How do you solve a problem like Bradford?

[MichaelTrains]

Please move this thread if it is in the wrong place but with the news today that Bradford Interchange will close in 2028 due to end of life expectancy.

What is the solution for a fully integrated transport network in the UK’s fastest-growing city in terms of population?

Rather than having two dead-end train stations (one of which doesn't have a toilet or adequate facilities for passengers) and the other reaching the end of it’s life expectancy.

Could somebody actually explain the reasons for demolishing and moving a perfectly serviceable train and bus interchange?

Little detail of any potential replacement has been made public from the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

Other than what has already been reported that the Interchange will close in 2028 due the end of its life span, and would need to be replaced.

Plus the £2.1Bn pot of money from the government for West Yorkshire's planned tram network and a new bus/train station to replace the ageing Bradford Interchange.

Which we all know the vast majority of that money will be spent in Leeds whilst Bradford slips further down the chain.

 

[Bertie the bus]

They are currently spending nearly £1/2 million working out what to do with the bus station. If they don't know themselves then it is understandable why they haven't told you.

 

[Magdalia]

What is the solution for a fully integrated transport network in the UK’s fastest-growing city in terms of population?

Bradford is not the UK's fastest growing city in terms of population.

Comparing the 2021 census with the 2011 census, Bradford local authority population grew by less than 5%.

In this part of the world Cambridge and Peterborough both grew by 18% on the same comparison.

 

[Narrowgauge725]

What is the source for closure in 2028?

 

[skyhigh]

What is the source for closure in 2028?

I was wondering the same thing, I can't see anything online.

Is it just the bus station relocating and the train side remaining unchanged?

 

[Bertie the bus]

Is it just the bus station relocating and the train side remaining unchanged?

Looks like new bus station or bus stations, or rebuilt bus station or no bus station. There doesn't seem to be even a hint at moving the railway station or doing anything interesting with it.

 

[mm333]

There are 3 issues when it comes to trains in Bradford:

1. A train line between Forster Square and the Interchange. Short of knocking down Broadway, there just isn't the space for it. I can't see a huge number of people hoping to get from Bingley to Halifax without changing. But it was announced in November that it was "expected" that the Bradford-Leeds tram line would terminate at Forster Square, so that might help, a la Manchester.

2. Forster Square and the Interchange are poor. We know that. It was also announced in November that the improvements to Forster Square, first mooted in 2017, are now being delayed so they can tie in with the tram works.

3. Bradford Interchange railway station may be being replaced with the proposed new station at Bradford St James, as part of Northern Powerhouse.

If Bradford St James gets built, put the new bus station there as a terminus. People will still be able to board outward buses in the city centre as they currently do, but also people can still get off the train straight on to a bus. Buses from St James's side of the city should do a loop of the city centre before terminating. Also make sure the tram between the two railway stations is regular and quicker than walking - St James to Forster Square is about a 20 minute walk, uphill on the way to St James. And, unlike Manchester, make it free to people with through tickets, so it can take some of the pressure off Leeds and the overcrowding on trains into and out of Leeds.

 

[Tomos y Tanc]

Bradford is not the UK's fastest growing city in terms of population.

Comparing the 2021 census with the 2011 census, Bradford local authority population grew by less than 5%.

In this part of the world Cambridge and Peterborough both grew by 18% on the same comparison.

These claims always depend on thing like start dates and end dates, local authority boundaries etc. It becomes a circular arguement, best not had!

Just one example, Bradford has a very large minority ethnic population from south Asian backgrounds and members of that minority are far less likely to complete census returns than members of the White British or Chinese communities which make up the majority of the population of Cambridge..

The UK population survey, which uses a different methodology, suggests Bradford's population is growing by 0.8 annually while Cambridge is growing by 1.7%, Cambridge ahead, but by nothing like the gap suggested by the census.

Again I don't know either area but Cambridge City does seem to have very tightly drawn boundaries while Bradford's are more expansive.

 

[cle]

Population doesn't equate to economic growth in itself. Bradford I would say has organic growth (birth rate over death rate, and in migration) - but not necessarily a lot of job creation or new home-building/placemaking which would see this type of investment.

