Because of the need to reverse at Mirfield to head towards the Wakefield direction, the 1846 plan for the line between Heckmondwike and Thornhill was re-submitted to parliament and approved.

[2] The spur between Heckmondwike and Thornhill cut 25 minutes from the journey time between Bradford and Wakefield and also reduced the congestion at Mirfield station.

The GNR were, in return, afforded the ability to run trains from the Doncaster and Wakefield areas to Halifax either via Brighouse or Cleckheaton.

[note 4][11][12] In the 1980s, the West Riding Transport Museum, had intended to electrify the line between Low Moor and Heckmondwike to 1,500 volt Direct Current.

There have been proposals for the railway to re-open to provide a separate service from Bradford to Huddersfield or Wakefield,[14][15] however, the greenway that occupies the trackbed was dug up by Yorkshire Water in two stages during 2011 when a pipeline was installed.

[16] This was preferable to crossing roads and other means of communications but has also meant that the prospect of re-opening the line to rail traffic is diminished as the cost of moving the pipeline was estimated at £15 million in 2011.

[18] From north west to south east; The stations at Cleckheaton, Liversedge Heckmondwike and Northorpe opened in July 1848.

[22][23][24] This was actually a tramway and a subsidiary company was formed under the name Yorkshire Woollen District (YWD) to run trams on the network.

[25] Transperience, A museum dedicated to the experience of passenger transport in West Yorkshire was built on the site of Low Moor station in 1995.