£70m for improving town railway station

HUDDERSFIELD train station could be improved by a £70m investment, councillors heard.

During a meeting of the Economy and Neighbourhoods Scrutiny Panel, a Kirklees official confirmed that Network Rail was still moving forward with the TransPennine upgrade.

And there is £70m earmarked for improving Huddersfield Railway Station.

Kirklees Council wants to move most of the traffic and access to the rear of the station and has plans for a £15m multi-storey car park.

But fears that Kirklees could miss out on billions of pounds of rail improvements were raised by councillors.

In the week the Northern Powerhouse Rail programme unveiled a potential new high-speed Pennine route via Bradford, Kirklees councillors have said they are worried the borough could be left behind.

Council chiefs were hoping to get an economic boost from being at the heart of the much delayed TransPennine electrification project.

That upgrade is still being discussed but is now at threat of being overshadowed by plans to link HS2 stations at Leeds and Manchester with a separate line through Bradford and Calderdale.

Councillors have expressed concern that Kirklees will be eclipsed by its northern neighbours.

Clr Martyn Bolt said: “There is the potential that this will be faster than the TransPennine Express.

“We need to look at the impact it will have for Huddersfield and Kirklees.

“We need cross party support on this from the town hall to Whitehall – we need to be making some noise.

“At the moment they’re showing Bradford on the maps – whether that’s the centre of Bradford is still up for debate.

“If it was a parkway station it could be somewhere like Chain Bar, which would still benefit Kirklees.”

Clr Rob Walker added: “We seem to have fallen out of people’s thinking so it’s really important that we keep lobbying to stay in the forefront of their minds.”

An official revealed Kirklees was the area impacted the most by the TransPennine electrification project. The huge infrastructure project will require 92 bridges and eight tunnels to be modified.

About 175km of track will be replaced along with 266km of overhead wires.

Ten junctions need to be re-modelled and 4,400 overhead structures adapted.

The council is also due to meet Network Rail about station upgrades between Huddersfield and Dewsbury.

Plans to improve crumbling Mirfield and Ravensthorpe stations are being formulated.

Clr Bolt has suggest an all-new station to serve both areas.

Meanwhile, £1m of upgrades to Dewsbury Railway Station forecourt, car park and access areas are due to start later this year.

A Network Rail spokesperson said: “The TransPennine Route Upgrade aims to deliver faster, longer, more frequent and more reliable services across the north of England, from Newcastle, Hull and York towards Manchester and Liverpool via Leeds.

“Network Rail has worked on the development of potential infrastructure options for the TransPennine Route Upgrade and has now submitted these options to the Department for Transport (DfT) for consideration.”