Halifax and District Rail Action Group

Summer Update: Part 1 – helping Northern to get the May 2018 timetable right

GC BDI Sept16 — Northern currently uses a 5-carriage Grand Central train, like this one at Bradford, to provide an extra morning commuter train from Halifax to Leeds. It’s looking like this train, the 0728 from Halifax (lovingly known to some commuters as the Halifax Pullman!) could disappear at the May 2018 timetable change. The hope is that the train company will have enough extra carriages by next May to compensate for this loss. The fear is there will be a gap of more than 20 minutes in the Halifax-Leeds timetable at a key time for commuters, and even worse overcrowding than at present on other trains. HADRAG wants this train to stay in Northern’s timetable at least until all the new rolling stock – currently being built in Spain – is in service, probably by 2020.

HADRAG, you may have gathered, has not been idle over the summer. (And summer’s not over yet.) We were pleased to be included in the consultation by Arriva Rail North (aka our Northern train operating company) on proposals for the May 2018 timetable change. May’18 will be the first big timetable recast under the 9-year franchise that started in April last year and should bring serious upgrades to the service on our Calder Valley Line (CVL) including regular trains via the soon-to-be-completed Ordsall Chord to Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport (18 months earlier than expected), as well trains to Chester. Other pleasant surprises, including regular Blackpool-York trains (our popular Roses Rail Link) serving Sowerby Bridge and Mytholmroyd. There are also less palatable and perhaps unintended consequences such as the same two local stations, if a circulated draft timetable is to be believed, losing services to Manchester on Sundays. And, having digested a graphic service pattern displayed by Northern regional director at HADRAG’s AGM, we have fears for service levels at local stations when the next big change takes place in December 2019.

The question is: Can the enhancements be introduced without damaging the service for existing users, not least regular Calderdale commuters who work in Leeds or Manchester, and people who use the Brighouse line for example to travel between upper Calderdale and Huddersfield?

We hope so, but the circulated draft timetable suggests that the train company may be struggling. Read on…

HADRAG worked with Hebden Bridge and Todmorden-based colleagues in the Upper Calder Valley Renaissance Sustainable Transport Group (UCVRSTG) to produce a detailed joint response to Northern’s timetable consultation. There are certainly things to welcome (some unexpected) but we have identified a list of serious concerns about the effect on service patterns and connectivity for existing passengers. In this we believe we are in good company. As a statutory consultee, the county transport body West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA), representing the five district authorities, submitted its own detailed comments and was reported as expressing fears the service pattern between Leeds and Halifax would be markedly worse than the present timetable.

Anxious to be positive, we welcome headline developments proposed by Northern for the Calder Valley line in May next year:

Bradford, Halifax and Hebden Bridge and Todmorden will have direct trains to Manchester Airport. These trains are expected to operate hourly, 7-days a week, via the Ordsall Curve, the new line due to be completed later this year that will allow trains from the Calder Valley as well as from the TransPennine route via Huddersfield to continue beyond Manchester Victoria and turn left to access Oxford Road and Piccadilly stations and continue to the Airport.
The other CVL Manchester train each hour will continue to Warrington Bank Quay and Chester. This will maintain a Warrington-Leeds link (withdrawn by TransPennine Express), and open up the possibility of connections from our area for Cheshire, Staffordshire, the West Midlands and Wales.
Sowerby Bridge and Mytholmroyd will be served by the hourly York-Halifax-Blackpool semi-fast trains (what we still call the “Roses Rail Link”), increasing train frequency at these two stations from 2 to 3 trains/hour to Leeds and from 1 to 2 trains/hr to Halifax and Bradford. But there are big problems with the proposed Sunday service, and fears that what is given in May 2018 may be taken away in December 2019.
The “Roses” trains will also run fast Leeds-York (with one stop, at Church Fenton). On the face of it this ought to speed-up Calderdale-York journeys, but the benefit is partly neutralised by extended dwell times in Leeds stations (which may or may not improve reliability).

