Railway station to close for three-year rebuild

Ravensthorpe railway station will close for three years after the DfT declared its closure should proceed

A railway station in West Yorkshire is to close for three years from 13 December and be rebuilt close to its original site.

Ravensthorpe station near Dewsbury is to be demolished, with a new station planned to open in the summer of 2028, according to the Department for Transport (DfT).

The work is part of the multibillion-pound Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) programme of railway improvements being carried out by Network Rail.

A DfT statement said between closure and reopening a rail replacement bus operation run by Network Rail would be put in place.

The existing Ravensthorpe station is located to the south of Ravensthorpe village on the North Transpennine Route, between Mirfield and Dewsbury stations.

The TRU Upgrade involves re-siting Ravensthorpe station 656ft (200m) west of its current location, just ahead of the Wakefield – Leeds junction, according to the DfT.

The DfT statement included a "visualisation" of the proposed new station

A DfT statement said plans for the new station included 500ft (150m) platforms to enable longer trains offering more seats to call at the station.

During the closure of the current railway station a replacement bus operation would run once an hour between Ravensthorpe and Dewsbury and Ravensthorpe and Mirfield, "as per the current rail service", a DfT spokesperson said.

What is the TRU?

TRU is a £10.7bn railway upgrade programme which aims to improve journeys across the Pennines between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.

Network Rail said it did not expect the full project to be completed until at least 2036.

Once complete, a spokesperson said passengers could expect faster, more frequent journeys on greener trains and a more reliable railway.

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