak of them pulling the plug and causing extreme frustration and disappointment. Lots of development in Leeds during that period was planned around HS2, so cancelling it like they did had a huge knock on effect.”
The first phase of the NPR programme would improve connections on existing lines in the 2030s on the following routes:
- Between Sheffield and Leeds
- Between Leeds and York
- Between Leeds and Bradford
Sheffield or Bradford to Manchester can take up to 54 minutes, despite both cities being around 30 miles away - meanwhile there also are only two fast trains an hour between Leeds and Manchester, which is a hugely popular route and suffers from severe overcrowding.
It can take up to one hour 23 minutes to get to Manchester Airport from Leeds or Sheffield, even though they are around 40 miles away.
Tracy Brabin, Mayor of West Yorkshire said: “For too long, unreliable rail links have caused misery for people living and working in the North, while holding back our ambitious plans for growth.
“Today we have a solid commitment from government to invest in connecting our towns and cities including taking forward plans for Bradford station, capacity upgrades in and out of Leeds, and electrification across the network to allow more frequent and faster trains.”
With £1.1 billion to progress planning and development work as soon as possible, plans include improvements for Leeds, Sheffield and York stations - supporting significant regeneration plans to unlock tens of thousands of homes and jobs.
The plan also includes pressing forward with work on Bradford station, putting a young, dynamic city of 500,000 people at the heart of the northern network.
Plans were previously announced to extend and improve access to Platform 17 at Leeds station, while the highly-anticipated revamp of the station’s main entrance is set to be completed in the first half of 2026.
“We repeatedly told the previous Government that Leeds Station and the surrounding roads and facilities needed for onward travel will soon reach capacity, but they didn't listen, so it's very encouraging that we have now been heard and the current Government is committed to addressing this,” Coun Lewis added.
“Under the last Government we were held back by their poor planning and lack of investment. The plan set out today provides a firm commitment from the current Government to change this and provide the investment and improvements residents and businesses in Leeds deserve.”
The regeneration of Leeds station includes exciting plans for the South Bank, while development around the new Bradford Station and York Central will add new housing in the bustling city centres.
Phase two of NPR will build a new route between Liverpool and Manchester, running via Manchester Airport and Warrington, following in the 2030s. The third phase will focus on improved connections between Manchester and Sheffield, Manchester and Leeds, and explore options for Manchester to Bradford.
Plans build on the £11 billion Transpennine Route Upgrade, between York and Manchester, via Leeds and Huddersfield.
“We made the case as Yorkshire mayors that we needed better connectivity between our biggest cities, and we are working with the government to deliver better transport across Yorkshire and the north,” Mayor Brabin said.
“This will help us boost capacity, reliability and journey times between our biggest cities, driving jobs and growth across Yorkshire.”
Upgrades will also include plans for a northern growth corridor from Liverpool to York via West and South Yorkshire and bespoke plans for the North-East to make the most of opportunities in clean energy, AI, innovation and city centre regeneration.
Over £11 million of local transport funding has now been agreed for South Yorkshire to develop a new Rotherham Gateway station, which spells an end to slow journeys to Leeds and support the ambitious regeneration plans for the town.
The North East will also benefit from regular services onwards to Newcastle via Darlington and Durham. This follows recent investment of £4 billion in the East Coast Mainline which has seen 60,000 extra seats weekly through the new timetable.