BUT: Despite the headline improvements, we can only agree with reported WYCA comments that the proposed timetable could lead to a “markedly worse” service between Leeds and Calderdale. Serious concerns identified by HADRAG and UCVRSTG include:

Uneven “clockface pattern” of services, effectively damaging service frequency.
- We say the train company needs to rethink the proposed timetable that shows, for example, a 4 trains/hour Leeds-Halifax pattern at xx08, 19, 42 and 49 past the hour – intervals of 11, 23, 7 and 20 minutes, a mockery of the ideal even 15-minute frequency. The train at xx19 actually catches up with the preceding xx08 (which is the Brighouse and Huddersfield train calling at Low Moor) and these two trains are planned to be within 6 minutes of each other at Halifax?
- Hebden Bridge departures for Leeds are shown as xx14, 28, 42, 50 followed by 24 minute gap before the next xx14.
- Under the same heading the xx08 service from Leeds to Huddersfield via Bradford and Brighouse is actually overtaken by the xx22 Leeds-Brighouse-Manchester train, effectively making Leeds-Brighouse frequency just one useful train per hour.
Disappointing Sunday services:
- No direct Sunday service Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge to Manchester (Sunday trains at these two valley stations are planned to go to Blackpool instead). Connections at Hebden Brige are not, shall we say, particularly attractive.
- Lack of plans for Sunday service Leeds-Brighouse-upper Calderdale-Manchester, which we say overlooks potential for weekend work and leisure travel. Sunday service plans for Brighouse appear to be no more than an hourly service on the Leeds-Halifax-Huddersfield route, which is at least better than the present 2-hourly.
Early morning trains
- An existing popular early Brighouse-Leeds direct train at 0702 is missing from the draft timetable which implies users of this service would have to go the long way round via Bradford. Surely this must be a mistake. We hope so.
- Proposed loss of the popular extra Halifax-Leeds morning commuter train that leaves at 0728 and uses a 5-carriage intercity train unit supplied by sister Arriva company Grand Central. By proposed loss we mean it is not shown in the draft May’18 timetable, leaving a gap in the proposed Halifax-Leeds service between 0718 and 0741. That’s a 23 minute service interval at the busiest time of the day (what price quarter-hourly?). We fear this will lead to even worse morning overcrowding than is seen now. Obviously, the train company is planning for additional rolling stock to be available by May 2018. But we fear withdrawal of this popular train which uses the best rolling stock currently in use on Northern could lead to poorer comfort standards and even worse overcrowding than is seen on many trains now. The groups want the “Halifax Pullman” – as we call this intercity-style Halifax-Leeds train – to be retained at least until all of the new rolling stock is in service. (And HADRAG has already expressed concern as to whether all the new carriages on order will be enough.)

Extended journey times on some routes. Good news that the Monday-Saturday Leeds-Brighouse-Manchester service is to run fast Rochdale to Manchester is negated by a proposed six-minute increase in journey time Brighouse-Sowerby Bridge. Brighouse-Huddersfield journey time is shown as 19 minutes – which just seems ridiculous. We can’t see any reason for this in terms of pathing into Huddersfield. So maybe it’s a mistake. Again, let’s hope so.
Loss of late evening trains from Manchester to intermediate stations such as Walsden, Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge in the draft timetable. This seems to be another unintended consequence. We think they might be able to sort it out.
Loss of upper Calderdale to Huddersfield connections at Brighouse. This is a particular concern of HADRAG’s upper valley colleagues, and we agree with them! We say that there is significant latent demand for direct services between upper valley stations and Huddersfield for work and educational purposes, but the proposed timetable changes will actually discourage such travel by rail.
Continuing lack of direct trains Littleborough/Walsden-Bradford/Halifax

We want to meet the train planners!

We duly submitted our detailed joint response to the train company’s stakeholder consultation in a 21-page paper earlier this summer. HADRAG and UCVRSTG are now seeking a further meeting with senior Northern managers to press our case. We are awaiting a response to this request.

Anyone who has followed HADRAG over the years knows that we do not seek to find fault unreasonably, to complain unduly, or to carp; rather we support positive initiatives by the rail businesses and transport agencies to improve services, whilst putting forward our own ideas. In that spirit we have, with our colleagues further up the valley, submitted constructive criticisms in the hope that we can help Northern to develop a good timetable for May 2018 by pointing out some serious issues for existing rail users.

The 2019 threat

HADRAG and UCVRSTG’s response contains a “SWOT analysis” – strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats – of Northern’s timetable proposals.