It's a very large local economy (local businesses, public sector) - for those outside of that, quick access to Leeds and to a lesser degree, Manchester - is likely to be most important. And the increase in London services too, which has happened. Not terrible overall.

 

[YorksLad12]

Querying this as well. The bus station part of Interchange has been proposed for closure and relocation ever since the concrete issues a year or so back. As far as I'm aware that doesn't affect the rail station part unduly; it has/had a separate entrance on Bridge Street (you'll need to use a historic Google Maps view to see it). Potentially it affects the ticket office, but I don't know what's underneath that. The bus deck is built over the former workshop, which won't run under the railway lines, as that part of the site was the former goods yard.

 

[Magdalia]

These claims always depend on thing like start dates and end dates, local authority boundaries etc. It becomes a circular arguement, best not had!

Just one example, Bradford has a very large minority ethnic population from south Asian backgrounds and members of that minority are far less likely to complete census returns than members of the White British or Chinese communities which make up the majority of the population of Cambridge..

No it isn't a circular argument. The decennial census is the most reliable source and includes adjustments for non-response.

Local authority data is best for growth rates because the boundaries don't change.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The mooted closure date at the top of the thread is for the bus station. The train part of Interchange is unaffected.

Bradford "crossrail" keeps coming back like a bad penny because some people don't like reversals but do like to draw lines on maps. Even if the Broadway centre wasn't in the way, all that linking the two lines either side of the city would do is make it easier for people to travel through Bradford without having to set foot in the city at all; and extend the journey times of people travelling from the Calder Valley into Leeds.

The St James proposal is utterly bonkers nonsense from Bradford City Council, and if I was a ratepayer in the city centre I'd be starting petitions to recall every single councillor who's supports it. Quite how they think moving from a well-sited (if a bit scruffy) city centre station to one halfway up the hill on Wakefield Road will help the city's economy certainly beats me.

 

[Tetchytyke]

The closure is mooted for the Bradford Interchange bus station, which has just been closed for a year due to structural problems. The Combined Authority have recently put out a tender for a business study to decide what, if anything, replaces it.

The railway station isn’t affected. Indeed, the railway station predates the bus station, being built several years before the bus station as a replacement for the old Exchange station. When it opened it was even called Bradford Exchange.

People who bang on about tunnelling between Interchange and Forster Square are the sorts who look at a map and think it must be easy. Anyone who knows Bradford knows it won’t be. Tunnel underneath Forster Square and all you will get is wet feet because there’s a culverted river right where the crayonistas would put their tunnel and their central station.

The St James proposal is utterly bonkers nonsense from Bradford City Council

It isn’t, because it’s not intended to replace the city centre stations, it is intended to be on Northern Powerhouse Rail. Clearly they don’t want that being tunnelled through the city centre so want to keep it off to one side.

And given that I’ve got more chance of marrying Keira Knightley than I have of seeing Northern Powerhouse Rail ever getting built…

 

[fishwomp]

People who bang on about tunnelling between Interchange and Forster Square are the sorts who look at a map and think it must be easy. Anyone who knows Bradford knows it won’t be. Tunnel underneath Forster Square and all you will get is wet feet because there’s a culverted river right where the crayonistas would put their tunnel and their central station.

People who suggest tunneling from Forster square haven't looked at a map with contours on it. Given Interchange is higher up, you need to dig upwards at Forster square, not down!!

 

[Mr. SW]

I know Bradford a bit, and you cannot connect Interchange with Forster Square directly, and it's not just the height difference. It's everything bad you can possibly think of with brass knobs on. I had my crayons out a few years ago to look at this problem and - Oooh Boy! - you could make an awful lot of people very unhappy indeed. I even looked at the "Underground" route and I found that you could end up with a ski-jump profiled line, incredibly steep downwards coming in from the south and then having to make it deep enough to get underneath the culverted Bradford Beck, which sort of runs under the road just to the north of the new shopping centre.
The NPR proposal, by the way, is just plain nuts.

