UK: West Yorkshire Combined Authority has appointed a consortium of Jacobs and Mott MacDonald as its Design Development Partner for the next phase of the West Yorkshire Mass Transit programme, which includes two light rail lines integrated with cycling, walking and rail travel.
One line would start at St James’s University Hospital and run through Leeds city centre and Elland Road to the White Rose Shopping Centre. The other line would diverge in Leeds city centre to run to Bradford Forster Square and a proposed new station south of Bradford city centre.
The consortium is to provide professional services and technical support for first phase. The authority anticipates that construction could begin in 2028 for operation by the early 2030s.
The consultancies have previously supported the preliminary stages of the programme.
Jacobs has worked on rail projects including the Elizabeth Line and the Transpennine Route Upgrade, and well as schemes in Kuala Lumpur and New York. The consortium ‘will support the combined authority in turning its mass transit vision into future-made designs that connect West Yorkshire’s communities, combat climate change, support a sustainable and inclusive economy, and improve people’s health and well-being’, said Jacobs Senior Vice-President Kate Kenny on November 13.
Mott MacDonald has worked on Manchester Metrolink and the Cardiff Valley Lines, the London Underground, Elizabeth Line and metro projects in Sydney and Toronto.
‘We are proud to be supporting this transformational investment to help drive economic growth, and to deliver social and environmental benefits for the region’, said Global Practice Leader for Urban Transit & Mobility Stephen Luke.
