Bradford recognised as the worst connected city
Ahead of the publication of the Government’s Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) a study of thousands of train journeys has found that Bradford has the worst rail connections of any major British city.
The IRP will set out how major projects including HS2 and Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) will be phased and connected, is expected to be published mid-November after a number of delays, with the North’s leaders consistently calling for the document to be made public.
The data analysis looked at more than 3,000 real-life train journeys between 20 cities and compared them with the same journey by road.
Bradford – despite being Britain’s seventh biggest city, with one of the youngest populations and enjoying a central position on the UK map – finished bottom due to a lack of direct rail routes and slow connections.
Bradford Council has been campaigning for a Northern Powerhouse Rail station in Bradford city centre that would slash journey times from the city to Manchester and Leeds, bringing 6.7 million people and an area of over £167 billion of annual economic output to within a 35-minute journey of central Bradford.
It has the potential to boost the Bradford district economy by around £30 billion over ten years, creating 27,000 new jobs and unlocking an additional 1.3m accessible jobs within 90 minutes of Bradford.
Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, leader of Bradford Council, said: “This new research shows that the city that would be the most improved by investing in better rail connections is Bradford.
“A new city-centre station for Bradford would transform the connectivity of three of Britain’s largest cities using existing rail services, while also delivering a station able to handle Northern Powerhouse Rail services.
“Bradford is the UK’s youngest city with a larger population than Liverpool, Hull and Newcastle, so a new station represents a unique and unrivalled opportunity to unlock the potential of Britain’s seventh largest city.”
“A new city centre station in Bradford will also cut around 44,000 daily car journeys between Leeds and Bradford cutting congestion and delivering greener, more sustainable transport across the North.”
