How do you solve a problem like Bradford?

[yoyothehobo]

If we could have our time again, and build interchange 90 degrees to where it is now as a 4 platform (2 island station) , throw in some big approach viaducts and do some mild demolition along the way then it would have been perfect, obviously doing that now isnt going to happen, but its amazing how a bunch of crayons and aversion to reversals will get you

 

[Halifaxlad]

Whatever happens I think Grand Central will be reversing anyway.

 

[MichaelTrains]

Additional signals, approach lines or platforms for increasing service at Interchange would be the best solution - or an avoiding curve and a new through station - with plenty of development around it - might enable higher frequency.

I definitely think a second service to Preston would be of value, although I think that really has to get to Leeds also.

More Bradford-Manchester service is always welcome too. The fastest journey I can see is 53 mins, which is a little long for daily commuting. Especially up north! Getting to 40 or 45 mins might see a lot more opportunities for the people of Bradford to take on Manchester roles more sustainably. It's a very windy railway - I'd think the Victoria-Rochdale stretch, maybe to Tod - would be the best place for speeding up. Or Bradford-Halifax.

I think the best we can hope for at the minute is an extra island platform next to the car park. With the bus station soon to be redundant, you could easily build a new platform.

You'd put the Grand Centrals and the Huddersfield/Wigan terminators there which then frees up the current four.

 

[ohgoditsjames]

Especially with the perception that for a very long time London gets all the money and places like Bradford get next to nothing

Is this not the reality though? A number of Northern cities could do with some mega money being spent on them but they'll never get what they need.

 

[MichaelTrains]

Finally there is good news for the city of Bradford after decades of neglect.

The Government has today re-affirmed its support for Northern Powerhouse Rail – a new rail link between the biggest cities in the North of England, including Bradford.

The decision confirms Bradford will be a central part of the Government's overall £45bn Northern Powerhouse Rail programme - with a commitment to press forward and reach a decision on a new rail station in the city by Summer 2026.

Good to see the new Bradford through station, linked to the new tram that will go from the new station to Forster Square.

 

[yoyothehobo]

Finally there is good news for the city of Bradford after decades of neglect.

The Government has today re-affirmed its support for Northern Powerhouse Rail – a new rail link between the biggest cities in the North of England, including Bradford.

The decision confirms Bradford will be a central part of the Government's overall £45bn Northern Powerhouse Rail programme - with a commitment to press forward and reach a decision on a new rail station in the city by Summer 2026.

Good to see the new Bradford through station, linked to the new tram that will go from the new station to Forster Square.

I look forward to having my services through Bradford improved and less reason to spend any time there.

Semi in jest.

However i do think any new alignment or rail station in Bradford will be the first thing - of many - to disappear from this iteration of NPR

 

[xotGD]

Good to see the new Bradford through station, linked to the new tram that will go from the new station to Forster Square.

So to get from the station to the city centre, you'll need to catch a tram. Not exactly an improvement over the existing arrangement.

 

[NCT]

So to get from the station to the city centre, you'll need to catch a tram. Not exactly an improvement over the existing arrangement.

Quite.

 

[Bantamzen]

So to get from the station to the city centre, you'll need to catch a tram. Not exactly an improvement over the existing arrangement.

Get the tram that you might end up waiting indefinitely for you mean? Given that the WY tram scheme has been kicked back into the long grass...

 

[MichaelTrains]

I look forward to having my services through Bradford improved and less reason to spend any time there.

Semi in jest.

However i do think any new alignment or rail station in Bradford will be the first thing - of many - to disappear from this iteration of NPR

This situation should not occur. Bradford has long deserved inclusion on the mainline, and the NPR project will bring that to fruition.

It is crucial that Bradford Council remain completely separate from the planning process of the new station. There is little faith in their ability to effectively deliver this exciting new project.

 

[NCT]

Get the tram that you might end up waiting indefinitely for you mean? Given that the WY tram scheme has been kicked back into the long grass...

