City of Bradford - Transport

Transport

Public transport in Bradford is co-ordinated by Metro. Most local train services are run by Northern Rail, with longer-distance routes direct to London King's Cross railway station served by Grand Central from Bradford Interchange and National Express East Coast from Bradford Forster Square station.

The Wharfedale line connects direct to Ilkley, Ben Rhydding, Burley-in-Wharfedale, Menston, Guiseley, Baildon, Shipley and Frizinghall railway stations with Bradford Forster Square . The Airedale Line connects the stations at Morecambe, Lancaster, Settle, Carlisle, Skipton, Steeton and Silsden, Keighley(change for the Bronte Country and the Worth Valley Railway), Crossflatts, Bingley, Saltaire(UNESCO World Heritage Site) and Shipley, continuing to either Frizinghall and Bradford Forster Square or to Leeds to the east of the district. Both Bradford Forster Square and the districts major and busiest railway station Bradford Interchange are served by the Leeds-Bradford line with direct routes to Leeds, Selby and York. Bradford Interchange, via the Caldervale Line, also connects direct to stations at Manchester, Halifax, Rochdale, Burnley, Blackburn, Preston, Poulton-le-Fylde, Blackpool, Huddersfield, Wakefield, Doncaster and London.

There are bus stations in Bradford, Ilkley, Keighley and Shipley. The majority of services are provided by First Bradford and Transdev Keighley & District.

The M606, a spur off the M62 motorway, connects the district with the national motorway network. The M606 was originally laid out to reach the centre of Bradford and beyond, but connects instead to the A6177 Bradford outer ring road, making the motorway one of the shortest in the country at less than three miles (5 km) long. Another motorway was planned in the 1970s, envisaging a link between Bradford, the Aire valley in the north of the district and the M65 at Colne, roughly mirroring the existing A650 road. It has since been upgraded to dual carriageway along much of its length, bypassing the towns of Bingley and Keighley. The A658 road passes through a tunnel underneath the main Leeds-Bradford airport runway as it heads north-east from Bradford to Knaresborough.

Leeds Bradford International Airport itself is located in Yeadon, about 10 miles (16 km) to the north-east of the city centre, and has both charter and scheduled flights to destinations within Europe plus Egypt, Pakistan, Turkey and the USA. There are connections to the rest of the world via London Heathrow Airport, Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

There are also navigable waterways that run through the district. The Leeds and Liverpool Canal passes through numerous towns and villages in the borough, with the Grade I listed Five Rise Locks at Bingley generally considered to be one of the finest feats of canal engineering in the country. There are also proposals to restore and re-open the Bradford Canal, which closed in 1922, as part of a wider regeneration of the city.