Rail minister Lord Hendy said: “Manchester Airport is a vital transport hub and this £115m investment from government will deliver more reliable services, increase capacity, and improve connections for the millions of passengers who use the station every year.
“This is the sort of improvement Great British Railways will be designed to deliver.
“By bringing track and train closer together under public ownership, we can take a more joined-up approach to investing in the railway, improving performance, putting passengers at the heart of every decision and growing the economy in the North.”
The £115m investment will be delivered by Network Rail and contractor Kier, and is expected to be completed sometime in 2028.
Passengers will face travel disruption as the programme gets underway.
Network Rail senior sponsor, Simon Daly, praised the improvement plan and apologised for any disruptions it may cause.
Daly said: “Manchester Airport station plays a vital role in connecting people across the country so these improvements will create more capacity for passengers, allow longer trains to serve the station and improve the reliability of services for years to come.
“The station closure on 6 December is an important first step in delivering these benefits. We recognise that any disruption is inconvenient and have worked closely with our partners to put plans in place, so passengers are kept on the move.”
Turkiye’s first domestically produced electric SUV, the Togg T10X burst into flames at a charging station. No one was injured and the operator says the car was not charging when the fire started. EVs reportedly accounted for 52% of new car sales in Turkiye so far this year.
The December closures will affect the two Sundays before Christmas, so travellers are being warned to plan ahead.
This will then follow a huge 38-day closure from Christmas Eve (December 24, 2026) to January 31, 2027.
Liam O’Shaughnessy, TRU programme delivery lead for Northern, said: “The work that has been completed over the last 16 days in the Huddersfield area is another crucial step towards delivering the benefits that the Transpennine Route Upgrade will bring for customers across the north.
“We have worked closely with our industry partners to keep customers on the move, and these works have continued, and we would like to thank customers and local communities for their patience and cooperation, whilst these improvement works have been taking place.”
Upgrades include two new track lines through Huddersfield, restoration of the station’s roof and platforms, as well as upgrades at Deighton Station, and nearby road upgrades.
The station dates back to 1850, and named one of the most beautiful by Lonely Planet.
Now, it welcomes 3.1million passengers a year with routes across Yorkshire.
A TRAIN station is set to return to the centre of a tiny UK village after more than 100 years.
Work has started on bringing the station back following a “major breakthrough” on issues that delayed the scheme.
An artist’s impression of how the new station in the village of Cheadle will lookCredit: PELL FRISCHMANNAn aerial view of the new station, which will serve Manchester city centreCredit: PELL FRISCHMANN
Villagers in Cheadle, Stockport, last had the use of a train station in 1917, when it was located near to the high street.
Since then, residents have been forced to use public transport and cars when travelling to nearby areas, including Manchester city centre.
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Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council said concerns that other trains on the rail network might be delayed had stalled progress of the scheme.
However, in what has been described as a “hugely significant” move, council officials said work had now started on bringing back the station, which will be built near The Alexandra Hospital.
Funding for the station was approved in 2022, with planning permission granted in 2023, but concerns over timetabling led to delays.
In a statement, Cllr Mark Roberts, leader of Stockport Council, said: “This is a hugely significant moment for Cheadle and for Stockport.
“For years we’ve fought for this station because we know the difference it will make to residents, businesses and the future prosperity of the area.
“Cheadle Station has always been about improving connections, creating opportunities and making it easier for people to travel for work, education and leisure and I am delighted that the highways work can now start on site later this month thanks to the persistence and partnership of all involved.”
Services are expected to run from Cheadle into Stockport town, Manchester Piccadilly and Chester.
It remains unclear when the station will open to the public.
No prizes for guessing what this pub used to be… The Old Ticket Office has high ceilings, walls painted shades of locomotive green and booths resembling train carriages; there are outdoor tables on Station Square. A live train departures board theoretically prevents passengers lingering too long, and a canning machine means any draught beer is also available to take away (the hatch on platform 4 also does takeaway orders). There are five handpulls plus Young’s usual spritz menu and other drinks, plus light bites and pizzas. The pub is currently closed for roof repairs and expected to reopen by the end of October.
