Northern Powerhouse Rail: new Bradford station to be included in upcoming announcement
Bradford is set to get a new through station as part of the Government’s upcoming announcement on Northern Powerhouse Rail, The Yorkshire Post understands.
The Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to unveil long-awaited plans to connect up the North’s great cities in the coming days.
Ms Reeves has repeatedly spoken of her “commitment” to the project, despite the announcement being pushed back on multiple occasions last year.
It is understood that several of the key asks of Yorkshire mayors are set to be included.
The through station at Bradford, once promised when Liz Truss was Prime Minister, is set to be a priority in the project.
The line between Leeds and Sheffield will also be electrified, sources have indicated, after West and South Yorkshire Mayors Tracy Brabin and Oliver Coppard called for four fast trains between the cities every hour.
Negotiations between the northern mayors, the Treasury and Department for Transport have been ongoing, ahead of an expected announcement in the coming days.
The new rail link between Liverpool and Manchester, via Manchester Airport, is likely to be the most complicated part of the project, and could cost up to £12bn, according to the Financial Times.
This section was promised as part of HS2, however it was mothballed when Rishi Sunak cancelled the Northern leg.
The previous transport secretary Louise Haigh conducted an audit of major infrastructure projects, and claimed the Tories had failed to allocate proper funding for NPR.
Labour sources said this was the basis of the delayed announcement, along with finalising details with the mayors.
However, Ms Reeves has included reference to the high-speed rail plan in both of her autumn budgets, and has also continued to fund the Transpennine Route Upgrade between Manchester, Leeds and York.
Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander said: “It's a statement of fact that people in the North of England have had to put up with second rate public transport for far too long, and this government is committed to righting that wrong, making the necessary upgrades, and getting spades in the ground.
“At the Budget, we reaffirmed our commitment to the Northern Growth Corridor to really get the great cities of the north of England firing on all cylinders.
“And we're working closely with the mayors in the north of England to make sure we've got really well thought through credible and funded plans.
“I'm making sure that we are taking our time to get this right.
“We've had some really constructive conversations with mayors in the north of England, and I will be setting out more details of Northern Powerhouse Rail very soon.”