We have a further issue about what we know about plans for the next big timetable change in December 2019. At HADRAG’s 2017 annual general meeting in May, our guest speaker Paul Barnfield, Northern’s regional director, gave a presentation which included graphics showing service patterns for 2018 and 2019. Good news, as expected, is that the December 2019 graphic showed 3 trains/hour Bradford-Manchester. The bad news was that all three of these trains were shown as running non-stop Halifax-Hebden Bridge, reducing the Manchester service at Sowerby Bridge and Mytholmroyd from twice-hourly to just one train per hour. This is surely not acceptable.

There also appears currently to be no proposal to improve service frequency at the new Low Moor station. Low Moor needs a Manchester service to stop each hour as well as the Leeds-Halifax-Huddersfield trains.

And we think the benefits of the investment in the new Ordsall Chord line crossing Manchester should be spread as widely as possible with stations like Sowerby Bridge being served by trains to Manchester Airport. HADRAG believes the catchment area for Sowerby Bridge station is at least as great in population terms as Hebden Bridge and Todmorden combined. Yet Sowerby Bridge at present has about half the service level of the two upper valley stations.

The same is true, in terms of potential catchment, of Brighouse, and of the planned new station at Elland. HADRAG will continue to press the case for further improvement at Sowerby Bridge, from December 2019, with the May 2018 timetable as absolute baseline minimum service level. Beyond 2019 we want a better deal for the Brighouse corridor including Elland. Remember a potential non-stop Brighouse-Leeds journey time of under 20 minutes makes this potentially the fastest route from upper Calderdale to Leeds. Then there is the need for better connectivity between upper valley stations and Huddersfield, a journey that is positively discouraged by the May 2018 proposals as they currently stand.

In a news release to local and regional media, Stephen Waring, Chair of HADRAG commented:

“We know Northern want to improve our services under the franchise agreement. We have put forward constructive criticisms on what is currently proposed. We want passengers to be able to welcome the May 2018 timetable when it is finalised not greet it with a storm of protest. We are delighted that our present York-Halifax-Blackpool semi-fast trains linking towns across the North are going to be stopping at Sowerby Bridge and Mytholmroyd. That’s something HADRAG has called for over many years.

“But we are disappointed with aspects of the proposals that make the service less attractive for existing users, let alone attract new passengers. We are not alone in criticising the proposals because we know the county’s official transport body, West Yorkshire Combined Authority has said the Leeds-Calderdale service could be markedly worse.

“We are glad about the extra trains stopping at Sowerby Bridge and Mytholmroyd, but we have seen information shared by Northern that suggests service frequency at these stations could actually be cut again in December 2019 when many of our trains become “Northern Connect” expresses. This would surely not be acceptable.

“We are hoping to meet Northern again to find out firstly how they hope to improve on the May 2018 proposals which as they stand are simply not good enough. Secondly, we hope they can assure us about future developments, not least to improve services on the Brighouse line ready for opening of Elland station, hopefully by 2022. Brighouse still gets a poor deal; more is needed.”

For the upper valley, Nina Smith, Chair of UCVRSTG commented:

“Whilst we warmly welcome the new trains to the Airport, Chester and Southport, and a later train to Sowerby Bridge, Mytholmroyd and Hebden Bridge from Leeds, we are very concerned about the uneven pattern of trains from Leeds and Manchester to the upper valley stations, which will mean people who just miss a train could have to wait nearly half an hour for the next one.

“We are also concerned that the opportunity presented by a major timetable recast has not been used to provide good interchange in both directions for people travelling between the upper valley stations and Huddersfield. This is a growing commuter flow, especially with staff and students for Huddersfield University, and our longer term goal is for a direct upper valley to Huddersfield service.

“Finally, we were hoping that the May 2108 timetable would include early morning Sunday trains to Leeds and Manchester. Sundays are now as important for rail travellers as other days.”

Parking Question

A couple of things stark-staringly obvious about Halifax station approach: you can’t park after 06.30 in the morning; and whenever a big train arrives there is a veritable chaos of cars, taxis, pedestrians and the occasional two-wheeler, with vehicles trying to get in to pick up while others are leaving. Pedestrian provision is limited to a footway on one side only, leading to highway-code defying behaviour. A sensible idea would take parking off the bridge, leaving more room for pedestrians (and perhaps taxis and drop-off). Many would say transformed access arrangements should at least double the current amount of rail users’ parking, perhaps with a 2-level car park. But do we really want to encourage more and more people to access Halifax station by car increasing road congestion at the bottom of town? Might it be better to develop best possible access for pedestrians, buses, cycles, disabled and pick-up/drop-off whilst developing neighbouring stations such as Sowerby Bridge and Brighouse for park and ride? Both would require enlarged car parks, and improved train services to match. Just a thought !

