Huddersfield Station Upgrade

At Castleford, we are pleased with opening platform 2 of the train station and the new service to York. However, the TransPennine Route Upgrade (TRU) goes further than that with station and track upgrades along the routes.

The new service also has trains from York via Castleford to Huddersfield and Manchester Piccadilly. As a member of the combined authority’s transport authority, the TRU team invited me to see the ongoing upgrade of Huddersfield Station.

I boarded the train at Castleford’s Platform 2 at 9.25, arriving at Huddersfield on time at 9.55.

Huddersfield Station, designed by the architect James Pigott Pritchett, opened partially in 1847 and fully in 1850. It is of classical revival design and since 1952 is a grade I listed building. Sir John Betjeman described the station as “the most splendid in England.” Currently, the station has eight platforms. I alighted at Platform 1.

This fine Victorian station, one of the best in Britain, serves as a popular commuter hub for travellers between Leeds and Manchester, with the new service bringing in York too.

Next to the station is the George Hotel, where enthusiasts founded the Rugby League. That is a Grade II* listed building. That too is being upgraded, and is due to re-open in 2025.

After a presentation from the TRU team at platform 1, my colleagues and I went out of the station, around the hotel and viewed the works at the station from above at a building at the back. The team emphasis being environmentally friendly, such using wind turbines and low-carbon concrete. The track upgrade will cause more electric powered trains using the station.

The team is currently restoring the “Euston Roof”, an iconic train shed roof that covers several platforms.

By 2027passengers will see: longer platforms to accommodate longer trains, a new station with a new footbridge, and a refurbished, brighter roof. The works include improved tracks to separate slow trains from faster ones, increasing journey times for the latter.

Good news for Wakefield District. The team informed us that Healey Mills, a marshalling yard near Ossett that closed in 2012, is to reopen as a repair base because of the need for a local one. This is only temporary, but, hopefully, it could become permanent.

The train back to Castleford wasn’t due for over an hour, so, rather than wait, I got a train to Leeds and then one home. This took me just under an hour, just enough time to draft this blog.

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