Construction work is progressing on a new £100 million TrainCare Centre in Shipley, which will play a key role in supporting services during the next phase of the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU).
Leaders from Bradford Council recently visited the site to see early progress on the project, including Leader Susan Hinchcliffe, Councillor Alex Ross-Shaw and Councillor Liz Rowe.
The new depot will initially support Northern’s electric train fleet operating on the Airedale and Wharfedale lines, providing maintenance and stabling facilities while access to Northern’s Neville Hill depot in Leeds is restricted during a future phase of TRU scheduled for 2028.
Once the wider upgrade programme is complete, Northern plans to keep the Shipley depot operational, with the facility expected to support around 100 permanent jobs.
Enabling works complete
Preparatory work at the site has already made significant progress. The area has been cleared and levelled, and contaminated soil from the site’s previous use as a scrapyard has been removed.
Engineers have also installed a large retaining wall along the western boundary, creating the foundations needed for construction of the main depot facilities.
Adam Sellers, TRU Senior Sponsor, said:
“Great progress has been made with enabling works at our Shipley site, so we were delighted to have our Bradford Council colleagues see this firsthand, and to provide a detailed update on the benefits this site will bring to not just railway resilience in West Yorkshire, but the local economy.
“TRU is committed to supporting local communities and providing local jobs, and this new depot will ensure we leave a positive lasting legacy in the town.”
Supporting future rail operations
The TrainCare Centre will provide a modern base for maintaining Northern’s electric trains and help ensure reliable services across West Yorkshire during major infrastructure upgrades.
Rob Warnes, Strategic Development Director for Northern, said:
“It is fantastic to see the initial work that has been done at Shipley to prepare for the delivery of the brand new TrainCare Centre which will be the future home for most of our electric train fleets in West Yorkshire.
“Not only is the delivery of this new site vital for delivering future work taking place as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade, it will also bring highly skilled jobs into the local area and provide key resilience for our network in this part of the world.”
Local leaders say the investment will support regeneration and employment in the area while strengthening rail infrastructure across the North.
Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, Leader of Bradford Council, said:
“It’s great to see this major investment in Shipley begin to take shape, which is another vote of confidence in the district from the industry and further positions Bradford as a great place to do business.
“Today I saw firsthand how the new depot will be an important part of operating rail in the north of England, increasing service reliability for rail users, as well as its role in increasing employment opportunities for local people and developing skills through regeneration.
“I’d like to thank TRU and Northern for bringing us up to speed with the project, it’s great to see such progress being made.”
Part of a wider rail transformation
The Transpennine Route Upgrade is a multi-billion-pound programme to modernise the railway between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.
The scheme includes full electrification of the route, additional tracks to increase capacity, digital signalling and upgrades to 23 stations.
The programme is also expanding freight capacity by creating 15 additional freight paths, helping to shift more goods from road to rail and potentially removing over 1,000 lorries per day from roads across the Pennines.
