News

MORE SEATING BRINGS PEAK RELIEF TO WEST YORKSHIRE COMMUTERS

5th December 2006

From next Monday, passengers on the MetroTrain network and beyond will benefit from almost 1,700 additional seats on peak-time trains services into and out of Leeds.
 
Thanks to a £20m partnership between Metro, Yorkshire Forward and train operator Northern, six additional trains have been acquired for use on services in and through West Yorkshire. This includes the peak-time services from York and Harrogate via Horsforth and from Halifax and Bradford on the Caldervale Line.
 
Additional capacity is also being made available on services into and out of Leeds from Huddersfield, Knottingley, Selby and Sheffield.
 
"This is excellent news for commuters," said Metro Chairman Cllr Stanley King. "Metro remains committed to putting the passenger first, and by pooling our resources with Yorkshire Forward we have enabled Northern to provide services more suited to the needs of commuters while still providing extra seats on busy routes during the rest of the day."
 
Tom Riordan, Chief Executive of Yorkshire Forward said: “This significant investment demonstrates Yorkshire Forward’s commitment to the development of the region’s transport infrastructure. We are confident that the additional seats will encourage more people to make public transport their first choice when travelling to work.”
 
Heidi Mottram, Managing Director, Northern Rail commented:  "We are delighted that the partnership with Metro and Yorkshire Forward has enabled us to provide more capacity for our passengers.  Building on a solid start, our performance continues to improve both in terms of punctuality and reliability and customer demand is growing for our services, with passenger journeys up to over 75 million, a 19 per cent increase since the start our franchise.
 
The extra trains begin running on Monday 11 December, a day after the new national rail timetable is introduced. Train timetables can be downloaded from Metro’s web site at www.wymetro.com . New timetable booklets are available from Metro Travel Centres and from staffed rail stations.
 
North Yorkshire County Council is funding work to extend platforms at stations in its area to accommodate the new, longer trains.   
 
Dyan Crowther, Route Director for Network Rail, which is completing the platform work, said:  “We are delighted to support this scheme which will mean more comfortable journeys for travellers.  Work at key stations will be complete in time for the new services with further developments to follow at other sites in the New Year.”