This Two-Platform UK Train Station Has Taken Longer to Build Than the Golden Gate Bridge

A railway station with just two platforms in West Yorkshire has now taken longer to build than San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge, after four years of construction that remains around 70% finished.

The White Rose station, planned for a site on the Huddersfield Line between Morley and Cottingley, was approved by Leeds City Council in June 2020. It was designed to serve the nearby White Rose Centre and Millshaw Business Park, with two platforms capable of accommodating six-carriage trains, and projected footfall of 340,000 passengers a year.

Construction was originally expected to finish in early 2024 at an estimated cost of £26.5 million. Both platforms, including canopies, and the lift and stair buildings, were completed before work was halted in March 2024 due to rising costs.

The project has been delivered through a partnership structure involving developer Munroe K as promoter and joint funder, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) as joint promoter and part funder, and Spencer Rail as principal contractor. That structure unravelled when Spencer Group departed the job amid spiralling costs, leaving the site in limbo for well over a year with no confirmed restart date.

By January 2026, WYCA agreed to take over delivery of the station directly, with the Combined Authority increasing its total committed contribution to £26.15 million to cover remobilisation costs for the first phase of renewed works. West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin described the move as breaking a deadlock that had caused significant public frustration.

Outstanding work includes external cladding, internal fit-out, mechanical and electrical installations including lifts, external groundworks, and operational railway systems such as signalling and customer information displays. Highway and access works around the site also remain unfinished.

The project carries an added complication. Completion of White Rose station is expected to trigger the closure of the nearby Cottingley station, which sits only around 750 metres away and currently serves roughly 265 passengers a day. Network Rail is simultaneously delivering the Transpennine Route Upgrade through the same stretch of line, requiring careful coordination between the two schemes.

Prolonging Cottingley's use beyond its planned closure date could also require accessibility upgrades estimated at around £9 million, since the station does not currently meet full accessibility standards.

As of recent reporting, the financial position between Network Rail, WYCA, Munroe K, and Spencer Group remained unresolved, with WYCA's immediate priority focused on settling legacy land and liability issues before further construction can proceed with certainty.