Kew Gardens is the only tube station with a pub attached. Photograph: Sunshine/Alamy
London’s various railway stations have many fine pubs (shout out to the Euston Tap), but Kew Gardens is the only tube station that still has a pub directly attached. When the station opened in 1869, the building was the timber steaming hall, and later become the buffet rooms before becoming a pub. It was bought by Fuller’s in 2012 and reopened the following year after refurbishment. It has high oak beams, picture windows looking on to the platform, an arched glass atrium and a pretty paved outdoor area. It serves two Fuller’s ales and a guest ale, among other drinks, has a full food menu and shows live sport.
Stalybridge station has one of the few remaining Victorian buffet bars. Photograph: Anthony Devlin/Getty Images
The pub on platform 4 at Stalybridge station, east of Manchester, is one of the few remaining Victorian buffet bars. Built in 1885, it features the original marble bar top, fireplace and fixed seating, plus lots of railway memorabilia. It serves up to 10 changing real ales, plus a cider or perry; bar snacks include hot pork scratchings, with more substantial food in autumn and winter, such as corned beef hash, pies and local black peas. There is a weekly quiz and folk singalong, regular live bands and food pop-ups in the beer garden, and periodic crisp butty pairing events and beer festivals. Camra awards it two stars for “a pub interior of very special national historic interest”. The buffet bar is now part of the Beerhouses group, which also runs the fantastic West Riding Reception Rooms at Dewsbury station, and the two pubs are on the TransPennine Real Ale Trail.
The Sheffield Tap is in a restored Edwardian first-class refreshment room.
For a great night out in Sheffield, visitors don’t even need to leave the train station. The Grade II-listed Sheffield Tap opened in 2009 in the Edwardian former first-class refreshment room. The original 1904 fixtures and fittings have been repaired where possible – including the mahogany bar top, Minton tiles and terrazzo floors – and replicated if not, as with the ornate barrel plaster ceiling. In 2013, the pub expanded into the adjacent tiled and mirrored former first-class dining room, and added a microbrewery. Today it serves 11 cask and 14 keg beers, plus hundreds of bottles and cans; food is limited to locally made pork pies and sausage rolls. The Sheffield Tap has Camra’s highest rating of three stars, for “a pub interior of outstanding national importance”. It is now operated by a small group that also runs the excellent York Tap and Harrogate Tap station pubs.
The Draughtsman Alehouse serves local real ale, gin and coffee
Delays are always welcome in Doncaster, for the chance to visit the lovely little alehouse on platform 3b. The former Victorian buffet bar had been empty for 18 years when the pub opened in 2017. It is a family business, named after engineering draughtsman grandfather Barry and run by son Russ with help from grandson Nick. The decor features original wall tiles, old photographs and draughtsman’s drawings of steam locomotives; Camra has designated it an “outstanding conversion and restoration”. The Draughtsman serves real ale from Yorkshire breweries, gin distilled in Harrogate and coffee roasted in Sheffield.
Carlisle station’s Grade I listed former waiting room is now home to Scott & Brassey. Photograph: Yasmin Platt/Lancaster Brewery
Those lamenting the loss of the 301 Miles From London pub at Carlisle station, which closed in 2023, had reason to celebrate in February, when Scott & Brassey opened on the same site. This Grade II-listed former first-class waiting room dates from 1848, and became the station buffet in the 1950s. Now it has had a slick makeover, but still retains the original wooden entrance lobby on platform 4, the hammerbeam roof and Tudor-style stone fireplaces. There is a mahogany bar, a feature wall full of clocks (no excuse for missing your train) and some platform-side seating. As well as eight handpumps, it serves a host of keg beer, wine, spirits and soft drinks.
