Green light to move forward with £7.4m Calderdale rail station improvements

A £7.4 million proposal to improve access to both Brighouse Station and the under development Elland Rail Station in Calderdale went before members of West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Investment Committee/

Members agreed to move forward with both projects – drawing up a business case for the schemes.

It is hoped that the changes will improve accessibility to the stations for pedestrians and cyclists.

The scheme will be funded through the Government’s Transforming Cities Fund, and is an attempt to get more people to ditch cars and use public transport.

In Brighouse, the works will include junctions improvements for cycling and walking from the north of Brighouse to the town centre, and improving access by foot and bike to the rail station.

It will also tie in with plans to boost pedestrian and cycle routes in Brighouse.

Works at Elland will include creating traffic free access to the planned station on Lowfields Way via National Cycle Network Route 66 and Calderdale Greenway to the new station via two pedestrian/cycle bridges.

At the online meeting, Councillor Jane Scullion, Calderdale Council’s Cabinet Member for Regeneration and Strategy, said she hoped work to the Elland station, which is being built on the outskirts of the town, will better link it to the centre.

She said: “There is a distance between the town of Elland and the new station. We plan to make our market towns, including Elland, thriving, and we are very keen the station is a part of that rather than being seen as a station fo an out of town industrial estate.

“We’ve all been to stations where you get off the train and have no idea where the town centre is from there.”

The Brighouse scheme is timed to be completed by March 2023, with the Elland scheme to be completed by August 2022.