Behind the scenes at Huddersfield Railway Station as £70m revamp continues
The project aims to bring faster, greener, more frequent and more reliable railway journeys between Manchester and York.
Last updated 25th Nov 2024
The multi-million-pound transformation of Huddersfield’s Railway Station is well underway but there’s still a long way to go before work is complete.
Work began on the iconic Grade-I Listed building back in late 2023 as part of the £11.5bn Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU). The project aims to bring faster, greener, more frequent and more reliable railway journeys between Manchester and York.
Some stations are also in line for refurbishment under these plans – Huddersfield being one of them, with this part of the scheme coming with a £70m price tag. Today (November 22) we went behind the scenes at the historic station to see the progress that’s been made so far.
Work on the station is set to be completed in early 2027, with the end result seeing longer platforms, a new layout, new footbridge and refurbished roof structure with restored lantern. Works to electrify the line will continue beyond this date.
At the moment, much of the work is based around the restoration of the impressive Euston-style roof, which is one of the last remaining examples on an operational railway. The roof is divided into three canopies, with canopy A being sympathetically restored. As for canopies B and C, these will be demolished and replaced with “ultra-modern” steel and glass canopies.
Temporary raised working platforms have been installed so the roof work can be carried out – namely grit blasting, then repainting – so services in and out of the station can continue below. Additional strengthening has been put in place and a couple of repairs have been made to the structure that’s around 170 years old, Construction Lead for Huddersfield Station, John Ely, explained.
Natural slate will be going back on in the new year and a lantern structure will also be reinstated to replicate the original which had been removed some time ago.
Built in 1886 and Grade-II listed, the station’s tearooms have been painstakingly dismantled into 8,000 pieces by-hand and taken off-site to be later reinstated. The structure marks one of the few remaining timber railway buildings from the era still in use.
Summing up the success of the scheme so far, Paul Sumner, Senior Sponsor on the TRU said: “It’s going really well, considering the amount of work you see in activity line-side when you go out and about on the rail network and the massive complexity and challenges around major works around working with local authorities, utilities to be diverted and working with utility organisations.
“To say that we’ve done so much so far is certainly positive. One of the biggest things is, we’ve had a change of government and we’ve got that positive support for this major investment in the North of England.”
The public has been warned of disruption while the works are being carried out and this is set to continue over the coming years with two major 30-day closures scheduled. The first will take place from the end of August to September 2025 and the second over the Christmas and New Year Period in 2026/27.
Details around diversions and replacement routes will be made clear nearer the time, though it was confirmed that original plans to have a temporary platform at Hillhouse near Fartown had been axed. Instead, a shuttle to Brighouse from Huddersfield was considered a better solution, also allowing investment in the facilities at Brighouse Station.