£12.5m Harrogate to York rail upgrade under threat

A report to be presented to the Harrogate and Knaresborough Constituency Committee provides an update on the issues facing the move to upgrade the section of railway.

The report states a logjam of trains north of York as the major hurdle in front of the £12.5m upgrade of the line, which is aimed at achieving two trains an hour each way between the city and Knaresborough.

While £9.6m in funding for the project has already been secured, this could be pulled depending on the results of a comprehensive review of the time table on the whole East Coast Main Line, being undertaken by operator Network Rail.

The successful bid for the funding was made by North Yorkshire County Council in 2013, with responsibility for providing the grant residing with the York, North Yorkshire and East Riding Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP).

Network Rail, Northern and North Yorkshire County Council are due to present the results of the report to the LEP when it is complete in December, when a final decision on the £9.6million will be made.

Lachlan Leeming, Local Democracy Reporting Service