 

[Topological]

Having worked in Bradford and commuted into Interchange, the station works quite well. It would be great to have more arrival and departure lines, platforms etc., but there are not currently that many services in and out.

Having the bus station as part of Interchange was definitely a good thing. Having a new bus station there would seem like the best choice.

For a lot less than any rail based change you could get a lot of free buses shuttling from Interchange to Forster Square via the shops. For me, the bus is the answer.

 

[fishwomp]

Having worked in Bradford and commuted into Interchange, the station works quite well. It would be great to have more arrival and departure lines, platforms etc.

Given the flat car park adjacent to the station, that must be a pretty cheap thing to do.

, but there are not currently that many services in and out.

Forster Square now has 4 platforms, and up to 5 departures per hour. All services terminate/start there - so usually have a long enough turn round time.

Interchange has up to 10 departures per hour -- most services with a very short turn round time of 2-3 mins.. That's pretty busy and not very robust.

 

[MichaelTrains]

Having worked in Bradford and commuted into Interchange, the station works quite well. It would be great to have more arrival and departure lines, platforms etc., but there are not currently that many services in and out.

Having the bus station as part of Interchange was definitely a good thing. Having a new bus station there would seem like the best choice.

For a lot less than any rail based change you could get a lot of free buses shuttling from Interchange to Forster Square via the shops. For me, the bus is the answer.

I mentioned in a thread a while back the Interchange needs a new platform five to deal with the increase in services.

Especially with the Grand Central services occupying at least one platform and sometimes two at various times throughout the day (which lead to delays due to lack of platform space).

If Bradford Central (the new proposed NPH station) comes off then I agree with abandoning the Interchange site if unstable and past its life.

I get the horrible feeling there will be no new central station and the Interchange will close will Tracey Barbin and her posse building pathetic bus hubs all over the city.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 12 Dec 2025 ==

I was wondering the same thing, I can't see anything online.

Is it just the bus station relocating and the train side remaining unchanged?

That 2028 date is from the recent council meeting.

They say that the third quarter of 2028 is when the life expectancy of the current Interchange building can be guaranteed.

The bus side of the interchange is currently a mess with one set of the departure screens missing and a couple of bays still not in use due to the structural damage.

Ideally what we need in Bradford is what a fully integrated Bus, Train and Tram network. Not three train stations and loads of useless bus hubs dotted around the city.

 

[William3000]

It seems to be that the most realistic prospect for Bradford is to increase capacity at its existing stations. Forster Square now has 4 platforms and that seems to be fine for current service provision. I don’t know whether another short 5th platform could be provided on the western side - I know there is a steep embankment there. Either way it can probably work with 4 as now.

Interchange could be expanded westward perhaps with perhaps another ‘island’ platform to provide 6 platforms - there may even be room for 8 platforms if it were needed in the future. The fact it’s not a through station doesn’t seem to be the end of the world - Norwich has a similar situation and trains simply terminate there.

Then linking them up could possibly be done with the West Yorks tram or simply a good shuttle bus.

 

[Charlie978]

Interchange could be expanded westward perhaps with perhaps another ‘island’ platform to provide 6 platforms - there may even be room for 8 platforms if it were needed in the future. The fact it’s not a through station doesn’t seem to be the end of the world - Norwich has a similar situation and trains simply terminate there.

I certainly think that the best solution would be to split services at Bradford Interchange, but this would require multiple more platforms and probably something like a 6tph service to Leeds.

The main losses of splitting would be Calder valley to Leeds, but if a good enough frequency was provided to Leeds then changing time would extend journeys by a negligible amount

 

[xotGD]

The St James proposal is utterly bonkers nonsense from Bradford City Council, and if I was a ratepayer in the city centre I'd be starting petitions to recall every single councillor who's supports it

We have all-out elections in May. There is going to be a big change in the make-up of the council.

If Bradford Central (the new proposed NPH station) comes off then I agree with abandoning the Interchange site if unstable and past its life.

