DELAYS in several schemes to boost local rail travel will be scrutinised by transport bosses later this week.

Members of West Yorkshire Combined Authority will hear about delays to platform improvements at Leeds rail station, which will improve services to Skipton, Ilkley and Bradford, and plans to have more London bound trains linking to Bradford being put back a year.

Next month new rail timetables will come into play. One of the big changes to benefit local rail users was the Leeds to London service being expanded to and from Bradford Forster Square every two hours, to and from Harrogate every two-hours and once daily to and from Huddersfield and Dewsbury.

The services would be introduced by London North Eastern Railway, formerly Virgin Trains East Coast.

A report being heard by the Authority at a meeting on Thursday will hear that the added links to Harrogate will now not be introduced until December, with the added service to Bradford unlikely to be instated until next year.

The report says: "(LNER) remains committed to the Bradford Forster Square and Huddersfield service improvements and is currently expecting to deliver these in 2020. This is reliant on getting all of its new trains into service (the first of these new trains is expected into service from May 2019), and on addressing timetabling and capacity constraints."

Funding bid to improve links between rail stations is unsuccessful

The report mentions infrastructure works in the area that are "underway, but running late" and reveals that some of the works will not finish until December 2021 - two years after the original completion date.

Changes being made locally include the creation of a "platform 0" at Leeds station and the extension of platforms 1-6 to allow new models of longer trains. These platforms are used by trains arriving from and departing to the Bradford District.

The report says: "this work is necessary to allow longer six-car trains to operate on the lines to Skipton and Ilkley, impacts on the ability to run more trains on the line to Harrogate, and is also an important part of LNER’s proposal to run additional services through to Bradford Forster Square and Harrogate. This project was initially due to be complete for December 2019, but it is now expected to be ready for the December 2021 timetable."

The report claims that any efforts to improve rail infrastructure in the area requires improvements in Leeds to be successful. It adds: "Other than the Platforms 0 to 6 project currently underway, there are no other funded enhancement projects to address network capacity and capability in and around Leeds station."

The Authority meets in Wellington House, Wellington Street, Leeds at 11am on Thursday.