£1.4m funding formally approved to restart work on White Rose railway station in Leeds

On Thursday, January 22, West Yorkshire Combined Authority members officially approved £1.4 million of development funding and entered into an agreement with Network Rail, clearing the way for remobilising construction of White Rose railway station.

Located on the Leeds to Huddersfield line, between Morley and Cottingley, work on the station has been paused since March 2024, due to a number of on-site challenges, and an “unforeseen increase in project costs.”

Work is now set to restart however, after legacy issues were resolved, with Network Rail now set to deliver the station on WYCA’s behalf.

Speaking at last week’s meeting, Mayor Tracy Brabin said: “We’ve been working really hard over recent months to resolve legacy issues related to the station to allow construction to restart.

“I’m really delighted to finally say we’re now at a point where we can work towards remobilising the project, and completing this important piece of transport infrastructure in south Leeds.”

Located next to the White Rose Business Park and a short walk from the White Rose Shopping Centre, installation of both station platforms, including canopies and construction of the lift / stair buildings have already taken place at the site, which is assessed as being approximately 70 per cent complete.

Both link bridges have also been lifted into position. Works on the access road and finalisation of the station's footpath design were also underway, prior to the pause.

Speaking exclusively to the Yorkshire Evening Post earlier this month, David Aspin, CEO of Munroe K, owner of White Rose Business Park and developer of the project, spoke of the “hard and difficult process” to get the project back on track.

“There’s been a lot of hard work from all the partners to get to a conclusion so it’s great news for south Leeds and West Yorkshire. It’s been a hard and difficult process to get over some of the issues but now we’ve got through them all,” Aspin said.

“Complex challenges take time to solve, but they do get solved and I think some can be sceptical about people’s ability to solve complicated issues, but we have proven that we can solve them.”

Key areas still to complete include external cladding, internal fit out, mechanical and electrical works including the installation of the lifts, external works, and operational railway works including signalling and customer information systems. Highways and access work around the site will also need to be completed.

An update on full costs associated with completing the scheme, an estimated completion date and information on appointing contractors will be confirmed at a future meeting of the Combined Authority.

Upon completion, the station is expected to have 19 services running throughout the day, and serve approximately 340,000 people per year. An early 2027 opening date has previously been earmarked - subject to quick decision making and mobilisation.