Leeds Station gateway completes £46.1m transformation

A new entrance and passenger facilities are now open at Leeds railway station, following a project combining access improvements with structural maintenance.

The Leeds Station Sustainable Travel Gateway was fully opened on Monday 9 November 2026, according to an announcement dated that day. The £46.1 million scheme was delivered by Leeds City Council on behalf of Network Rail, in partnership with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority.

The work has changed the station’s main entrance and surrounding streets, with the stated aim of improving access and making the area safer for passengers and other visitors. It was carried out alongside essential maintenance to the underground structure supporting the station.

Steps, lifts and taxi access

Some parts of the project, including improvements to New Station Street and the pavement along Bishopgate Street, opened in the weeks before the full opening. On 9 November, safety hoardings and barriers were removed after testing of the passenger lifts between the two streets. The steps linking them also opened.

A new taxi rank on Bishopgate Street came into operation on the same day. Hackney carriages can pick up there, as well as at the existing location on Princes Square, behind the station. The lifts provide step-free access between the pedestrianised area on New Station Street and the taxi rank.

The council said the scheme is intended to make it easier to walk, cycle and use public transport. Its leader, Councillor James Lewis, said the station handles more than 27 million passengers a year and that footfall inside it had risen by six per cent year on year, to above pre-pandemic levels.

Works and wider station investment

Enabling work for the combined projects began in 2022, with engineering work starting in May 2023. Combining the access improvements and structural maintenance was intended to reduce long-term disruption and provide better value than carrying out the schemes separately.

The announcement also referred to further government investment in the wider transformation of Leeds City Station. It said £200 million had been confirmed in addition to £100 million already committed. The funding is intended to provide more space, upgraded infrastructure and passenger facilities, and improved accessibility. The announcement said the station is expected to handle almost 12 million additional passengers by 2043.

The wider plans are linked to the first phase of Northern Powerhouse Rail and the Transpennine Route Upgrade. The latter is described as an £11 billion programme intended to increase passenger capacity by 30 per cent and electrify key routes across the North.