Crossing the City

Calder Valley Line (CVL) trains are expected to be running across Manchester via the new Ordsall curve at the end of this year. Northern has consulted on the December 2017 timetable change. Daytime off-peak, the hourly semi-fast Leeds (xx18), Halifax (xx54) trains to Manchester Vic will continue to Oxford Road station, serving the south side of the city directly from our area for the first time. The intention is for these trains to be extended to Manchester Airport in May 2018. Though only off-peak for now this is good news because the franchise “train service requirement” (TSR) does not specify through CVL trains to Manchester Airport until the additional hourly Bradford-Manchester service is introduced at the December 2019 change (known as TSR3).

Also in the December 2017 timetable, there will be some extra Rochdale-Manchester stoppers at peak hours. This will allow a small number of Leeds-Brighouse-Todmorden-Manchester trains to run non-stop Rochdale-Victoria. Hopefully this will improve both journey time and reliability. We have not yet been told whether the intention is for all of these trains to do this, which would improve the Brighouse-Manchester journey. HADRAG has of course repeatedly said we would like the Brighouse trains to become semi-fast west of Todmorden.

Major recasting of the timetable is delayed until (hopefully no later than) May 2018 in a “phased introduction” of the original December 2017 plans—”TSR2″. The cascade of second-hand trains from other franchises is behind schedule because of projects elsewhere running late. The Great Western Railway franchise can not release diesels to Northern until Network Rail electrification work is complete and GWR can run electric trains.

The latest we know however is that May 2018 should implement “full TSR2”, which should mean extension of the other hourly Calder Valley Manchester train to Chester. It should also mean Brighouse Sunday services modestly improved (hourly instead of 2-hourly Leeds-Bradford-Huddersfield), and half-hourly on Sundays Bradford-Manchester, including an hourly Sunday service to the Airport.

HADRAG insisted on making detailed comments on the December 2017 timetable consultation. The May’18 consultation is due anytime now and we expect to be included in that too!

We continue to argue the case for more trains stopping at Sowerby Bridge, both the York-Blackpools and the extras to be introduced in 2019. We believe the linespeed improvements and new rolling stock should enable this without unduly compromising the journey time commitment. Looking at catchment areas and population HADRAG believes Sowerby Bridge station potentially serves as many local people as Hebden Bridge and Todmorden put together, despite having little more than half the service level. We have also supported the submission by our colleagues in the Rochdale/Oldham group STORM for a better service at Littleborough.

We think Halifax-Leeds will be five trains per hour by the end of 2019, though again that seems to be implied rather than confirmed. It was promised back in December 2015 when the Arriva franchise was announced and is consistent with a map of “Northern Connect” routes published with the Dec’17 consultation. All CVL Manchester trains via Halifax (but not the ones via Brighouse) will be of “regional express” quality by the end of 2019. All of these Halifax trains (3/hour by 2019) look to be going through to Leeds, plus the Blackpool-York trains (also NC) plus the local Huddersfield-Brighouse-Bradford-Leeds. So that looks like 5-an-hour. By the way, we hear the Huddersfield-Bradford-Leeds service will linked with a new Leeds-Hull-Bridlington service (by Dec’19) giving an hourly Brighouse-Brid through train!

Obviously Brighouse needs a lot more than that. We keep mentioning the need to speed up Brighouse-Todmorden-Manchester trains. “Turbostar” trains cascaded from Scotland could help. Improvements Brighouse into Leeds will depend on outputs of the TransPennine Route Upgrade—that’s the project that includes Huddersfield Line electrification— sometime in the 2020s. Semi-fast Leeds-Manchester via Brighouse and Rochdale would surely make sense.

But with all this talk of service development the elephant in the room is the sardine-can conditions in which many of our peak-time commuters endure their daily journeys to and from work in Leeds and Manchester. We were angry last year when the “market” grabbed good trains from the North for the Chilterns, indirectly cutting seats for Calderdale commuters. We were thankful when Northern arranged with sister Arriva company Grand Central to put on a comfortable extra train Halifax-Leeds. More of these initiatives are needed.

