Extended platforms planned for listed rail station to allow longer …
One of the platforms at Bingley Station (Image: Network Rail)
ANOTHER local station has been included in plans that will allow longer trains to stop in the district’s towns and villages.
Proposals to extend the platforms at Bingley Rail Station have been submitted to Bradford[1] Council by Network Rail.
The organisation says the existing platforms at the station are too short to accommodate six-car trains that are being used to provide “much-needed extra seating.”
Similar plans to expand the platforms at Shipley, Burley in Wharfedale and Menston stations were revealed in March[2], and have recently been approved by Bradford Council.
Northern Rail recently introduced a new timetable that will see the number of off-peak trains running between Bradford and Ilkley[3] and Bradford and Skipton cut.
The new plans for Bingley Station will see one platform extended by eight metres, and the other by six metres.
The station was given Grade II-listed status in 2019 and dates back to 1892 when it was designed by Charles Trubshaw for the Midland Railway.
The application says the platform extensions will not harm this listed status, adding: “Much of the station has seen modern incursions through the provision of electrification in the 1980’s and the provision of lifts in 2013.
“The very small extension (8m) to the platforms, in a compatible design to the existing, will continue this evolution but will not detract from the station’s overall appearance.
“It is considered that the scheme would have very limited impact on the aesthetic or architectural value of the station as a whole and will cause less than substantial harm to the station.”
Referring to the need for longer platforms, the application says: “The works form part of a package of improvements along the Aire Valley[4] stations to increase platform lengths to allow for longer six-car trains.
“This will provide more seating capacity for the trains allowing more passengers to be carried. This in turn will make rail travel a more attractive proposition with its commensurate benefit in reducing car usage, carbon footprint and contributing towards national, regional and local objectives in improving sustainability.”
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A decision on the application is expected in late June.
The applications to expand the platforms at Shipley, Burley in Wharfedale and Menston Stations have been approved by Bradford Council over the past week.
The Telegraph & Argus contacted Network Rail for a comment on when work on the stations might start – but has yet to receive a response.
References
- ^ Bradford (www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk)
- ^ Shipley, Burley in Wharfedale and Menston stations were revealed in March (www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk)
- ^ Ilkley (www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk)
- ^ Aire Valley (www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk)