Northern has introduced an additional service on the Leeds, Harrogate and York line, meaning there will now be two trains every hour.
The train provider held a launch event yesterday at Knaresborough station, which is one of the stations to benefit from the extra capacity.
Representatives from North Yorkshire County Council and Harrogate Borough Council, York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership and Harrogate and Knaresborough MP Andrew Jones attended.
Network Rail carried out a £9.8 million upgrade of the signalling system and track layout to facilitate extra trains this time last year.
York & North Yorkshire Local Enterprise Partnership secured £9.6m for the work from the government’s Local Growth Fund.
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Mr Jones said:
“This investment in local rail is much-needed and welcomed.
“The signalling upgrade and the improvement project will see more and faster services operating between Leeds, Harrogate and York.
“This is one more in a long list of improvements in our rail services which have seen more direct services to and from London and improved rolling stock on the local line.
“It is fantastic news that we have been able to double the capacity on this section of the line.”
North Yorkshire County Councillor Don Mackenzie, executive member for access, said:
“This timetable improvement, which owes much to the county council’s £10m track and signals upgrade scheme of last year, complements our transport priority of improving east-west connectivity across the county and region.
“The enhanced timetable is another step towards encouraging people to use public transport rather than their cars. It also supports the visitor economy and anticipates growth in residential and commercial development along the A59 corridor.”
Pictured are: (left to right) Andrew Jones MP, David Dickson (chair of York and North Yorkshire LEP), Cllr Don Mackenzie (North Yorkshire County Council), Tony Baxter (Northern regional director) and Wallace Sampson (Chief Exec at Harrogate Borough Council).