It is hardly "Central" when it would be further from the city centre than the current station. A station built for the convenience of those who don't want to go to Bradford, e.g. through passengers from Halifax to Leeds.

 

[Bantamzen]

As others have said, there is no firm date to close the Interchange bus station, but it is likely to happen at some point. The station is not part of the closure as it doesn't stand over what was once the bus garage as the bus stands do, which is where the problems lie. I've always thought that if it does have to be levelled, the bus station could easily be relocated in the area to the south of the City Hall, and could be designed to link to the railway station via the area being cleared that was once the NCP car park. But that's probably too sensible an idea for Bradford Council and WYMCA...

As for the station, after the reworking of the alignments into the Interchange things are much better than before. But there's still room for improvements. If the bus station does get levelled, at least some of it could be used to build another island taking the number of platforms to 6 and allowing for terminating trains to stay whilst not getting in the way of through services. And just as a "would be nice to have", maybe a slight increase in speed on the approaches, it can feel so very painful trundling in and when there are conflicts between Calder Valley and Leeds bound services it can still lead to delays. And on the subject of the new proposed station that would sit in a grim industrial area, up to a mile away from the city centre and a fair walk uphill, crossing some very busy roads. This is the reason why I have no faith in Bradford Council doing anything sensible, its a station that nobody wants and nobody needs.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I certainly think that the best solution would be to split services at Bradford Interchange, but this would require multiple more platforms and probably something like a 6tph service to Leeds.

The main losses of splitting would be Calder valley to Leeds, but if a good enough frequency was provided to Leeds then changing time would extend journeys by a negligible amount

What problem are you solving here? The layout of the approach tracks to Interchange have been optimised to ease the operations of through services reversing there, by forcing through passengers to change you're just reducing the efficiency and increasing the number of units needed to operate the same level of service.
It would make no difference to people who are visiting Bradford but would hugely inconvenience people who weren't going there anyway. Maybe 0.1% of those people would think "well if I have to change trains anyway, I'll walk into town and get a coffee and a sausage roll" but it's hardly going to turn the city's economy around. You'd drive far more passengers onto TPE or the M62.

 

[mm333]

Once TRU is complete, is there scope to run more, possibly non-stop, services between Leeds and Sowerby Bridge via Dewsbury?

 

[Charlie978]

What problem are you solving here? The layout of the approach tracks to Interchange have been optimised to ease the operations of through services reversing there, by forcing through passengers to change you're just reducing the efficiency and increasing the number of units needed to operate the same level of service.
It would make no difference to people who are visiting Bradford but would hugely inconvenience people who weren't going there anyway. Maybe 0.1% of those people would think "well if I have to change trains anyway, I'll walk into town and get a coffee and a sausage roll" but it's hardly going to turn the city's economy around. You'd drive far more passengers onto TPE or the M62.

I agree on reflection might not be as good of an idea as I thought it was, although it would help to separate the Leeds and Manchester delays. Not running through Bradford would mean someone from the Calder valley to Manchester isn’t delayed by an issue at Leeds. Likewise someone travelling into Leeds from Bramley wouldn’t have their train delayed due to issues west of Bradford.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I agree on reflection might not be as good of an idea as I thought it was, although it would help to separate the Leeds and Manchester delays. Not running through Bradford would mean someone from the Calder valley to Manchester isn’t delayed by an issue at Leeds. Likewise someone travelling into Leeds from Bramley wouldn’t have their train delayed due to issues west of Bradford.

Thing is you can use that logic to argue that we shouldn't have any services travelling longer distances with multiple stops, but nobody would suggest terminating every LNER service at Doncaster in order to prevent London delays affecting Newcastle. It only gets suggested at Bradford because everything reverses due to the layout. Admittedly you wouldn't deliberately build Bradford Interchange the way it is if you were starting from scratch, but the modern railway has to play the cards it was dealt. There have been multiple interventions over the years to optimise the trackwork, and the actual time cost of the reversal is fairly minimal. It might cost 2-3 minutes on a Leeds to Halifax journey, but it means passengers for Bradford are deposited in the city centre and not halfway up Wakefield Road.

