Railway station set for £200m funding boost

Leeds railway station is to receive an extra £200m for major improvements aimed at reducing overcrowding, improving journeys and laying the foundations for broader public transport plans for Yorkshire.

The additional funding, announced alongside Chancellor John Healey's first Budget, brings the overall investment in the station to more than £300m, with upgrades due to be completed by 2030.

The plans include a new central overbridge, three additional entrances, expanded concourses and an extension to Platform 14.

West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin welcomed the investment for Leeds station, which she described as the "beating heart" of the region's transport network.

Leeds station currently handles more than 27 million passengers a year, with eight in ten rail services in West Yorkshire starting or ending there.

Passenger numbers are forecast to increase by almost 12 million annually by 2043.

Speaking to the BBC just moments after the funding announcement, Brabin said: "It's really welcome.

"Because whilst we've [already] had some transformation here, this is for the future and the long haul, in readiness for the Transpennine upgrade and Northern Powerhouse Rail."

The three new entrances, which are hoped to improve connections between the station and the city centre, include the South Bank, Dark Arches and Princes Square.

There will also be a 40% increase in the number of ticket barriers and better lifts, while more direct routes through the station are intended to reduce queues and congestion.

Brabin said it was about "getting the flow right" in a station that was "totally overcrowded" and would reach 50 million passengers a year in the coming decade and a half.

"We can't cope, we need that money," she said.

The government hopes the improvements will also help prepare the station for the £11bn Transpennine Route Upgrade, which aims to increase passenger capacity by 30% and electrify key routes across Northern England.

The announcement follows last week's confirmation of a new railway station at Bradford Interchange, which the government said could help unlock thousands of homes and jobs, alongside up to £1bn in economic benefits.

Both projects form part of wider ambitions for Northern Powerhouse Rail, designed to improve connections between major northern cities through more frequent services and shorter journeys.

Although the chancellor did not mention either project by name in his first Budget speech, the 166-page budget report laid out the government's intentions on "progressing development and delivery of Northern Powerhouse Rail, including a new station in Bradford, which will be built at the Interchange site".

It also mentioned "a major package of upgrades to increase capacity and improve accessibility at Yorkshire's busiest railway station".

Brabin said the "fiscal devolution" announced in the Budget, which the chancellor said would allow regional mayors to keep 100% of business rates locally by the end of the decade, would enable the region to be "more ambitious" with developments in Leeds and Bradford, as well as the planned West Yorkshire tram network.

But she stressed they all needed to happen "in tandem".

Henri Murison, chief executive of the Northern Powerhouse Partnership, welcomed the additional investment as an important step towards improving Yorkshire's rail network.

But he also warned: "It isn't going to solve all of Leeds station's problems."

He said the planned Bradford development could also help relieve pressure on Leeds by allowing more trains to operate across the wider network.

"There are some positive benefits of a new station in Bradford, not just to Bradford, but also to Leeds and to the wider rail network."

Beyond the rail investment, the Budget also outlined plans to give regional mayors greater control over funding through a share of business rates revenues and, from 2028, income tax receipts.

Murison said the changes could transform the speed at which projects were delivered, allowing mayors to make more decisions locally.

Rather than waiting for annual Treasury decisions, he said mayors could use future revenues to support borrowing and attract private investment.

He pointed to potential investment around Bradford's Southern Gateway, Elland Road in Leeds and the Don Valley corridor in South Yorkshire, where infrastructure development could unlock jobs, housing and economic growth.

However, Murison stressed that greater devolution would not mean an end to central government's involvement in major infrastructure schemes.

"For example, Northern Powerhouse Rail is partly a national project," he said.

"It's about connecting the whole of the North together, not just within West Yorkshire."

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