A NEW study of rail journeys has found that Bradford has the worst rail connections of any major British city.

Local politicians say the findings prove Bradford needs a stop on the Northern Powerhouse Rail line.

The data analysis, by the Be The Best Communications’ People, Places, Policy and Data Unit, looked at more than 3,000 real-life train journeys between 20 cities and compared them with the same journey by road.

Bradford - despite being Britain's seventh biggest city, and enjoying a central position on the UK map - finished bottom due to a lack of direct rail routes and slow connections.

There are just four trains to London, the best connected city, a day.

Nottingham and Hull also fared poorly in the study, and the bottom six worst connected places were in the North or Midlands.

The report comes ahead of the publication of the Government’s Integrated Rail Plan, which will set out how major projects including Northern Powerhouse Rail will be phased and connected and is expected to be published mid-November.

Bradford Council and West Yorkshire Combined Authority has been campaigning for a Northern Powerhouse Rail station in Bradford city centre that would slash journey times from the city to Manchester and Leeds.

Why this site could be so important for Bradford - and the North

Leaders claim it would bring 6.7 million people and an area of over £167 billion of annual economic output to within a 35-minute journey of central Bradford.

According to the Council the stop, likely based at a new station at the St James Market site, would boost the Bradford district economy by around £30 billion over ten years, creating 27,000 new jobs and unlocking an additional 1.3m accessible jobs within 90 minutes of Bradford.

Councillor Susan Hinchcliffe, Leader of Bradford Council, said: “This new research shows that the city that would be the most improved by investing in better rail connections is Bradford.

“A new city-centre station for Bradford would transform the connectivity of three of Britain’s largest cities using existing rail services, while also delivering a station able to handle Northern Powerhouse Rail services.

“Bradford is the UK’s youngest city with a larger population than Liverpool, Hull and Newcastle, so a new station represents a unique and unrivalled opportunity to unlock the potential of Britain’s seventh largest city.

“A new city centre station in Bradford will also cut around 44,000 daily car journeys between Leeds and Bradford cutting congestion and delivering greener, more sustainable transport across the North.”