Alistair Hardaker | Image: The upcoming development (Feilden Fowles)
Additional government funding addresses increased costs from Leeman Road closure, enabling museum to sign main construction contract within days.
The National Railway Museum has received £3m in additional government funding for its Central Hall project, enabling it to sign the main construction contract within days.
Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced the funding during a visit to York on 4 June. The money addresses increased costs stemming from the closure of Leeman Road, which ran through the museum site, splitting it in two. The investment builds on support from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport in 2019.
Speaking to journalists, Starmer described the museum as a “fantastic museum…It’s a great set up and part of who we are as a country.” He added: “I’m really pleased we’ve been able to put forward this money – and I look forward visiting myself but also thinking about all of the people who will be visiting in the future and the experiences they will have.”
Central Hall, designed by architects Feilden Fowles, is a circular building referencing historic locomotive roundhouses. It will sit at the centre of the redesigned museum site and will provide level access throughout the museum for the first time. The building will include a new gallery, Railway Futures: The Porterbrook Gallery, exploring innovation in rail travel.
The museum is part of the Science Museum Group and sits within York Central, a 45-hectare brownfield regeneration scheme turning underused railway land into a new city quarter with residential, civic and commercial space.
Sir Tim Laurence, chair of the Science Museum Group, said the funding “represents a strong vote of confidence in the National Railway Museum’s contribution to the York Central project, which will deliver lasting change for the people of York and the millions who visit this great city each year.”
The National Railway Museum holds the largest collection of railway objects in the world, including more than 260 locomotives and rolling stock. It celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2025 and has welcomed almost 40million visitors since opening in 1975.
