Work has begun on a £618,000 facelift of Keighley railway station to bring it back to its former glory.

It forms part of Railtrack's multi-million pound nationwide station regeneration programme and will involve extensive repairs to the station building, platform, frontage and constructing an anti-slip surface on an entrance ramp.

The latest project follows £385,000 worth of repairs to the Victorian glazed iron canopy at the entrance to the station which is next to the award-winning Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, last year voted best heritage railway in Britain.

Worth valley chairman, Graham Mitchell, has praised the quality of the work on the iron canopy. He said: "Railtrack has done a very good job on the canopy. It is very attractive, especially at night when lit up."

Tim Calow, chairman of the Aire Valley Rail Users' Group, said: "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.

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.