We have one poorly thought out scheme requiring another poorly thought out scheme to 'kind of' work. You end up with neither actually happening.

 

[xotGD]

May I suggest that the new station is named "Bradford Road", to indicate that it isn't exactly in Bradford.

So will it be served by TPE services, giving (close to) Bradford direct services to Liverpool, Manchester Airport, Scarborough, Middlesbrough and Newcastle? If not, it only benefits passengers from Halifax (and beyond) to Leeds in getting a quicker journey.

 

[yoyothehobo]

At this point it would be quicker and easier to pick up the entirety of Bradford and move it a few miles to the South.

I honestly cannot see what benefit it will realistically get which doesnt complete match the situation it has currently, just with shorter dwell times, benefiting those who arent going to Bradford. It still isnt going to be on fastest transpennine route and it will still be second fiddle to Leeds in terms of service provision. I can think of a LOT better ways to spend the money that will directly benefit Bradford than on a new station.

Bradford isnt held back by its train stations or rail links.

 

[Bantamzen]

May I suggest that the new station is named "Bradford Road", to indicate that it isn't exactly in Bradford.

So will it be served by TPE services, giving (close to) Bradford direct services to Liverpool, Manchester Airport, Scarborough, Middlesbrough and Newcastle? If not, it only benefits passengers from Halifax (and beyond) to Leeds in getting a quicker journey.

Things would have been so much easier if those pesky Victorian railway companies had worked a bit more together when rushing to get lines into Bradford. If a time machine is ever invented, at some point* I'm going to go back and say "Chaps, in order to resolve future arguments on an a discussion forum held entirely over electric wires, would you mind awfully working together to join the two lines headed towards Bradford"....

(*Note this will be a a fairly long list of things I'd like to change, so don't hold your breath )

 

[MichaelTrains]

At this point it would be quicker and easier to pick up the entirety of Bradford and move it a few miles to the South.

I honestly cannot see what benefit it will realistically get which doesnt complete match the situation it has currently, just with shorter dwell times, benefiting those who arent going to Bradford. It still isnt going to be on fastest transpennine route and it will still be second fiddle to Leeds in terms of service provision. I can think of a LOT better ways to spend the money that will directly benefit Bradford than on a new station.

Bradford isnt held back by its train stations or rail links.

You clearly have never been to Bradford or experienced the third-world facilities or services at either station.

The new station will be a through station on a newly electrified line from Manchester providing quicker and faster services to Leeds, York, Manchester and new services to Newcastle and Liverpool.

This has been desperately needed for decades.

 

[NCT]

A through Bradford station won't make the via-Bradford route faster than the via-Dewsbury route. Manchester - Leeds passengers still won't want to go via Bradford.

What Bradford needs is
- a metro-quality heavy rail service to Leeds (not a slow tram)
- a good 2tph service to Manchester (either electrified and speed enhanced Calder Valley or some sort of Pickle Bridge connection to Huddersfield

The 2 types of services do not need to operate through Bradford.

 

[fishwomp]

This situation should not occur. Bradford has long deserved inclusion on the mainline, and the NPR project will bring that to fruition.

'on the mainline' ? it's got direct London services (three routes), it's linked to Leeds and Manchester directly, along with direct to Airedale/Wharfdale and Huddersfield, and even Pontefract.. What mainline would you like it to be on?

You could say that Bradford _was_ on the mainline, but after its history of development and decline means it is not now.

Wakefield and Doncaster are on the mainline not because they are massive cities but because of where they are geographically - if Bradford were put somewhere else it would not be Bradford.

Would the world be any better if Cross Country put in a token show, or Transpennine took over the semi-fast Calder Valley services? (IMHO, probably yes to both)

 

[YorksLad12]

May I suggest that the new station is named "Bradford Road", to indicate that it isn't exactly in Bradford.

"Bradford Parkway" might be better!

Things would have been so much easier if those pesky Victorian railway companies had worked a bit more together when rushing to get lines into Bradford. If a time machine is ever invented, at some point* I'm going to go back and say "Chaps, in order to resolve future arguments on an a discussion forum held entirely over electric wires, would you mind awfully working together to join the two lines headed towards Bradford"....

