UK: West Yorkshire Combined Authority has begun public engagement on the latest iteration of proposals to build a Leeds Bradford Airport Parkway station. The plans have been updated following feedback received during a public consultation last year.
The station would be located between Horsforth and Bramhope Tunnel on the Leeds – Harrogate line, with a bus or ‘semi-autonomous vehicle’ shuttle service providing a journey time of around 5 min to the airport; the cost of the Parkway station is estimated at £42m, compared to £350m-£400m for construction of a heavy rail link direct to the airport which would require tunnelling.
The station would also serve a proposed employment hub, and would have a 350 space car park providing park-and-ride opportunities for the rural catchment between Leeds and Harrogate.
Facilities would include two 125 m platforms, a staffed building with waiting area, convenience shops, toilets and staff accommodation.
The combined authority approved the outline business case in Feruary 2020, and the project received Network Rail’s GRIP Stage 3 approval the following month. The intention is to submit a planning application in spring 2021, and the full business case in mid-2021. Opening is envisaged for summer 2024.
‘The Parkway station will help ease current congestion and tackle air quality issues by improving access by public transport and by encouraging fewer people to take to their cars to get to the airport and surrounding areas’, said Cllr Kim Groves, chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee.
‘The station will also help provide access to the proposed North West Leeds Employment Hub, which has the potential to create 5 500 new and local jobs.
‘Another important aim is to increase sustainable travel in and out of Leeds and other centres with the provision of the park-and-ride facilities, which would encourage transfer to rail.’