Brand-new trains come to our line from December 2018 plus refurbished “cascades” from other companies. A 37% increase in morning capacity is promised across the franchise by 2020. Will that be enough? Will it be soon enough? What (if anything) more can be done while we are waiting?

And what, indeed, is the economic value to society of city workers arriving in a relaxed state and getting home rested, not frazzled by the return journey? Has anyone quantified this? Or is it simply unmeasurable, meaning it does not count?

HADRAG will continue to put the case for more. —JSW

Featured Image: “castlefield chord illustration4” flickr photo by mwmbwls https://flickr.com/photos/mwmbwls/8222513415 shared under a Creative Commons (BY-NC-SA) license

Lansdslip, Signal Woes

Commuters reported confusion down at the station after another landslip at Salterhebble blocked the Halifax-Sowerby Bridge route in early March. Trains were diverted Sowerby-Leeds via Brighouse, and a limited Leeds-Halifax/Huddersfield service was maintained, so canny users could get a train to Brighouse and pick up diverted services there (though a separate problem in East Lancs delayed Blackpool-York trains). Thankfully Network Rail got the line clear by teatime the day after the landslip. A speed restriction remained in place at time of writing, whilst work continued to stabilise the cutting under Dudwell Lane. We were disappointed more trains were not diverted between Halifax and Sowerby Bridge by reversing at Greetland, which might have maintained a train service Sowerby Bridge-Bradford during the blockage and provided better for Halifax. We think this sort of thing happened in the past, but hear that the signals at Greetland now only allow such a move in one direction. Progress? Perhaps not.

Image courtesy Network Rail Media Centre.

What, no gates?

Northern were to install automatic ticket gates at Halifax by the end of March.

Shelving for a moment the question of whether or not passengers actually want these awkward barriers, there are franchise targets to meet which seem to mean gating as many stations as possible. Oh, but hang on, it’s now April and no Halifax gates. They’re going in somewhere else first (possibly Skipton, we heard). Apparently there is concern over increased loading on Halifax’s 19th century footbridge when large crowds are queuing to get through. So Halifax gates are postponed (just postponed).

Our station is pretty congested now and could see more massive crowds in future, when, for example, there are big events at the Piece Hall. It’s obvious gates mean delays and queues, inconvenience for people with disabilities, and potential mishaps as people juggle tickets, bags, small children, dogs and cartons of hot drink. But if structural strength of the footbridge is an issue could that be a game changer? Maintenance on the road approach bridge is on hold pending a decision on whether it goes or stays. Currently a weight limit prevents large buses getting near the station entrance. One view says pull the lot down, build a new station building at ground level, have level access to a regenerated Platform 3 and a subway to the island platform utilising space underneath the arches. Some of us (maybe including some rail professionals) wonder if the subway idea is feasible. So maybe what’s needed is a new bridge. Or bridges.

Halifax’s trains and station on agenda with Northern director at HADRAG annual meeting. And we’re not forgetting Sowerby Bridge, Brighouse and Elland!

Ordsall 2017.05.05 new framed by old — New framed by old. Modern arch bridge on the Ordsall Chord seen through girders of Quay Street road bridge. Left foot in Manchester, right in Salford. The Ordsall Chord is a new cross-city railway on schedule to be complete this autumn. It will carry Calder Valley trains to Manchester Oxford Road station at the south of the city by the end of 2017. Aims include regular hourly trains from Bradford, Halifax, Hebden Bridge and Rochdale to Manchester Airport maybe sooner than we thought.

HADRAG, The Halifax & District Rail Action Group, will welcoming any rail users, actual and would-be, at the group’s annual meeting on Saturday afternoon 13 May 2017 at the OrangeBox centre, Halifax HX1 1AF; doors open 13:00 (1pm) for 13:20 start. Topping the bill as keynote speaker will be Paul Barnfield who is Regional Director (East) at Arriva Rail North – the train company we know as Northern. Paul will give a presentation on progress and plans for transformation of train services through Halifax and along the Calder Valley under the train operating franchise that has now been running for a year. Paul expects to be joined by colleague Richard Isaac who is Northern’s community and sustainability manager for our area.

Big things are expected, with Calder Valley trains running via a brand new railway to reach the south side of Manchester by the end of this year. Promises for May 2018 include trains to Chester, earlier and later trains on the routes through Brighouse, and, 18 months sooner than expected, through trains to Manchester Airport. We are also hoping for good news for one or two of our line’s “Cinderella” stations including Sowerby Bridge and Mytholmroyd. Northern is now consulting stakeholders on its May 2018 timetable proposals, and HADRAG will be making detailed comments, suggesting areas for further improvement as well as welcoming what is certainly looking like good news.

