The transport secretary has said that detailed design work on a replacement Bradford Interchange station “starts immediately”, despite the need to work out whether it will be a new station or a terminus “over the next year or so”.
Heidi Alexander was speaking at a business conference in the city on Wednesday after it was announced a replacement for the 1973-built terminus would be opened in the 2030s.
Confirming that the new station would be on the site of today’s, Alexander said: “I’m delighted that the detailed design work starts immediately.”
But her speech and the Department for Transport (DfT) announcement that preceded it very carefully said nothing about whether the new station would replace today’s terminus with another, or whether it would be the through station that local supporters want.
Alexander told the Telegraph & Argus:
We need to do a bit more work on the design of the station and the associated rail network to work out if this will be a through station or whether it will be a turn back station, which is how Bradford Interchange works at the moment.
Over the next year or so Network Rail need to do a piece of work to look at this issue very carefully.
It might be that new viaducts need to be built and that could have implications for adjoining properties and for the local community, and we need to think through the implications of that.
Labour MP for Bradford East Imran Hussain told the paper:
The next milestone will be the decision on the through line. It is vital that the new station is a through station, rather than a terminus.
While Matt Edwards, leader of the Green Party group on Bradford Council, said:
Bradford deserves a through station, not another dead end. Anything less would shortchange our city.
A “senior source” told RAIL that outline plans existed for both options, with a decision expected in the next few months.
But how can anyone progress more detailed plans until they know what type of station it is going to be?
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