Rail Views Spring 2023 – Halifax and District Rail Action Group

Recent TPE Diversions — no calls for Brighouse!

TransPennine Express trains were diverted via Brighouse and the Calder Valley line for a month before Easter. Work was being carried out remodelling junctions at Stalybridge, a track layout that had previously been upgraded not much more than a decade ago. The effect is higher speed limits on the route towards Victoria as well Piccadilly. Which is logical since trains that don’t stop at Stalybridge are the “fast” ones to Victoria! A year ago

when the Huddersfield route was closed for engineering work the diverted trains called at Brighouse, providing an additional useful service for the town on our line as well as an alternative railhead for Huddersfield passengers. Improvements to Brighouse station had been made with more space for larger crowds to wait. This time all the diverted trains have run through Brighouse without stopping. Brighouse was the Calder Valley line station with the biggest percentage growth over more than 10 years pre-pandemic. So why is it being side-tracked by TPE now? We shall ask!

Header Image: “Enterprising Nova (i)” flickr photo by JohnTurner1955 https://flickr.com/photos/johngreyturner/48583347201 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) license

Anyone for Salford (@ £72m)

Ever think you live on a Cinderella line? The government’s “locally guided” £72 million package of Manchester improvements promises little or nothing for for the Calder Valley. It seems Leeds-Brighouse- Manchester-Wigan trains will turn back at Salford – Salford Central it would seem, just beyond Victoria and short of the junction with the lines from Piccadilly at Salford Crescent. Manchester-Wigan will be separate. Northern’s performance and planning director Rob Warnes said “We want to create a second Leeds to Salford service leading to one via Brighouse and one via Bradford, and terminate both at Salford Central.”

We can see the logic. Services would balance better across Victoria to cope with different loading levels east and west. But this smacks of “train plannery” not designed for passenger benefits.

The present Leeds-Wigan service serves Salford Crescent, wonderfully convenient for Salford University. If the cut back to Central is really the intention this link would lost. Good connections to Southport and Bolton (as well as Wigan) would be in doubt, as would south Manchester via a double-back at Crescent.

Salford Crescent is to get a third platform. Was it naive to imagine this could be used by our trains?

The plan as described would mean more, not less trains between Salford and Victoria. We presume the planners have a plan for that.

The advantage is Calder Valley services that run into the Victoria bay platform conflicting with Trans Pennine would no longer do so, removing conflicts and helping performance. But these CV trains are of course the ones originally intended to go round the Ordsall Chord to Piccadilly and the Airport. Ordsall is a new railway with just one train an hour. We aren’t that bothered about catching planes, but we could really do with trains to Deansgate, Oxford Rd and Piccadilly for employment, leisure, NHS and education destinations – plus connections beyond.

Let’s hope the planners aren’t eyeing up our Chester trains. This service has been upgraded to 7- days-a-week – a nice bit of good news.

In the Department for Transport (DfT) news release Tim Shoveller of Network Rail said “We have ambitious plans for the future of Manchester Oxford Road. We are removing our previous planning application so we can move forward with a new approach, something we’ll be consulting residents and businesses on later in the year.” No mention of extra through platforms on the revealed Network Rail to be looking at reducing the number of platforms at Oxford Rd. A new layout and signalling to increase capacity with longer platforms and “Thameslink”-style operation.

But so much wasted time. All of this has taken a decade already. GM Mayor Andy Burnham asked how long does the government “expect the people of Greater Manchester to wait”. It’s not just Greater Manchester of course. This affects us across the Pennines.

On the ITV website, rail engineer Gareth Dennis said “If the £20bn cost of Crossrail is a straight line between London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly (259.5km), then £72M only gets you 934 metres of the way there. Landing you in Beatty Street, Camden. That’s about a ten minute walk.”

Timescale for all of this is unclear. Meanwhile HS2 plods on – for what point? HS2 may never happen and – we strongly suspect – is limiting cash for improvements needed now. – JSW

Diversions

Fine sunshine. Let’s have a Sunday out by train! But, first Sunday in June engineering work meant your train from Halifax was probably a bus. Halifax to Leeds took an hour to an hour and a half. Brighouse-Leeds was actually better than usual with Blackpool and Chester trains stopping – though some sources showed these stops as “unadvertised”. This gave a journey time of a little over 20 minutes. (Brighouse-Leeds by replacement bus via Halifax would take you nearly 2 hours.)

It is not clear why the whole Bradford-Huddersfield service had to replaced by buses. Could not trains have run from Halifax via Brighouse to Leeds? One did first thing in the morning. It took 29 minutes to Leeds including a stop (bizarrely shown on Real Time Trains as “unadvertised”) at Brighouse. Not bad!

We realise things may not that easy, but with lots more diversions ahead as work on the Transpennine Upgrade proceeds the companies need to make sure our line gets a fair deal.

Header Image: “The Lord’s Arrival” flickr photo by JohnTurner1955 https://flickr.com/photos/johngreyturner/49060701926 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-ND) license

Electric trains are economical, energy efficient, potentially zero-carbon, proven technology, reliable to operate, and easy to maintain.

The rolling programme is dead: long live the rolling programme! Somebody tell HM Treasury.