But with talk of new destinations beyond the big cities, regular users of our peak hour trains may be wondering what is to be done about conditions of overcrowding regularly endured by Calderdale commuters to and from Leeds and Manchester. The franchise promise is an increase in peak hour capacity of more than a third before 2020, including brand new trains for most Calder Valley Line services. Do we think this will be enough? And can anything be done to relieve conditions whilst we are waiting for the promised transformation?

Meanwhile decisions are due soon on transformative plans for Halifax station (pictured at bottom of this post), hopefully making it into the gateway to the town that HADRAG called for years ago. Ambitious ideas aim at a station, not just enabled to deal with growing numbers of local people using the train, but fit also to deal with big crowds attending events at the Piece Hall, fit indeed for continuing growth in rail travel for the next 50 years. There will be an opportunity for HADRAG members and rail passengers to comment on the developing plans at our meeting on May 13th.

Finally, our Elland next campaign remains high on HADRAG’s agenda. Plans are progressing for a station to serve what arguably is Yorkshire’s biggest urban area without a rail service. The catchment area for Elland, including Greetland and Stainland, encompasses a population of over 20,000. We want a commitment from Northern and Network Rail to include Elland in the December 2019 timetable.

-JSW (updated 12.v.17)

HFX 2017.05 panorama — Halifax station and its road approach bridge. How can this be not just made a bit better, but transformed as a gateway future-proofed for the next 50 years?

HADRAG Annual General Meeting

Domestics and Venue

Saturday 13th May: tea and coffee from 1300 (1pm) for a 1320 start

Orange Box Centre, Halifax, HX1 1AF

To venue from Halifax train station — straight up Horton St; turn right by small car park into Thomas St; continue to end and turn right.

From bus station go south along main street past Tesco; turn left at Westgate pub.

Meeting room upstairs — level access by lift.

Guest speakers

Paul Barnfield, Regional Director (East), Arriva Rail North (Northern)
on Northern’s service development vison

Chris Hoesli, transport fund programme manager, Calderdale
on the Halifax station gateway scheme

Come and have your say!

More Details

This page and next are members’ calling notice and agenda for HADRAG’s 2017 Annual General Meeting along with last year’s draft minutes for adoption. The AGM is HADRAG’s main open event. Formal business will be in the latter part of the meeting, after speakers and discussion. Tea and coffee will be available before the meeting which will open with a short Chair’s report followed by the main item, our guest speakers.

Back in Halifax this year, we shall be pleased to welcome two speakers. Paul Barnfield is the regional director for the train company we know as Northern under the Arriva franchise. Paul will talk about the transformation of services that will benefit Halifax and the Calder Valley Line between now and 2020. And with decisions due in the next few months on plans to transform Halifax station using resources from the West Yorkshire Plus Transport Fund, Calderdale programme manager Chris Hoesli will be bringing us up to speed on what could be planned. So this this is an opportunity to hear about positive developments in the offing and also for members to ask questions and raise concerns.

Elland next!

Campaigners in HADRAG, the Halifax & District Rail Action Group, are calling for Elland to be next new railway station in West Yorkshire following opening of Low Moor earlier this month. We want the Northern train operator (Arriva Rail North) and Network Rail (who oversee tracks and timetables) to declare their commitment to Elland station and ensure provision is made for trains to stop in new timetables planned for the next 2-3 years. Meanwhile we continue to argue for a better deal for Calder Valley stations currently missed out by “semi-fast” or “express” services. We say Brighouse and Sowerby Bridge deserve something more like the service level and quality enjoyed by Hebden Bridge and Todmorden. More below:

Low Moor opening 2017.04.02 — First call by a Northern service at brand new Low Moor Station, Sunday 2 April 2017. This 0832 Sunday train to Halifax comes back as a York service at 0852. Weekday services start earlier! **HADRAG says the next new station in West Yorkshire has got to be Elland.**

Low Moor station is on the Calder Valley Line between Halifax and Bradford. HADRAG joined with other groups including the Bradford rail users (BRUG), and the Friends of Low Moor Station (FOLMS) in celebrating the first trains at Low Moor station on the first Sunday in April (02/04/17). Low Moor is served by hourly trains on the Leeds-Bradford-Halifax-Brighouse-Huddersfield route. It also has intercity services to London operated by the Grand Central open access operator. With the other groups, HADRAG wants to see a better service at the new station and we hope a Manchester service can be arranged to stop every hour by the end of 2019.

