Tag: Elland Station

Waiting for Elland!

When we founded HADRAG in 1985 one aim was to get the Halifax-Huddersfield links reopened with stations at Brighouse (previously closed 1970) and Elland (closed 1962). The initial service in 2000 was hourly Leeds via Halifax to Huddersfield, with a peak-hour extra between Hebden Bridge, Brighouse and Leeds (via Dewsbury). In 2008 the “extra” became hourly from Manchester (now Wigan) was added, a big boost, though Mon-Sat only. So Brighouse has two services an hour on two different routes. The station had largest local percentage increase in footfall over more than 10 years after that service boost. Brighouse needs more trains, starting with Sunday trains on Leeds and Manchester direct route. Hadrag will keep pressing for 2 trains/hr on this route during the week, one of them fast. Aim should be 20 minutes Brighouse-Leeds.

We are of course still waiting for Elland to open, latest estimate being Spring 2027 which looks realistic. So 27 years late and counting. Not long ago we – and a TV reporter – bumped into locals walking dogs near the Elland site. One of them had moved there 30 years ago in anticipation of commuting from the new station. Now, they are approaching retirement! Elland was postponed when Brighouse got under way, the money needed elsewhere.

More recently we have seen setbacks and forced design upgrades, as well as land issues hopefully now resolved. It’s a big project with a difficult site, partly why it did not happen in 2000. There is no better location. The new station will be on an embankment requiring steps, lifts and ramps for access – rather spectacular! A local access package will accompany the station with new active travel routes including canal and river bridges. West Yorkshire Combined Authority is overseeing the station, Calderdale the access package.

Research back in the 1990s suggested Elland station could be at least as successful as Brighouse. Which strengthens the case for more trains on the line through Dewsbury to Leeds. If Brighouse-Leeds could be 20 minutes, Elland-Leeds could be less than 25.

Waiting for news on New Stations

New White Rose station (Leeds) has been on hold since March, construction halted by increased costs. No date yet for restart, which must surely happen. Inflation has hit a number of projects. (Halifax station gateway is on a back burner, to put it politely. And there is still no starting date for Elland.

On paper completion should be late 2026, less than 2 years away, but White Rose raises a new worry. Outside the Elland site with a TV reporter, passers-by said they had bought new houses 20-odd years ago, when selling point was a train station.

Some of these local residents are now nearing retirement, having been driving cars to work for a quarter of a century. If only Elland, predicted to be at least as successful as Brighouse, had opened at the same time back in May 2000. Elland was always more complex to build, as we have seen with the recent saga of design upgrades. 2026 will be 26 years late and counting. But let’s keep the faith.

26 Years Late and Counting: When Will Elland Station Open?

There is a growing sense of frustration about Elland station. For estimated opening date latest we can find in print is “late 2026” – 2½ years away. Do we feel that is realistic? As we write, the nearly finished new station at White Rose, by the well-known Leeds shopping centre, is at present on-hold because of cost increases. It is clear that White Rose will be finished, but not (as we write this) quite clear when.

Which does increase the worry about Elland.

On the Calderdale Next Chapter website West Yorkshire Combined Authority is quoted as saying (Jan’2024):

“We remain committed to the Elland Railway Station project and work is progressing on the ground to deliver these improvements. As we confirmed last November, the completion date for this scheme has been pushed back until late 2026 because of a variety of factors, including design changes and supply chain challenges. This project will improve accessibility and make it easier for people to travel around the region by boosting connectivity across Calderdale and beyond.” (Elland Rail Station and access package I Calderdale Next Chapter, to whom thanks also due for illustrations.)

We suspect there may also be issues to do with land ownership. Will compulsory purchase orders be needed?

We can understand why, when Brighouse station opened almost a quarter of a century ago, Elland was put on hold – and not just because something in Leeds was felt to be more important. Elland station is complex. On an embankment with steps, lifts and ramps all needed (see picture) – veritably a wonder of the world. (Alternative sites at Greetland or Exley Lane would not have done.) The scheme is not just the station but includes an access package with new canal and river bridges to link up the local area. It sounds like it will be worth waiting for. But even those of us who have kept faith with this are getting frustrated. This station should have opened in 2000. It is running 26 years late. And counting.

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

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.

Elland Latest

Elland station of course is not just a rail station, but a whole local package.

