INSIDE HUDDERSFIELD RAILWAY STATION A YEAR INTO £70M REVAMP AS COUNTDOWN BEGINS TO TWO 30-DAY CLOSURES

INSIDE HUDDERSFIELD RAILWAY STATION A YEAR INTO £70M REVAMP AS COUNTDOWN BEGINS TO TWO 30-DAY CLOSURES

Early 2027 is when the £70 million renovation of Huddersfield Railway Station is expected to be finished.

The 170-year-old station’s internal renovation project began in November 2023 and is already well under way.

The station will get a new roof, two platforms, longer platforms, a new footbridge, and better signage and passenger

information by 2027. It will also be more accessible.

To enable the restoration of the Grade I-listed “Euston” trainshed roof, a scaffolding platform has been constructed

inside the station.

The steelwork skeleton is visible now that the tiles have been removed. Before the roof is re-tiled, it will be repainted

after being grit-blasted.

The 1886 timber-paneled tearooms building, which is Grade II listed, has been disassembled into 8,000 pieces and

will be refurbished before undergoing a laborious reconstruction. It will be back where it was before, but completely

different.

In order to handle larger trains with more passengers, the current platforms will be extended in addition to the two

new ones. New restrooms and waiting areas will also be available.

 

 

The TransPennine Route Upgrade invited journalists to look around the station and see the works taking place.

During the visit it was confirmed there will be two more 30-day ‘blockades’ – or full closures of the station.

The first will take place in August and September 2025 and will see extensive demolition for the building of the two

new platforms. All the tracks just outside Huddersfield will be lifted at the same time.

The second blockade in January 2027 will see the completion of the station to make it operational.

At the media visit it was also confirmed that plans for the creation of a temporary station at Hillhouse had been

scrapped.

The original plan was to have a temporary platform at Hillhouse for use during the 2025 closure with passengers

bused between the station and the Hillhouse depot.

That, however, will no longer happen and instead Huddersfield passengers will go to Brighouse Railway Station,

which will undergo a revamp.

Paul Sumner, the sponsor of TRU, stated that it became evident there was a better option than constructing a

temporary platform at Hillhouse as work advanced and Huddersfield diversions were effectively placed onto the

Calder Valley Line.

It was chosen to invest in Brighouse, widening a platform and enhancing parking and other amenities, rather than

investing the funds on a temporary platform that would be used later.

With a capacity of 24 carriages, the Hillhouse depot, currently utilised for TRU operations, will soon be converted

into a light maintenance facility for train operator Northern.

 

As part of the wider scheme, Deighton and Mirfield stations are being re-modelled and Ravensthorpe will have a

brand new station slightly nearer to Mirfield, which could open in 2028.

At the other side of Huddersfield, plans for new stations at Slaithwaite and Marsden remain some way off and it

could be the end of the decade before works start.

To submit a Works Order to the Secretary of State in 2026, development work is already ongoing, and public

engagement will begin within the following year. It would be necessary to present a business case and obtain

government support.

The 70-mile TransPennine Route Upgrade, which connects Manchester and York, focusses on modernising and

electrifying the rail system.

At £11.5 billion, it is the largest civil engineering project in the nation and won’t be finished until the middle of the

1930s or later.

Mr Sumner confirmed the Huddersfield scheme was on schedule and on budget.

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