December 2019 is the second of two big timetable change dates when services are expected to be transformed under the Northern trains franchise under Arriva. By then Bradford-Manchester should have 3 trains/hour (compared with 2/hour at present) and we say that should be an opportunity to boost the service at intermediate stations, not just provide an extra fast train that misses out a lot of stops.

If increasing usage is the measure (Office of Road and Rail station usage statistics, 2016), Brighouse and Sowerby Bridge should be the Calder Valley Line’s top two stations. (See also our newsletter piece: Two Cinderella stations again top table!)

Usage of Sowerby Bridge station has risen steadily and now stands at 392,000 passengers/year, an increase of 132% on ten years ago. Although passenger numbers are historically higher at Hebden and Tod, their ten-year percentage increase is somewhat less than Sowerby Bridge’s. Sowerby Bridge station serves not just the town itself but also the Ryburn valley and the eastern side of Luddendenfoot. This represents a catchment area of more than 20,000 population, and probably more than that of Hebden Bridge and Todmorden combined. Yet the basic half-hourly service at Sowerby Bridge is only about half the frequency enjoyed by the upper valley stations. HADRAG continues to argue that all of the York-Blackpool semi-fast trains should call at Sowerby Bridge (at present just a few do at peak hours). We also say that when an extra service every hour is introduced between Bradford and Manchester at the end of 2019, that train should also serve Sowerby Bridge.

Brighouse line – and Elland! Brighouse has an even better case for more trains, but apart from some increase to peak hour and Sunday services to be introduced by May 2018, little extra seems to be promised for Brighouse under the Northern franchise. This is in stark contrast to Halifax, Hebden Bridge and Todmorden on the Bradford-Manchester route which will benefit from “Northern Connect” branded regional express services by 2019. Like Sowerby Bridge, Brighouse serves a population covering at least two local council wards – 20,000 plus. The ORR’s figures show a ten-year increase of 476% at Brighouse station which now sees footfall of over 400,000 entries and exits annually. No better than Sowerby Bridge, Brighouse’s best local service frequency is hourly on each of two routes (Leeds-Brighouse-Todmorden-Manchester and Leeds-Bradford-Brighouse-Huddersfield). The Sunday service is at present 2-hourly (on the Bradford route only); the commitment is to increase this to hourly. HADRAG has been pressing for a speed-up of the Leeds-Brighouse-Manchester trains which we say should also run on Sundays. We hope that changes to stopping patterns may see these trains running semi-fast west of Todmorden in the next year or so. A few peak-hour trains on the Brighouse-Manchester route are planned to run non-stop Rochdale-Manchester from December 2017. We do not yet know whether this will become the pattern for all of these trains. Beyond 2019 and Northern’s initial franchise commitments we hope that the Brighouse-Leeds service will also be improved with fast or semi-fast operation. Non-stop running time Brighouse-Leeds is about 17 minutes but the current stopping service takes double this time. This is very much an area where we expect the train operator to deliver beyond its basic franchise commitment.

Which brings us to Elland, one of the top three sites in the West and North Yorkshire new stations study (now getting on for three years ago). The October 2014 Atkins report forecast demand at Elland as 240,000 annually. In the latest feasibility studies, consultants report a strong business case and confirm the buildability of an impressive-looking new station on the strategic site next to the A629 and Lowfields. HADRAG believes this could work well as a park and ride serving the whole “Greater Elland” settlement – again, a population of 20,000 plus. We understand the money for building Elland station (price-tag maybe £14 million) could come from West Yorkshire Plus Transport Fund, though there may be further hoops to jump before that can happen.

And the train timetable must be designed to allow trains to stop at Elland. So HADRAG calls on the Northern train operator (Arriva Rail North) and on Network Rail to declare their commitment now to operating Elland station with a good train service. Every local train that stops at Brighouse must also stop at Elland! There looks to be slack in the current timetable to allow that to happen but obviously with major timetable recasts in May 2018 and December 2019 that allowance must also be built in for the future. Faster line speeds on the Bradford-Manchester route and hopefully a semi-fast pattern for the Brighouse-Manchester trains should make this easier. The railway – train operators and infrastructure managers – should commit to this without further delay or equivocation. What’s to stop them? HADRAG is clear that after massively successful Apperley Bridge and Kirkstall Forge, and now Low Moor:

It’s got to be Elland next!

