Priority Four: An integrated transport network

A Mass Transit system is central to realising the Combined Authority’s ambitions to grow the West Yorkshire economy. Inclusive growth will not be achieved at sufficient pace if people cannot easily reach education and training, childcare, jobs and culture.

Mass Transit will link communities across the region with a frequent, reliable service. It will be integrated with cycling, walking, bus and rail. It will boost productivity, enable inclusive growth and help tackle the climate emergency. A new tram network will begin with two lines: the Bradford Line and the Leeds Line, in the two most populated areas in the region. This will form the spine on which to grow the future network.

Mass Transit will attract inward investment and enable business growth. As part of an integrated transport network, it will provide fast, reliable and attractive public transport links between where people live and where there are jobs. For employers, it will expand the labour market and help get the right person into the right job while making businesses more accessible to customers.
Mass Transit will also offer huge skills development, career and supply chain opportunities, boosting growth for local businesses.

Mass Transit lines

The Bradford Line will connect people between Bradford city centre stations and Leeds city centre station. The line will complement the parallel fast city-to-city electrified rail service. This line will connect with Bradford's plans to regenerate the southern gateway, including a new train station.

The Leeds Line will take people between St James Hospital through Leeds city centre, connecting to the Arena, Elland Road and on to the White Rose Shopping Centre. This line links the regional centre with key housing growth and regeneration areas to the south, aligned with Leeds Transformational Regeneration Programme. From there, work has commenced with Kirklees to bring forward a further case for connectivity to major housing growth areas towards Dewsbury.

Skills for Mass Transit

A modern Mass Transit network needs a skilled labour workforce to build and operate it. This is essential to boost productivity, increase social mobility and enable inclusive growth. These jobs are in high demand, while the skills are in short supply – this creates a unique opportunity. As many people as possible from all walks of life across West Yorkshire must benefit from this opportunity. SMEs and other local businesses will be supported to ensure they have the skills and expertise required to participate in the supply chain.

Alongside the Local Growth Plan, a Mass Transit and Rail Growth Prospectus and a corresponding Spatial Development Framework is being produced. These documents will set the foundations to maximise sustainable economic growth transformation along the routes.

Buses are the most used and relied-on form of public transport in West Yorkshire. But they must become a more attractive and inclusive option for everyone, supporting labour market opportunities and productivity gains. The Combined Authority will reverse the trend of long-term decline in use and make bus journeys faster, more reliable, affordable, greener and better connected.

In March 2024, the Mayor took the decision to take buses back under public control. This is the most significant transport development West Yorkshire has seen in decades. All bus services in West Yorkshire will be operated under contract from the Combined Authority by the end of 2028. Through public control, buses will truly serve the needs of communities. Bus journeys will be made faster, more reliable, more affordable, safer for passengers, greener and better connected by:

• Specifying routes, services and frequencies for the network
• Installing a set pricing structure through a single retail channel
• Prioritising buses in the road network to increase reliability and punctuality
• Building a Combined Authority-owned fleet and providing a zero-emission bus fleet by 2036

Alongside a sustainable funding model for buses, the Mayor’s new West Yorkshire Local Transport Plan will work to enable better integration with other modes of travel and giving buses more priority on the roads. The bus reform programme will unlock improvements in regional connectivity and break down barriers to growth.

The rail network is critical to ambitions for a leading transport network for West Yorkshire; a network which is cleaner, greener and better connected. Leeds Station is the busiest in the North, with passenger numbers projected to reach 40 million by 2043.

West Yorkshire is at the heart of the North's rail network, so investment unlocks reliability and capacity benefits and enables the region to contribute to a stronger and faster-growing national economy. For example, Leeds and Sheffield are home to over 1.4 million people and have an economy worth a combined £50 billion. The two cities are less than 30 miles apart, but there is only one express service which is often overcrowded, unreliable and takes 41 minutes.

The rail network needs to modernise and expand to increase passenger capacity and integrate connectivity across the region and beyond. Capital investment for major infrastructure must be secured on strategic projects that will unlock growth opportunities across the region and ensure all rail stations are accessible.

Increasing capacity at Leeds Station

Leeds Station is the busiest in the North. But it is responsible for a third of all delays across the North of England because existing infrastructure is constrained both on the network and passenger side, this will hold back future growth.

Delivering on the TransPennine Route Upgrade and Northern Powerhouse Rail will drive up passenger demand through Leeds Station.

Releasing rail capacity to meet future demand will help to realise the benefits of the Leeds Innovation Arc with 110 hectares supporting 1,000 jobs. It will also support Leeds South Bank.

The £11.5 billion TransPennine Route Upgrade is the biggest investment in infrastructure currently being delivered in the UK. It is the largest investment in the conventional rail network and one of the largest infrastructure investments in the North of England. The TransPennine Route Upgrade will improve journeys from Manchester to Leeds by over 10 minutes. It will also provide a better integrated offer for rail across the rolling stock, timetables and by ensuring all stations on the route are accessible.

To fully realise this benefit and significant investment requires an expanded Leeds Station. This needs to include more platforms, footbridge and pedestrian circulation capacity, plus improvements to approach tracks. This will allow more capacity to run more frequent, longer and more reliable services. This would also provide much better arrangements for pick up and drop off and interchange with bus, taxi and the future Mass Transit network, potentially using previously safeguarded land.

Bradford is the single largest growth opportunity in West Yorkshire, if not the whole of the North. But this potential will not be realised without significant sustained investment, the most important of which will be transport.

Commitment remains to a new through Bradford rail station and a new rail link to Huddersfield, integrated with existing and future transport networks, supporting employment and economic growth in the city. Bradford Southern Gateway has the potential to provide 5,000 new homes and 27,000 new jobs. Delivering six trains an hour to Leeds and a 30-minute journey time to Manchester will provide the commercial viability that will help unlock Bradford’s regeneration potential and connect Bradford’s commuter towns to provide access to a population larger than Greater Manchester and almost triple the size of Bristol and West of England combined.

Delivery needs to be accelerated to ensure Bradford has faster and more frequent services across the Pennines to Manchester and to capitalise on the benefits of the significant investment in the TransPennine line via Huddersfield.

The Calder Valley line is one of the busiest in the North, connecting multiple communities across the Pennines and serving over 10.8 million passengers every year. There is currently a proposal to electrify the Calder Valley line between Halifax and Bradford, which could reduce travel times from 20 to 12 minutes. Commitment is sought to electrify the whole line between Bradford, Halifax, Preston and Manchester Victoria, including the links via Brighouse to the TransPennine mainline at Huddersfield and Dewsbury.

The Penistone line connects villages across the Pennines and improvements to this route, including a half-hourly service, would improve access to jobs, education and health services while reducing car travel. The previous government committed £48 million of investment in the Penistone line, but an additional £69 million is required to deliver half-hourly services between Huddersfield and Barnsley.