DfT decides station should close for nearly three years as part of Transpennine Route Upgrade

Ravensthorpe railway station will close for nearly three years after the Department for Transport declared that its closure should proceed.

The current station has been subject to a closure proposal by Network Rail whilst a new station is built. Due to open in the summer of 2028, the Transpennine Route Upgrade involves re-siting the station 300 metres west of its current location, just ahead of the Wakefield – Leeds junction.

The new station is due to be four-tracked with a grade-separation between the two lines. It will also allow for services to and from Wakefield as well as Leeds.

The station is planned to close before December 13. It could possibly close before if the Office of Rail and Road ratifies the process sooner.

The DfT had launched a public consultation on the potential closure last year. The consultation suggested a rail replacement service, running once an hour, could be put in place at the station for any passengers travelling to and from Mirfield and another rail replacement service to and from Dewsbury – mirroring the current services.

However, only one service will now run between Ravensthorpe station and Dewsbury station with existing bus services supporting any passengers between Ravensthorpe and Mirfield. DfT propose this will run for an initial trial period between December 14 and May 16 2026.

In its initial consultation response, Northern (which manages the station) said it supported the closure but did not believe the operation of a rail replacement service was viable and pragmatic – arguing that it would be more economically beneficial to allow ticket acceptance on the local bus services.

However, whilst West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) supported the rail replacement services in its own response, it wanted assurances that services could be timed to connect to rail services at Mirfield and Dewsbury as well as “advance information on the closure and replacement services provided to allow informed journey planning decisions.".

In its decision, the DfT said this was not possible, with maintaining the accuracy of the information on public bus services in planning systems cited as an issue, alongside no viable way of providing real-time information.

The passenger group Transport Focus also submitted a response to the consultation, querying how demand would be measured and if low demand would mean the services would stop running as well as asking for new fares to be put in place for any passenger using the bus rather than a rail service. 

It's director Natasha Grice told RAIL that it was "essential that timely communication with passengers and the surrounding communities is undertaken whilst there is disruption."

However, DfT said that it was “industry policy” to keep the normal fares in place and would assess the demand and its continued operation along with the other stakeholders.

Andrew Campbell, Sponsor for Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU): "We’re making great progress in Ravensthorpe, now home to one of the biggest civil engineering sites in the North. This critical phase of TRU includes major work to support a new, relocated station and significant rail infrastructure improvements that will boost capacity and reliability.