– JSW

P1040956 — Low Moor, Sunday 2nd April 2016. First train to call at the new station was actually the 0802 Grand Central service to London King’s Cross here seen accelerating away with passengers onboard enjoying the historic moment. Northern’s first local service followed half an hour later.

Gateway plan could put station at heart of town. But what’s best for rail users?

UPDATE March 2017. HADRAG hopes to make Halifax station plans a central topic at this year’s Annual General Meeting, being planned for Saturday 13th May in Halifax. We should have a presentation from Calderdale council officers, and we are also inviting West Yorkshire Combined Authority and the Northern train operator. Watch out for details of time and venue. Meanwhile here are some points to ponder (just slightly expanded) from our newsletter earlier this year:

HALIFAX station is a mixture of old and new that somehow works. Could it work better? The road approach bridge that once spanned a railway goods yards now separates car-parking from play area on the Eureka childrens’ museum site. It’s a good level access for pedestrians between town and the modern station entrance. Rail users’ car-parking is demonstrably inadequate, and competes with taxis and drop-off/pick-up for space. Viewed from ground level the bridge may be seen as a historical feature that tells a story — or as a barrier between the Eureka site and town-centre attractions. We’ve heard it called an eyesore. With a jocular twinkle in the eye, one HADRAG committee member recently dubbed it a “cast iron leviathan”. Arriving train passengers come out of the entrance and take in a true panorama of notable and some truly great structures—India Buildings, the Imperial Crown Hotel, Square Chapel and the Piece Hall both nearing transformed rebirth, the new Library, Industrial Museum, Halifax Minster.

But the existing bridge funnels people towards Horton Street, dreaded approach that fails to show our great town at its best.

Plans linked to town centre development should move rail-users’ parking to ground level and hopefully create a bus mini-interchange. Beyond that a masterplan hints at what might be done with the approach bridge removed to create an open “station gardens” with pedestrian as well as bus and car links radiating towards the wider attractions. A low-level station entrance could work well with restoration of Platform 3. A third platform would give more space for growing crowds of passengers. But the railway authorities seem to have been at best lukewarm towards the idea. The wider masterplan is truly transformational, potentially linking town and station with a regenerated area around the Nestlé site east of the railway.

The regenerated Piece Hall has potential to attract thousands of visitors to events and many of these could arrive by train. So station access must be adequate to deal with crowds potentially even larger than those of today’s commuters who fill the island platform.

Rail users’ needs foremost, HADRAG is committed to campaigning for retention of level pedestrian access between the bottom of Horton St and the footbridge that leads to platforms. (There is perhaps a small assumption here that the footbridge itself is adequate for future needs.) But does that have to mean keeping the existing road approach bridge? How about a new iconic pedestrian bridge linking to a station with both high and low level entrances. What we do not want to see is the station made less convenient for the large number of existing local train users who access the station on foot via the present bridge. We are actively engaging with Calderdale council officers and elected members to get the best solution for train users whilst putting the station at the heart of our town. —JSW

What’s in a name?

“Just call us Northern” says our train operating company under the 9-month old franchise. It’s what it says on the “partly refurbished” Class 158 train that’s been running on our line and on the “we are Northern” posters that punningly promote the new franchise. We were politely corrected when we called them “Northern Railway”, though the web branding stands out on posters, leaflets etc. The logo, of course has a lower case initial “n”, a kind of inverted horseshoe (hope the good luck doesn’t run out of the ends). Legally, the new franchise holder is Arriva Rail North Ltd. So (just) Northern is (just) a trading name. And don’t confuse Arriva Rail North with Rail North. The former is part of a group owned by German Railways (but firmly grounded in north-east England). Rail North is the body of nearly 30 local and combined authorities that, in partnership with the Department for Transport (DfT), supervises both Northern and TransPennine Express train franchises. It seems train operators’ parent company names —Arriva or First— are no longer applied to public branding. So (First) Great Western is just Great Western Railway and (First) TransPennine Express is just Transpennine Express (web tpexpress.co.uk). Did somebody say “Bring back British Rail”? Let’s not go there right now!