Full Midland Main Line electrification “could be shelved to pay for HS2” headlined Modern Railways magazine (Apr’2023, p9), reflecting goings on in Network Rail and the DfT. Let’s hope the they are being over- pessimistic. If not, what price electrification across the North? Two pages later the headline is the House of Commons transport committee saying government “must increase pace” of electrification in its report Fuelling the Future: motive power and connectivity. Committee chair lain Stewart MP (Con, Milton Keynes S.) strongly urged the government “to crack on with projects for electrifying train lines throughout the UK, or identify alternative lower carbon solutions where full electrification is not economically viable.” Electric trains are simple and efficient, capable of zero-carbon operation and suitable for dense passenger services and heavy freight – services with which batteries and hydrogen might never be able to cope. The hydrogen and batteries have to be manufactured and the energy has to be, converted meaning a lot more is wasted than by using renewably generated electricity directly. The report adds that hydrogen is not currently capable of producing the power needed by freight and high-speed trains. Batteries have similar limitations, have limited lifetimes in service and produce lots of greenhouse gas CO2 in manufacture. And, many of us still say, the hydrogen must be “green” not made from fossil fuels with CO2 as by-product. (Let’s not get into the argument about whether the CO2 can be buried forever.)

The government is slow to recognise the need for a rolling programme of electrification – and the benefits in terms of learning on the job and cost reductions. HM Treasury, it seems, is happy to ignore the work done by Network Rail on TDNS (traction decarbonisation network strategy), in favour of short-term financial thinking. Payback will be long term, based on lower costs of electric trains and the “sparks effect” of more people wanting to use them. TDNS of course proposed electrification of the great majority of present diesel-powered routes. In Scotland there is at least a statement of desirable outcomes. But across the UK the rolling programme seems to be “dead”. Thankfully that does not stop forward-thinking, scientifically literate bodies like the R|A (Rail Industry Association) keeping up the argument. In our Winter 2022-3 issue we reported on RIA North’s vision for a wired railway from Carlisle to Corby, Sunderland to Warrington with the Calder Valley line listed among top priorities. Now the RIA has launched RailDecarb23 calling for – yes, you guessed it – a rolling programme of cost- effective wiring, fleet orders for low-carbon rolling stock and incentives for suppliers to get on board. There is 2-side information sheet summarising the arguments (link: Rail Electrification:p The Facts – Campaigns (riagb.org.uk)).

Meanwhile a practically brand-new line is being built between Oxford and Milton Keynes without electrification. They will end up wiring it later. It’s a cliche, but you couldn’t make it up. – JSW

Header Image: Public Domain

Elland in picture for new services!

Elland will be served by trains that also serve neighbouring Brighouse: Wigan-Manchester-Leeds and Huddersfield-Bradford. HADRAG hopes Grand Central London trains will also call plus any possible extra services in the future towards Wakefield and York, or Dewsbury and Leeds. And of course Bradford- Sheffield trains suggested by the Greengauge 21 report could also call. Through trains Elland to Sheffield via Barnsley would take just under an hour.

View is looking broadly west. Substantial wind breaks and decent size canopies, albeit somewhat shorter than the 4-car train shown, provide better protection than many new stations. To access the elevated platforms there will be a choice of steps and lift at this end, or ramps – true wonders of the rail world – at the far end. Lowfields Way runs northwards (left to right) from the Calderdale Way (Elland bypass) double roundabout just out of shot. Behind the view point is a large cluster of housing.

Beyond the bypass is Morrisons store and road, cycle and foot access to Elland town centre. The new active travel routes with bridges over river and canal in the access package start at the far end of the station head west.

The double decker bus depicted running into the business park presents an intriguing possibility.

Header Image: Calderdale Council Next Chapter

HADRAG Diary

The 2023 Annual General Meeting of Halifax & District Rail Action Group will be on Saturday 17 June starting at 14.15 (doors open 13.45) in the Oddfellows room, Coleridge St, Halifax HX1 2JY. Discussion will include review of HADRAG’s year and strategy. Topical issues include stations, and fares retailing. We hope the latest WY Combined Authority rail plan will be published by then. A speaker will be invited. More details to follow. Please accept this as advance notification – and see you there!

Planning permission for Elland — Opening in Sight

Elland station gained planning permission earlier this year. Why did this take so long you might well ask? First thing to say is there is no point trying to complete planning procedures until the plans are as near as possible final. So planning appproval is a sure sign that this project will get the go-ahead. The projected station has certainly evolved and will include access via stairs, lifts and ramps. There should be adequate protection from wind and rain.

Latest plans and details can be found in more detail on Calderdale council’s website. The associated access package will open up high quality walking and cycling routes with new river and canal bridges towards Exley and along the canal bank to Greetland (West Vale).

Yes, it has taken a long time to get this far. Recent setbacks have included redesigns due to changes to Network Rail fire regulations and waits for reponses from official consultees. Elland was deleted from the original Brighouse line reopening – expensive to build. But an early study (1990) had forecast that of the two stations Elland could attract more passengers. Choosing the best site for the station has always caused local argument. We still hear occasional voices speaking out for the station site in Exley Lane and for Greetland. Both these alternatives have the disadvatages of serving few houses within walking distance and remoteness from local urban centres. The chosen site at Elland Lane is

well served by the local road network,
close to a lot more – and more concentrated – housing,
next to Lowfields business park (which did not exist when the 1990 study was carried out),
close to Morrisons superstore, Elland town centre and a private hospital.

HADRAG has argued that local NHS facilities – Calderdale Royal Hospital and Royal Huddersfield Infirmary could be accessed from upper Calderdale towns by a minibus link from Elland station, whilst new bus routes could be developed around Elland, Greetland and Stainland to serve the station and link communities. Groundwork for a highly successful station.

We also keep saying – without apology! – that each of Elland and Brighouse stations will serve a population comparable with the two main upper Calderdale stations combined. Hence our call for doubling of the present train service frequency in lower Calderdale and opening up of new destinations.

Next stage in the station planning process will be “FBC” (full business case) later this year. The promise is completion by end of 2025, meaning trains on existing hourly routes Wigan-Manchester-Brighouse-Leeds and Bradford-Huddersfield calling at the new station perhaps to slightly adjusted timings – the extra stop will add a couple of minutes. Which will, arguably of course, be a quarter of a century late.