01.02.06
Yorkshire Forward invests to boost region’s transport
Yorkshire Forward is investing more than £8 million to increase train capacity by 6% on three of the region’s busiest lines.
Developed in partnership with Northern Rail and Metro, the investment will provide 12 extra carriages on the Leeds-Harrogate and Leeds-Bradford-Halifax routes, which have the largest capacity problems, and require additional carriages to manage passenger demand for the services.
The additional trains will also be used on the Leeds-Sheffield line which has seen a 15% increase in passenger numbers since the introduction of the Yorkshire-Forward backed ‘fast’ service between the two cities last year.
Chief Executive of Yorkshire Forward, Tom Riordan, said, “Time and time again, businesses have cited improvements to the transport infrastructure as essential to growth, and we have signalled our willingness to respond by building a strong partnership with Northern Rail and Metro to deliver a faster service on one of the busiest rail routes in the region.
“This investment will help us to plug the gap between supply and demand increasing passenger capacity by 6%, providing 375,000 extra seats a year.”
Chair of Metro’s Rail Working Group, Councillor Claire Townley, said, “The local rail services in West Yorkshire has been a tremendous success story. Past investments by Metro has led to passenger numbers more than doubling over the past ten years.”
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