Set your dial to 1846 and stop George Hudson from buying the Leeds and Bradford Railway. That stopped the Manchester and Leeds from making their proposed connection between Exchange and Market Street.

 

[NCT]

Some of those 'don't want to be bypassed' places need to understand that
A) they are already being bypassed, and
B) they will never be fast enough to not be bypassed.

 

[Manutd1999]

What Bradford needs is
- a metro-quality heavy rail service to Leeds (not a slow tram)
- a good 2tph service to Manchester (either electrified and speed enhanced Calder Valley or some sort of Pickle Bridge connection to Huddersfield

The 2 types of services do not need to operate through Bradford.

I fully agree and I wonder if today's announcement could be adapted as such.

1) Build a new track from Heaton Lodge to Low Moor and electrify through to Interchange. Renovate Interchange at the same time and make it a terminus of the TRU route, with 2ph fast trains to Manchester and beyond via Huddersfield.

2) Electrify the existing line through New Pudsey and 4-track east of Leeds to a new station at Thorpe Park. You can then run a metro service from Bradford to Thorpe Park, with existing Calder Valley services sped-up by skipping New Pudsey/Bramley.

 

[SkinnyFists]

It is crucial that Bradford Council remain completely separate from the planning process of the new station. There is little faith in their ability to effectively deliver this exciting new project.

The location of the new station has been lobbied for by Bradford Council. No-one else seems to think it's a worthwhile tradeoff between the big negative of moving the station further from the city centre vs getting a through station which has the benefits of making through trains slightly faster and not much else. Although, in an attempt to be less cynical, I imagine the further distance to the city centre could be mitigated by making Shipley-Airedale Road more people friendly, especially given the recent and genuinely impressive highway works on Hall Ings, delivered by none other than Bradford Council.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I fully agree and I wonder if today's announcement could be adapted as such.

1) Build a new track from Heaton Lodge to Low Moor and electrify through to Interchange. Renovate Interchange at the same time and make it a terminus of the TRU route, with 2ph fast trains to Manchester and beyond via Huddersfield.

2) Electrify the existing line through New Pudsey and 4-track east of Leeds to a new station at Thorpe Park. You can then run a metro service from Bradford to Thorpe Park, with existing Calder Valley services sped-up by skipping New Pudsey/Bramley.

The key problem with (1) is that passengers heading the other way across the Pennines don't want 2 of their 4 fast trains per hour to dump them in Bradford where they'll have to change to reach Leeds or York.
As for (2) you'd need to spend a fair bit optimising Leeds station to accommodate this metro service, ideally with some grade separation and even dedicated platforms in a "low level" Metro station... which would have to be quite deep thanks to the River Aire. If you're spending all that money you wouldn't then have Thorpe Park as your eastern terminus, when running through to York makes far more sense. Unfortunately you then run up against the issues of boundaries.

 

[Manutd1999]

The key problem with (1) is that passengers heading the other way across the Pennines don't want 2 of their 4 fast trains per hour to dump them in Bradford where they'll have to change to reach Leeds or York.
As for (2) you'd need to spend a fair bit optimising Leeds station to accommodate this metro service, ideally with some grade separation and even dedicated platforms in a "low level" Metro station... which would have to be quite deep thanks to the River Aire. If you're spending all that money you wouldn't then have Thorpe Park as your eastern terminus, when running through to York makes far more sense. Unfortunately you then run up against the issues of boundaries.

I don't think it has to be either/or. I could envisage 6ph fast from Manchester, 4ph Leeds and 2ph Bradford, then 2ph stoppers.

Leeds would need some upgrades to enable a metro-service (maybe grade separating the lines towards Shipley) but I doubt it would need underground platforms. Continuing to York could work, I suggested Thorpe Park because that's as far as you can easily 4-track

 

[yoyothehobo]

You clearly have never been to Bradford or experienced the third-world facilities or services at either station.

