DON’T BUILD EXPENSIVE NEW RAILWAY, UPGRADE THE CALDER VALLEY LINE
Scrap the proposal to build a new non-stop high speed railway line between Bradford and Huddersfield, and upgrade the Calder Valley Line instead.
This is the headline recommendation in Railfuture’s response to the consultation on the Mayor’s West Yorkshire Local Transport Plan (https://www.yourvoice.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/hub-page/local-transport-plan), a plan which Railfuture broadly supports.
Instead of building a new line costing billions of pounds and causing environmental and community disruption, Railfuture says the objective of faster services between Bradford and Manchester can be achieved quicker and at much lower cost by upgrading the Calder Valley Line.
“There is capacity for more train services on the Calder Valley route” said Nina Smith, Chair of Railfuture Yorkshire. ”We consider upgrade measures could enable direct express Bradford-Halifax-Manchester services in 40 minutes, compared to 55 minutes at present, with Liverpool in 70 minutes or less. This would be achieved by the overdue electrification of the route, signalling improvements, and two or three passing loops including reinstating a third platform at Halifax. Our proposal offers better value for money and benefits Halifax as well as Bradford.”
Railfuture also calls for the re-opening of the Crigglestone Curve near Horbury to enable direct train services between Bradford and Halifax with Barnsley and Sheffield.
Other recommendations include extending the proposed tram network to Wetherby; beyond this LTP's timeframe, re-opening the closed railway between Skipton and Colne; and hourly services between Goole and Leeds, Pontefract and Doncaster, and on the grossly underused Sheffield- Pontefract - York route.
Looking beyond West Yorkshire to developments that will benefit the Mayoral county, Railfuture recommends major investment in Manchester including a cross-city tunnel with low-level platforms at Manchester Piccadilly, to enable direct links between West Yorkshire and Manchester Airport; and a new inter-city quality interchange station on the East Coast main Line at Tempsford where it crosses the new East West rail route from Cambridge to Oxford.
We need more freight moved from road and air to rail, and Railfuture recommends that the Mayor lobbies the government for planning changes which stipulate that large new warehouses and distribution centres must be rail served.
Railfuture Yorkshire
Media Contact: Nina Smith 07984 670331; nina.smith@railfuture.org.uk
Scrap the proposal to build a new non-stop high speed railway line between Bradford and Huddersfield, and upgrade the Calder Valley Line instead.
This is the headline recommendation in Railfuture’s response to the consultation on the Mayor’s West Yorkshire Local Transport Plan (https://www.yourvoice.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/hub-page/local-transport-plan), a plan which Railfuture broadly supports.
Instead of building a new line costing billions of pounds and causing environmental and community disruption, Railfuture says the objective of faster services between Bradford and Manchester can be achieved quicker and at much lower cost by upgrading the Calder Valley Line.
“There is capacity for more train services on the Calder Valley route” said Nina Smith, Chair of Railfuture Yorkshire. ”We consider upgrade measures could enable direct express Bradford-Halifax-Manchester services in 40 minutes, compared to 55 minutes at present, with Liverpool in 70 minutes or less. This would be achieved by the overdue electrification of the route, signalling improvements, and two or three passing loops including reinstating a third platform at Halifax. Our proposal offers better value for money and benefits Halifax as well as Bradford.”
Railfuture also calls for the re-opening of the Crigglestone Curve near Horbury to enable direct train services between Bradford and Halifax with Barnsley and Sheffield.
Other recommendations include extending the proposed tram network to Wetherby; beyond this LTP's timeframe, re-opening the closed railway between Skipton and Colne; and hourly services between Goole and Leeds, Pontefract and Doncaster, and on the grossly underused Sheffield- Pontefract - York route.
Looking beyond West Yorkshire to developments that will benefit the Mayoral county, Railfuture recommends major investment in Manchester including a cross-city tunnel with low-level platforms at Manchester Piccadilly, to enable direct links between West Yorkshire and Manchester Airport; and a new inter-city quality interchange station on the East Coast main Line at Tempsford where it crosses the new East West rail route from Cambridge to Oxford.
We need more freight moved from road and air to rail, and Railfuture recommends that the Mayor lobbies the government for planning changes which stipulate that large new warehouses and distribution centres must be rail served.
Railfuture Yorkshire
Media Contact: Nina Smith 07984 670331; nina.smith@railfuture.org.uk