Quicker rail journeys between York and Leeds

Northern has announced an extra fast service added will be between Leeds and York from December 10, which stops only at Church Fenton.

The new service is an extension of Northern’s current Preston to Leeds route and its regional director Steve Hopkinson said: “The new fast service provides an excellent new link between York and Leeds and builds on existing services to give commuters and leisure travellers more choice.

“And, of course we will retain the current stopping services to ensure our customers along the route are still able to get where they need to be.”

Further changes to the timetable will now also require some customers travelling across Leeds to the east or west to change at Leeds. This will particularly affect customers travelling towards Bradford and Halifax and towards Cross Gates and Garforth.

Steve added: “We have made some changes to the timetables to address some of the issues our customers have experienced during the past few months. These alterations will bring further stability and reliability for our customers and the timetables have been designed to allow plenty of time at stations where changes are necessary.”

December’s timetable switch is designed to give passengers greater confidence in the service.

Steve said: “We have only made small changes with the December timetable as we, and the wider rail industry, aim to provide further stability for customers following the difficulties with the May timetable change.

“We have taken the opportunity, where possible, to make small improvements to the robustness of the timetable in order to address some of the problems that arose in May. This was because the May timetable was a compromise timetable due to it being entirely re-written and delivered in 16 weeks rather than the normal 40 weeks following delays to Network Rail infrastructure improvements.

“These improvements have in some cases, as with the new service between York and Leeds, enabled us to provide more journey options for some customers.”