The new station will be a through station on a newly electrified line from Manchester providing quicker and faster services to Leeds, York, Manchester and new services to Newcastle and Liverpool.

This has been desperately needed for decades.

I have been to Bradford enough times having to change at interchange onto something that doesnt skip Bramley.

The fact that interchange could do with more than a Greggs doesnt necessitate building a whole new station and railway alignment.

The services are hardly poor though and more importantly what improvements do you think a new through station would make to services. The main services will still avoid Bradford as it would be the longer way round.

So you end up with the only decrease on service time being the dwell which is elimnated for the reverse, (saving 5 minutes) but increasing the time to walk to the city centre by 10, inherently making it worse for Bradford.

I juat dont see any situation where this new station is anything other than a vanity project.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Jan 2026 ==

I don't think it has to be either/or. I could envisage 6ph fast from Manchester, 4ph Leeds and 2ph Bradford, then 2ph stoppers.

Leeds would need some upgrades to enable a metro-service (maybe grade separating the lines towards Shipley) but I doubt it would need underground platforms. Continuing to York could work, I suggested Thorpe Park because that's as far as you can easily 4-track

The word easily is doing some very heavy lifting there.

 

[xotGD]

Bradford Parkway" might be better!

But without a car park?

 

[WAO]

A through Bradford station won't make the via-Bradford route faster than the via-Dewsbury route. Manchester - Leeds passengers still won't want to go via Bradford.

What Bradford needs is
- a metro-quality heavy rail service to Leeds (not a slow tram)
- a good 2tph service to Manchester (either electrified and speed enhanced Calder Valley or some sort of Pickle Bridge connection to Huddersfield

The 2 types of services do not need to operate through Bradford.

Well said.
I would only add reopening the closed platforms at Halifax and Rochdale to allow a fast service from Bradford to Manchester.
WAO

 

[Halifaxlad]

You clearly have never been to Bradford or experienced the third-world facilities or services at either station.

The new station will be a through station on a newly electrified line from Manchester providing quicker and faster services to Leeds, York, Manchester and new services to Newcastle and Liverpool.

This has been desperately needed for decades.

Where is this 'newly electrified line' ?

All what seems to be proposed is a through station and the line up to it being electrified!

 

[Palmerston]

A through Bradford station won't make the via-Bradford route faster than the via-Dewsbury route. Manchester - Leeds passengers still won't want to go via Bradford.

What Bradford needs is
- a metro-quality heavy rail service to Leeds (not a slow tram)
- a good 2tph service to Manchester (either electrified and speed enhanced Calder Valley or some sort of Pickle Bridge connection to Huddersfield

The 2 types of services do not need to operate through Bradford.

The journey time would depend on train/line speed, actual route length and number of stops. Are any of those known for certain right now?

 

[Grimsby town]

I don't think it has to be either/or. I could envisage 6ph fast from Manchester, 4ph Leeds and 2ph Bradford, then 2ph stoppers.

The problem with that is that you're limiting capacity between Manchester and Leeds. Is 4*7 802 style trains per hour going to be enough capacity from Manchester to Leeds after TRU.

The other issue is that you're trading off improving Bradford's service to Manchester with improving Manchester to Newcastle/Hull which both should have 2 trains per hour. If Bradford is a through route then those additonal services can still run although maybe 10 minutes slower than via Dewsbury.

 

[NCT]

The journey time would depend on train/line speed, actual route length and number of stops. Are any of those known for certain right now?

Reasonable best case journey times for Manchester - Leeds and Manchester - Bradford will be extremely similar. Essentially, Huddersfield - Leeds via TRU and Huddersfield - Bradford via some sort of Pickle Bridge route are about the same. An upgraded Calder Valley route might achieve a Manchester - Bradford journey time that's within a few minutes of a Pickle Bridge journey time.

If reasonable best case Manchester - Leeds is X, then reasonable case case Manchester - Bradford will also be X. A Manchester - Leeds via Bradford journey time will be X+Y.