White Rose Station: progress updates

[Xenophon PCDGS]

We have now reached the month of August 2024. Can someone please make a posting that gives the current state of affairs affecting this new station and a provisional opening date if known.

 

[YorkshireBear]

We have now reached the month of August 2024. Can someone please make a posting that gives the current state of affairs affecting this new station and a provisional opening date if known.

Site still abandoned, no progress visible.

 

[childwallblues]

I passed through last Tuesday and the platform looked complete towards Morley.

 

[M60lad]

Is anything actually being done to try and get work restarted and White Rose finished and opened?

 

[RHolmes]

I passed through last Tuesday and the platform looked complete towards Morley.

It’s not connected to the lift shafts/overbridge

 

[GardenRail]

It’s not connected to the lift shafts/overbridge

What an embarrassing situation. And at the same time, the mayor is wibbling on about trams and buses.... We cannot even finish a railway station.

 

[thejuggler]

If work has stopped due to escalating and unexpected costs it will only start again once funds for the shortfall have been secured.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Is nearby Cottingley station still getting a basic hourly service (each way) for the time being?

 

[RHolmes]

Is nearby Cottingley station still getting a basic hourly service (each way) for the time being?

Yes, although it’s currently 1tph rather than an hourly clock face timetable where morning and evening services form a separated Manchester to Leeds (all stations) service and off-peak services are calls on the Hull services.

There are also additional calls by Northern in the peak hours

 

[Spartacus]

If work has stopped due to escalating and unexpected costs it will only start again once funds for the shortfall have been secured.

Just curious, do you know if it's had anything to do with the old mine shaft very near the station, right next to the bridge on the White Rose Centre side? It always seemed a strange choice to me to build right next to it.

 

[YorksLad12]

Just curious, do you know if it's had anything to do with the old mine shaft very near the station, right next to the bridge on the White Rose Centre side? It always seemed a strange choice to me to build right next to it.

Only if uncharted old mine workings attracted a large cost element. By the sound of it, the work exceeded the budget available. Everything has risen in cost over the last two years.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

Work may recommence in 'early 2025' with completion in the same year.

An ad infested news article in the Yorkshire Evening Post here.

White Rose station: Pictures show deserted site of £26.5m Leeds train station as potential restart date set

By Alex Grant

Reporter

Published 30th Sep 2024, 16:30 GM

A potential restart date has been set for the construction of a new train station in south Leeds.

In March, the team behind the much-anticipated White Rose Railway Station announced a temporary pause in its construction.

The decision came in light of an unforeseen increase in project costs, prompting a thorough evaluation of future funding sources to ensure the project's successful completion.

Now six months on, the Yorkshire Evening Post can exclusively reveal that a restart date of early 2025 is being eyed by those involved.

A West Yorkshire Combined Authority spokesperson said: “Following the temporary pause in construction at White Rose station, it is hoped that issues can be resolved with a view to work restarting on site in early 2025 and the completion of the project later in the year.

“The station is a major priority for West Yorkshire and we are working with our delivery partner Munroe K to find a solution that means it opens to passengers as soon as possible.”

The new £26.5 million station, located between Morley and Cottingley, was originally scheduled to open in early 2024 but has been hit by repeated delays.

It is hoped that the new station will provide improved access to the adjacent White Rose office park, shopping centre and bus interchange.

Installation of both station platforms, including canopies and construction of the lift / stair buildings have already taken place at the site.

Both link bridges have also been lifted into position, while works on the access road and finalisation of the station's footpath design were reported to have been underway prior to the halt in construction.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

A BBC report (10 April 2025) here gives some details of the issues surrounding the suspension of work at the station.

A "difference of opinion" between the public body funding a new railway station and a key landowner has led to an impasse at the site and work being paused, according to an MP.
Work on the White Rose Station between Cottingley and Morley, near Leeds, was halted in March 2024 after the cost of the project rose above the original £26m budget.

A second BBC report (1 May 2025) here explains that the work is around 70% complete with 100% of the allocated budget spent.

Extra funds are expected to be ploughed into the construction of a delayed railway station project, meaning it could finally be completed almost three years later than planned.
Leaders of West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) are expected to agree extra cash for the scheme, the sum yet to be disclosed, at a meeting next week, which could see the new station opened by January 2027.

A report to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority on 8 May 2025 (Report - Item 8) provides some detail but with key information withheld from the public domain.

Purpose of this report:
To update the Combined Authority on the current status of White Rose Station and to seek approval for additional funding to close out project legacy issues.


Recommendations:
2.1 That the Combined Authority gives approval to funding to close out legacy issues to enable the project to move forward towards re-mobilisation, as set out in the Exempt Appendix.
2.2 That a further report is provided to the Combined Authority to set out a project plan and funding strategy for scheme completion.

