FRUSTRATED councillors are demanding to know when a new railway station will be up-and-running, three months after it was due to open.

The £10 million Apperley Bridge station is built, the traffic lights are working at its entrance and the next train timetable, which includes stops at the station, is less than three weeks away from being introduced.

But red tape is still holding up the opening, as the Office of Rail Regulation and Network Rail have not yet signed off on all the necessary safety checks.

Now, councillors in north-east Bradford are demanding answers from rail bosses about exactly what is causing the hold-up.

Liberal Democrat group leader, Jeanette Sunderland, said she is due to meet with transport bosses this week to find out what was happening.

Cllr Sunderland (Lib Dem, Idle and Thackley) added: "I have asked the question quite bluntly: it's a straight line. Either we have built the platform too high, too low, too close or too far away.

"I can't work out why Network Rail won't give it a safety certificate."

Cllr Geoff Reid (Lib Dem, Eccleshill) said: "We can't get any sense out of anybody as to what the problem is with Network Rail and why the station isn't opening.

"They have timetables up at bus stops for buses that don't exist because the station isn't open yet.

"It is all set up, except the buses aren't running because there is no station yet.

"I'm beginning to fear it might be after Christmas now. It's ridiculous."

The new station was hoped to open in August, but the completion date was then put back until "during the autumn".

The West Yorkshire Combined Authority, which oversees public transport, did not respond to a request for an update this week.

But earlier this month, a spokesman said: "We are now awaiting confirmation of the station’s completion and the necessary documentation from the Office of Rail Regulation and Network Rail, after which we will be able to announce an opening date for the station."

The station has been paid for by the Department for Transport, with some cash from the Combined Authority.

It has a 297-space car park and will have one train an hour in each direction on the Bradford to Leeds line, with the potential for more services in the future.

Apperley Bridge's old train station closed because of the Beeching Axe in 1965. Plans to re-open it were first announced in 1999, although years of delays followed.