For years Bradford was one of the UK’s largest cities without a regular mainline rail connection – a gap that limited the city’s economic opportunities and social mobility. Network Rail launched the Leeds Access Improvement Programme (LAIP) to address this, a series of enhancements to improve capacity and connectivity across West Yorkshire, including the Bradford Forster Platform 0.
KEY INFORMATION
Location: Bradford, UK
Date started: 2023
Completion date: 2025
Client type: infrastructure
Main capabilities: cost and commercial management, project management
Unlocking rail potential and fast-tracking transformation
The project goal was to increase long-distance services, raising the number of daily London King’s Cross to Bradford trains. To achieve this, a new 260m platform had to be designed and constructed, complete with all associated assets. This included platform, track, signalling, drainage and overhead line equipment.
Land acquisition and new crossovers north of the station were needed to to improve train operations. All of this had to be delivered within an exceptionally tight timeframe, with services scheduled to commence in May 2025.
Driving network rail efficiency through agile
We worked as an integral part of the client team, providing leadership and focusing on efficiency and collaboration. We helped create a new business case to secure funding and stakeholder approval, ensuring the project remained viable while meeting operational needs.
We also introduced innovative delivery approaches, including the SPEED (swift, pragmatic and efficient enhancement delivery) methodology. This allowed us to shorten a typical two-to-three-year programme into just 18 months.
This required overlapping design and construction phases, agile decision-making and close coordination with the supply chain.
For the first time in the region, we implemented the New Engineering Contracts 4 (NEC4) suite, developed by the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). NEC4 was designed to facilitate project management and procurement, setting a new benchmark for contract management and risk allocation.
A catalyst for regional regeneration
As a result of the scheme, Bradford now enjoys better connectivity, with more frequent and reliable services to London and other major UK cities. The scheme’s improved low-carbon rail links will also tackle social inequalities, boost economic competitiveness and support sustainable growth.
By attracting investment, creating jobs and expanding access to education and leisure, it supports the government’s Levelling Up agenda. It also makes rail a good, sustainable option for local people and businesses, contributing to West Yorkshire’s wider decarbonisation ambitions.
The project has since been recognised across the industry for its successful collaborative approach in delivering a complex programme, winning the ‘Acting as One Team’ award at the Spotlight Rail Awards 2025
James Moy, Project Sponsor, Network Rail, said:
Throughout my time sponsoring Leeds Area Improvement programmes 1 and 2, the project team has consistently demonstrated the ability to adapt to changing circumstances positively [and] manage challenges when they are presented.