The opulent, Grade I listed Centurion bar inside Newcastle station. Photograph: Graeme Peacock/Alamy
The Grade I-listed Centurion has a colourful history. It was designed by the architect John Dobson and opened in 1893 as a particularly luxurious first-class waiting lounge. By the 1960s, it had been turned into prison cells used by the British Transport Police. It then became a storage facility, but thankfully was restored and reopened as a pub in 2002. It has incredible tiling by Burmantofts Pottery said to be worth £3.8m. Columns, a marble fireplace and a high ceiling with a huge tiled skylight add to the air of opulence. The pub serves everything from real ale to cocktails, has an all-day food menu, shows sport on a gigantic screen and has live music every Friday.
The Head of Steam outside Huddersfield railway station. Photograph: Gary Calton/The Observer
Lucky passengers at Huddersfield have a choice of two great pubs, both accessible from platform 1, sitting on either side of the station’s grand neoclassical entrance (opened 1847). The independent King’s Head, in the former waiting room, has a mosaic floor, wood panelling and wood-burning stoves, and serves about a dozen cask ales. There is live music on Sunday afternoons. The Camerons brewery-owned Head of Steam, in the former ticket office, is now a four-room pub: a bar, a lounge, a family room and a buffet room. It serves up to 14 cask ales and Pieminister pies. Both pubs appear in Camra’s Good Beer Guide.
The Steamworks pub is in the former waiting room of Seaford station
This micropub opened in Seaford station’s former waiting room (built 1864) in 2017. Passengers can go straight from platform 2 (now the only platform!) into the pub, where there are Sussex real ales on rotation, ciders, sandwiches and other snacks, plus regular live music. After it proved a hit, the husband-and-wife owners opened a second Steamworks at nearby Glynde, where the station is even older (1846). They are just two of the micropubs that have opened in old station buildings in the past decade, including the Track & Sleeper in Knaresborough, North Yorkshire; the Little R’Alehouse in Wellingborough, Northamptonshire; the Waiting Room in Durham; and the Hexham Station Platform Bar in Northumberland.
Codsall station’s bar occupies the old waiting room, offices and stationmaster’s house
Codsall is a village on the Shrewsbury to Wolverhampton line. In 1997, the station’s Grade II-listed waiting room, offices and stationmaster’s house were converted into a pub. It has a bar, lounge, conservatory and snug with a fireplace, and steps leading up to a patio area overlooking the platforms. The pub serves three regular beers and two changing ones from Dudley’s Holden’s brewery, while food comprises cobs and pork pies. There are occasional pizza pop-ups and live music, and Cask Club Tuesdays with beer at bargain prices. It is a Camra outstanding conversions and restorations pub.
ONE of the UK’s biggest cities will see trains cancelled for nearly a week during the busy Christmas period.
No trains will be running at Birmingham New Street from December 24 to 28 while the station undergoes a £13million upgrade.
Birmingham New Street will have no trains for five daysCredit: Network RailDuring this time engineering works will be carried outCredit: Alamy
Services will then resume on Tuesday, December 29.
Upgrades include work on the overhead power lines, which keep the trains moving.
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The Christmas closure will mark the first phase of the overall three-year project to upgrade the station, with future phases taking place over Christmas 2027 and 2028.
Network Rail has said that it is working to minimise the impact but has warned travellers that journeys will take longer.
During the engineering work, the station building will stay open, which means travellers can still head to the shops.
There will also be staff on hand to help out with queries.
Martin Colmey, route director for Network Rail Central route, said: “Birmingham New Street is at the heart of the rail network, supporting millions of local, regional and national journeys every year.
“Much of the overhead line equipment dates back to the 1960s and needs to be replaced. This £13m investment has been carefully planned to make the railway more reliable.
It is part of a wider three year project at the stationCredit: Alamy
“There is never a good time for this type of work and we have done all we can to reduce its impact as much as possible.
“Christmas is a quieter time, but we know it will affect journeys at an important time of the year.
“We want to make people aware as early as possible so they can plan ahead.
“As soon as tickets are available to buy for Christmas travel, there will be clear, detailed information to help passengers plan their journeys and make informed decisions.”
