Public asked for their views on major £2.9bn rail upgrades across West Yorkshire

Upgrades are planned for Huddersfield Station as part of the Network Rail plans.

Planning for the Transpennine Upgrade – which will deliver a high performing, reliable railway for passengers with more seats, more trains and faster journeys between Manchester and York via Huddersfield and Leeds – is now approaching its final phase.

As part of the planning and development of the £2.9bn investment, Network Rail will formally consult those living closest to the railway between Huddersfield and Westtown (Dewsbury) on the proposals for upgrading this eight-mile section of the route.

They include doubling the number of tracks from two to four; major upgrades to stations at Huddersfield, Deighton, Mirfield and Ravensthorpe; electrification; a proposed bridge or a tunnel at Ravensthorpe that will separate two sections of track from each other.

Kieran Dunkin, Principal Programme Sponsor at Network Rail, said: “The Transpennine Upgrade will deliver the benefits passengers want from their railway with more reliability, more trains and more seats, and shorter journey times.

"The eagerly anticipated upgrade of the Transpennine Route is approaching the final stages of development, and asking passengers and our neighbours for their feedback on our plans for the section between Huddersfield and Westtown is a significant and important next step in that development process.”

A series of public events will take place in communities between Huddersfield and Westtown (Dewsbury) in early September, with the feedback received helping to form part of a Transport and Works Act Order (TWAO) submission that Network Rail will make to the Secretary of State for Transport in Autumn 2020.

A TWAO is a legal power required for new railway infrastructure to be built outside of the existing operational railway boundary, which is part of the proposal between Huddersfield and Westtown (Dewsbury).

Landowners directly affected by the proposals were written to in the summer, while every residential property and business within just over half a mile either side of the railway will receive an invitation to the public consultation events in the post.

The first phase of consultation will close in October and re-consulted on Spring before the submission is made to the Secretary of State in Autumn 2020. A decision is expected in 2022.