Leeds Station to be transformed with multiple upgrades

A new platform – Platform 0 – will be the highlight of a significant £161 million investment in the rail infrastructure at Leeds Station.

The investment will see improvements to the track alignment for more efficient journeys into platforms 1-6, as well as a major upgrade to the signalling across the entire station. Platforms 1-6 will be lengthened to cater for longer trains with more seats.

Another major project, funded by the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, will see the partial pedestrianisation of New Station Street to ease congestion and improve the flow of people at the entrance of the station, with construction set to begin early 2019.

The latest two announcements follow October’s announcement that the dark, tired wooden ceiling panels in the South Concourse are to be replaced by a transparent, plastic roof that will allow natural light to flood the station.

The installation of scaffolding towers in the South Concourse will start and continue until Christmas 2018, when the removal of the existing roof will begin.

To allow space for Platform 0, the number of long stay car parking spaces at Leeds will be reduced in phases from December 2018 until May 2019, when the long stay car park will close completely until the platform is built in 2021, with Network Rail working alongside Leeds City Council to promote alternative parking sites. 

Rob McIntosh, Route Managing Director for Network Rail, said: “Together this trio of projects are the biggest investment in the station since Leeds First in the early 2000s and I am delighted that they will start delivering benefits for passengers and the city.

“There will inevitably be changes to peoples’ usual walking routes and routines during construction and we will do everything we can to keep people moving efficiently and safely, in eager anticipation of a noticeably improved station upon completion.”