A RAIL company running services between West Yorkshire and London is seeking permission to operate extra trains.
Grand Central wants to run a fourth daily return service to London King’s Cross. The extra service would be included in the timetable that is due to start in December.
The request has been submitted to the Office for Rail Regulation by Alliance Rail Holdings, which is carrying out development work for Grand Central.
Both Alliance and Grand Central are part of Arriva Trains Group.
The proposed additional service would start at 7.53am from Mirfield, calling at Brighouse and Halifax before departing from Bradford Interchange at 8.30am and calling at New Pudsey, Leeds, Garforth and Doncaster. The return service would leave London King’s Cross at 4.08pm.
Grand Central said the additional train would reduce the journey time between Bradford and London by about 40 minutes going to London and by 20 minutes on the return.
Grand Central managing director, Richard McClean, said: “Since Grand Central became an Arriva company in late 2011, a significant amount of attention has been focused on improvements to our trains to increase their reliability and availability.
“This focus has been borne out by the noticeable improvement in our trains’ performance, which has resulted in increased passenger confidence and increasing numbers of passengers.
“This has enabled us to look to increase the offer we can make to our passengers by introducing these important new trains. We will continue to look for ways to introduce more services in the coming years.”
Since starting operations on the Bradford route in 2010, Grand Central has seen significant increases in passenger numbers.
Figures released in January by rail users’ group, Passenger Focus, also revealed that 95% of Grand Central passengers are satisfied with the company’s services, making the train operator the UK’s highest rated passenger company.
