Transport chiefs have confirmed that Bradford Interchange rail station will have to close at least three more times in the coming months to allow major engineering work to be completed.

Passengers gave a mixed reaction to the first closure of the station last weekend, with some branding the work a major inconvenience and others stressing their support for plans to upgrade the lines into Bradford.

Network Rail is carrying out an £8 million project to revamp Mill Lane junction, on the approach of the Interchange, in order to speed up services in and out of the city.

The tracks were ripped up and replaced during Saturday and Sunday, and the upcoming closures will allow complicated re-signalling work to be carried out.

Metro, the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, said the Interchange would have to close again on Sundays, October 12 and 19, and then for nine days between Saturday, October 24, to Sunday, November 2.

Despite widespread publicity in the run up to last weekend’s closure, many passengers still arrived at Bradford Interchange expecting to catch a train.

One of them, Sohail Hussain, 22, of Girlington, said: “I am not happy. It’s a local station that everyone uses and it should be open. The buses take much longer.”

Zumurd Hussain, 17, of Manningham, said he had been planning to catch the train to Leeds to go shopping and meet friends.

He said: “It’s quite disappointing – a real nuisance to be honest.”

Mark Jones, 18, who had travelled to Bradford from Liverpool to visit his girlfriend, said: “I was expecting to catch the train today but I have had to catch the bus instead.

“I was hoping to get to Bradford at 1pm, but it was 3pm before I did, so it has inconvenienced me a lot.”

And William Hutchinson, originally from Haworth, had travelled back to the district on public transport to visit his daughter. Mr Hutchinson said he understood the need for the engineering work because the railways were built hundreds of years ago.

“But to just arrive here on a Saturday afternoon when I’m meeting my daughter, it’s a bit inconvenient,” he said.

Others were more positive about the work, preferring to focus on the long-term benefits of the ongoing scheme.

Mohammed Fezan, 18, of Girlington, said: “If there’s money coming into the city and more being spent on the transport around here, then I think that’s a good thing.”

Madeline Richardson, of Allerton, said: “It’s not really inconvenienced me at all. It’s not important for me to go to Halifax today and I can always get the 576. I will wait and use a different route.”