 

[Topological]

IF something could be done at the Leeds end to accommodate the extra trains then having a 6-10tph service between Bradford Interchange and Leeds would be better than the through services. You could have more stops and create something quite transformational for the places on the route. However, the lack of an option at the Leeds end rather prevents a regular metro service on the line.

Once you rule out a very high frequency Leeds-Bradford then splitting cannot work. The time penalties are likely to be too large for people to tolerate.

Therefore new bus station roughly where the current one is, regular shuttle bus AND if someone can find some money, another island platform to the West at Interchange.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Once TRU is complete, is there scope to run more, possibly non-stop, services between Leeds and Sowerby Bridge via Dewsbury?

You may gain one additional path per hour, but nothing more than that due to the section between Thornhill/Ravensthorpe and Leeds remaining as two track. It then becomes a bit of a balancing act between the advantages (faster journey from the Upper Calder Valley) and disadvantages (not serving Halifax or Bradford). The Blackpool service often gets suggested to run via Dewsbury instead, but the Blackburn/Burnley to Bradford link is a significant one you don't want to lose.

 

[YorksLad12]

As others have said, there is no firm date to close the Interchange bus station, but it is likely to happen at some point. The station is not part of the closure as it doesn't stand over what was once the bus garage as the bus stands do, which is where the problems lie. I've always thought that if it does have to be levelled, the bus station could easily be relocated in the area to the south of the City Hall, and could be designed to link to the railway station via the area being cleared that was once the NCP car park. But that's probably too sensible an idea for Bradford Council and WYMCA...

As for the station, after the reworking of the alignments into the Interchange things are much better than before. But there's still room for improvements. If the bus station does get levelled, at least some of it could be used to build another island taking the number of platforms to 6 and allowing for terminating trains to stay whilst not getting in the way of through services. And just as a "would be nice to have", maybe a slight increase in speed on the approaches, it can feel so very painful trundling in and when there are conflicts between Calder Valley and Leeds bound services it can still lead to delays. And on the subject of the new proposed station that would sit in a grim industrial area, up to a mile away from the city centre and a fair walk uphill, crossing some very busy roads. This is the reason why I have no faith in Bradford Council doing anything sensible, its a station that nobody wants and nobody needs.

Here's a thought. Why not knock down the bus side of Interchange and replace it with... a bus station? Having buses and trains on the same level always felt daft to me, with there being no direct route between the two on that level (it's always been down then up). A ground level bus station, with office space up top - sorted.

The piers for the Croft Street bridge might be an issue if shuffling platforms around, but Interchange is where the Mass Transit route is supposed to call or pass by (last I saw), so space for a couple of tram platforms might be in order. Quicker and easier to kick Grand Central out though...

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Here's a thought. Why not knock down the bus side of Interchange and replace it with... a bus station? Having buses and trains on the same level always felt daft to me, with there being no direct route between the two on that level (it's always been down then up). A ground level bus station, with office space up top - sorted.

The piers for the Croft Street bridge might be an issue if shuffling platforms around, but Interchange is where the Mass Transit route is supposed to call or pass by (last I saw), so space for a couple of tram platforms might be in order. Quicker and easier to kick Grand Central out though...

I suspect (and hope) that when a decision is finally made on the bus station, it'll simply be to replace it with a new facility on the same site. Building it at the same level of the undercroft would be ideal depending on how the access is arranged, but doing so would be quite a long and disruptive process. I'm not convinced there's a huge market for additional office space above a new bus station though.

When the original interchange was built, there was a bus depot underneath the bus station (and this is the cause of the structural issues) with the bus boarding bays above. The old bus station was much larger than the current one (which was built around the turn of the millennium) and had multiple islands of bays, with separate stairwells from the undercroft to each one. One advantage with having the bus bays (both current and original) at the higher level is that it removed the need for pedestrians to cross bus carriageways on the level. Having a new bus station at ground level would introduce a conflict there.

There's no need to kick GC out though. Extending the two shorter platforms to match the longer ones would give some much-needed flexibility.