Work has started on a project to make Keighley railway station more user-friendly.

The work is part of a multi-million-pound nationwide station regeneration programme.

Scaffolding has already been erected on the station building and footbridge area which are to undergo major refurbishment.

Railtrack is spending £618,000 on improving the station, which is next to the award-winning Keighley & Worth Railway station. In December the Worth valley steam railway was voted the best heritage railway out of the 108 in Britain.

Work has already been completed on repairing the Victorian glazed canopy at the front of the Railtrack station building, which still has features related to the former Midland Railway.

Tim Calow, chairman of the Aire Valley Rail Users Group, is delighted with the promised investment. "It is particularly nice to see that Railtrack is prepared to bring its side of the platform up to the same standard as the Worth Valley," he says. "Whatever we have said about Railtrack services in the past - we have not always been happy - we are pleased with the regeneration of platforms which makes using the railway much more pleasant."

The work has also been welcomed by Graham Mitchell, chairman of the Keighley & Worth valley Railway. "Railtrack has done a very good job on the canopy," he says. "It is very attractive, especially at night when it is lit up."

He says when the work is finished it will help complement the Worth Valley station as one of the most photographed heritage stations in the country.

Keighley station is the only station in the Bradford area which is used by three rail companies - the Worth Valley, GNER, which runs the London service, and Northern Spirit which is in charge of local services.

Railtrack is spending £973,000 on the Airedale line, including £355,000 on Cononley station where the platform has been resurfaced and edged and tactile paving installed to help people with poor eyesight.

Nationwide, Railtrack is investing £4.5m a day on improving the country's railway infrastructure.

Railtrack director Nicholas Pollard says: "The work at these stations is part of our huge programme and will bring the valuable asset to a standard of which we and our train operator colleagues can be proud."

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