3.17 Key areas to be completed include: external cladding, internal fit out, mechanical and electrical works including the installation of the lifts, external works and operational railway works including signalling, Customer Information Systems etc.
Ten key constraints to completion, described as ‘blockers’ have been identified. These need to be resolved prior to remobilisation activity. It is recommended that these are progressed in a ‘matter of weeks’.

3.18 It is understood that the current status of the Station and the potential timescales associated with project completion represent a significant risk to the TRU scheme in the area of Cottingley Station.

The further report referred to at recommendation 2.2 is suggested as being presented in July.

There is an urgency to completing the work at White Rose and dealing with Cottingley as part of the Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade (TRU) works.

 

[duffield]

A BBC report (10 April 2025) here gives some details of the issues surrounding the suspension of work at the station.


A second BBC report (1 May 2025) here explains that the work is around 70% complete with 100% of the allocated budget spent.


A report to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority on 8 May 2025 (Report - Item 8) provides some detail but with key information withheld from the public domain.


The further report referred to at recommendation 2.2 is suggested as being presented in July.

There is an urgency to completing the work at White Rose and dealing with Cottingley as part of the Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade (TRU) works.

I can think of some possibilities but I wonder what aspects of TRU progress are dependent on this being completed. Is Cottingley "in the way" somehow (the platforms, for track realignment, perhaps)?

 

[YorksLad12]

Footbridge between the platforms not being high enough for the wires?

 

[Crossover]

Footbridge between the platforms not being high enough for the wires?

That would be my initial thought!

 

[duffield]

Footbridge between the platforms not being high enough for the wires?

It's a pretty modern looking footbridge, I'd hope it had been built with electrification clearance. One of the photos on Google maps from April this year seems to show electrification mast have been erected right near the footbridge on both sides which might seem a bad move from the point of view of access for raising or replacing it. What's your opinion of what this photo shows?

Link below shows a Google maps photo of the footbridge at Cottingley station dated April 2025 with electrification masts on each side

Cottingley · Cottingley Dr, Leeds LS11 0JT

★★★☆☆ · Public Transport Stop

maps.app.goo.gl

 

[SkinnyFists]

Am I remembering correctly that some of the initial funding for White Rose station was diverted from the abandoned trolleybus plan? I vaguely recall something along those lines.

Yes, LPTIP (Leeds Public Transport Investment Programme, which delivered the city centre works on the Headrow, Meadow Lane, and the Corn Exchange) was the silver lining of the DfT blocking the trolleybus. The WYCA report mentioned in post 45 says that £5m of the total £26.5m came from LPTIP

 

[61653 HTAFC]

It's a pretty modern looking footbridge, I'd hope it had been built with electrification clearance. One of the photos on Google maps from April this year seems to show electrification mast have been erected right near the footbridge on both sides which might seem a bad move from the point of view of access for raising or replacing it. What's your opinion of what this photo shows?

Link below shows a Google maps photo of the footbridge at Cottingley station dated April 2025 with electrification masts on each side

Cottingley · Cottingley Dr, Leeds LS11 0JT

★★★☆☆ · Public Transport Stop

maps.app.goo.gl

I believe the footbridge dates from the station opening in 1988. It doesn't quite look high enough to my untrained eye, at least not to modern standards. Parapet height may also be a concern. The footbridge is also inaccessible, so if the White Rose project had never begun any replacement would need ramps or lifts.

 

[YorksLad12]

That would be my initial thought!

I then wondered if the piling through the Station had happened. Easier to do if the platforms have been removed.

It's a pretty modern looking footbridge, I'd hope it had been built with electrification clearance. One of the photos on Google maps from April this year seems to show electrification mast have been erected right near the footbridge on both sides which might seem a bad move from the point of view of access for raising or replacing it. What's your opinion of what this photo shows?

Link below shows a Google maps photo of the footbridge at Cottingley station dated April 2025 with electrification masts on each side

Cottingley · Cottingley Dr, Leeds LS11 0JT

★★★☆☆ · Public Transport Stop

maps.app.goo.gl

Not my area of expertise but it looks high enough. Or is flash-over an issue?

 

[Starmill]

Wasn't it pointed out elsewhere on forum that even the platforms at Cottingley are also in the way? They were to have been long demolished by now... That's before we consider the other TRU-White Rose Station interfaces that have been raised, such as some stations having trains to White Rose but none back.

 

[YorksLad12]

Wasn't it pointed out elsewhere on forum that even the platforms at Cottingley are also in the way? They were to have been long demolished by now...

That might have been me, yesterday, upthread

Moderator note: until there is actual progress, this thread is locked.

The following thread remains open:

White Rose station: Objections, alternatives, missed opportunities?

Moderator note: split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/white-rose-station.244268/ Still think "White Rose" is a silly name for the station, given that it isn't particularly close to the eponymous shopping centre and doesn't specify what "White Rose" is to the uninitiated. Sure, the...

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