The access package received planning approval last September. Planning permission for the station is pending with a long list of documents on the planning department website (refs 21/00824/FUL for the station & 21/00017/LAA for the access package).

To reach the elevated platforms users will have a choice of stairs, lifts or ramps. The car park will have  12 blue badge spaces and 15 EV-charge spaces among 100-plus in total. Proposed access between car park and north side platform has been improved.

“FBC” (full business case) milestone should be later this year, with completion of the station in 2024. Network Rail, Northern Trains, and WY Combined Authority are all involved alongside Calderdale and consultants. Our Northern contact is involved in discussions and reports no major cause for concern. Trains on both Bradford-Huddersfield and Wigan-Brighouse-Leeds trains will call.

HADRAG wants to see service frequency doubled. Campaigners were disappointed when Brighouse reopened 22 years ago, Elland having been dropped. Now we see White Rose station moving ahead. So there is frustration that we are still not – quite – there.

Elland Progress

Elland station plans are with Calderdale planning department awaiting approval as we write this.

With a linked access package involving new foot and cycle links along the canal bank to Greetland already approved, we still hope the station will open in about 18 months’ time – if not less. The station will be on the embankment next to Lowfields business park, close to Morrison’s, housing, and around Elland Lane and Lower Edge Road, the Calderdale Way main road and local bus stops. Clear potential exists to serve a wide surrounding area.

Latest plans show ramped access to the platforms, as well as stairs and lifts.

Elland On Track – We Hope

As the pandemic goes from wave to wave, we can be certain of nothing. But we understand Elland station is still planned to open “on time” (debatable concept) before 2023. There is an obvious interface with “TRU”, that long-awaited (not as long as Elland) Trans-Pennine (Huddersfield) route upgrade. So when the Huddersfield line is “under possession” for track remodelling or electrification TP Expresses will be diverted, and at times this will mean using the Brighouse and Elland route. The worry was that with TRU works due to start, who knows quite when, this could mean Elland being delayed. So we added this to a list of concerns in a HADRAG letter to Grant Shapps in September. The reply from a Department for Transport official (two months later) said West Yorkshire Combined Authority intends to seek an approval in principle for production of an outline design (outline?) early in 2021, and that WYCA would be expected to work closely with Network Rail, DfT and train operators on coordination with other schemes including TRU, and develop a timescale. Opening “by December 2022” was still the expectation. “Elland first” is surely sensible. We pointed out that when Huddersfield station is out of use during works on the big project, Elland – right next to the A629 – could be an ideal alternative railhead for Huddersfield passengers. The DfT did not respond to that, but more local contacts suggest the idea is under consideration.

Elland station will not only serve commuters (however many of them there are in the post-Covid future), but with a package of active travel links will be ideal for the local community and visitors seeking leisure on foot or cycle in our beautiful valley. This, surely, is just what we need to rebuild and repurpose our railway.

Elland Station: Progress and Questions

When it comes to investing public money you can’t “just do it”. Every project must jump a course of hoops. Elland station’s Outline Business Case is due to be signed off at West Yorkshire Combined Authority as we write this. Detailed plans should now be developed and Full Business Case (FBC) is due by the end of next year, allowing work to start in 2021. That puts station opening in Spring 2022. We have some concerns about how the project might be affected by the TransPennine Route Upgrade. TRU is the

Huddersfield Line electrification and capacity project, a “CP6” scheme, meaning Network Rail’s 2019-24 control period. Work on TRU will mean blockades — weekends and probably some longer periods — of the line through Huddersfield, in turn meaning diversion of TransPennine Express trains via our Calder Valley line through Brighouse and Elland. We really hope this will not mean Network Rail saying “We can’t stop trains at Elland because we need to run too many diverted services along the route”. CP6 begins in a few weeks but, lacking a communicative fly on the wall at Network Rail HQ, it is still not clear what work will be scheduled when. If the works run till 2024 could it mean a two-year delay for Elland? Surely that must not be acceptable. We have waited long enough for a station originally envisaged as part of Brighouse line reopening nearly 20 years ago. But what if there were another possibility? With major works to put up electrification structures, and – we very much hope -add extra tracks, Huddersfield station could be temporarily closed for significant periods. So could Elland be a convenient alternative railhead for Huddersfield passengers? And so could there be a good argument for bringing the Elland project forward and opening the station sooner rather than later? HADRAG has asked the questions; we shall press for answers.