If memory serves, in the early 1980s we had a basic hourly train service Leeds-Halifax-Manchester. A threat to cut the line to single track Bradford to Sowerby Bridge would have killed development. We needed an organisation to welcome improvements and demand more. So in 1985 we called Hadrag’s inaugural meeting.
Now, Mondays to Saturdays, Halifax has two trains/hour to Manchester, four to Leeds. The “Roses Rail Link” had begun in 1984 (so another 40th!) and is now scheduled hourly every day York-Halifax-Blackpool. We need this service to call at Sowerby Bridge, hourly, 7 days a week. Trains also run via Brighouse, reopened in in 2000. The hourly stopper Manchester- Todmorden-Brighouse-Dewsbury-Leeds was transformative when added to the (Leeds-)Bradford-Huddersfield trains in 2008. We say this direct service should also run on Sundays; West Yorkshire Combined Authority wants that too. Brighouse needs more trains, faster journeys to Leeds, all week. Brighouse, along with Bradford, Low Moor and Halifax is also served by Grand Central trains to London King’s Cross. Brighouse station usage grew percentage-wise faster than any other local station over more than 10 years before Covid. Why does Brighouse have effectively only one train an hour on its two essentially separate routes? And why does this big town have to put up with substitute buses when the line through Dewsbury is blocked for upgrade work? Can they not divert the trains as TransPennine do?
Elland station? The hope now is 2027.
In 2015 an all-party task force launched “Electric Sparks”, a well-considered proposal for electrification across the North. The full Calder Valley line was given top ranking linking West Yorkshire not just with Manchester but through East Lancs to Preston. Electric trains should by now be running on our lines through Bradford, Halifax and Brighouse. The Huddersfield line upgrade is underway – originally planned to be finished in 2019 – with a commitment to full wiring, as our line also needs. Hadrag with other cross-Pennine groups launched the Electric Railway Charter in Halifax. Big name supporters of CV line wiring include Calderdale Council and West Yorkshire Combined Authority. What, we wonder, about Transport for the North? We have some way to go.
ORR station footfall figures just out show continuing post-pandemic recovery. Full report in next Rail Views.
Meanwhile, we are engaging with train operators about performance. We used to say on good days it’s an excellent service, but recently some days have been dire. All taxpayers support the railway. All – young, old, able-bodied, or less mobile – should feel confident to use our trains. We all deserve better.
– JSW, 29 Nov’2024
“File:A class 101 approaches Copy Pit.jpg” by David Ingham from Bury, Lancashire, England is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.
Halifax and District Rail Action Group 