The Northern and Trans-Pennine rail franchises are due to be re-awarded in April 2014 (without going into detail there is some flexibility as to the exact date, but this looks the most likely) and the Department for Transport (with advice and assistance from Network Rail) are in the process of drawing up new franchise specifications.
As part of the new franchise, there’s an aspiration to provide six trains an hour (up from the present four) between Manchester and Leeds via Huddersfield, facilitated in part by a new curve in Manchester (the Ordsall chord) which will allow trains to run directly from Manchester Victoria to Manchester Piccadilly. The Ordsall chord is part of the Northern Hub proposals, and it has been approved with funding identified, anticipated completion 2016. So far, all very commendable.
Another part of the Northern Hub proposals is to reopen the two disused tunnels at Standedge, which will give four tracks between Marsden and Diggle, allowing fast trains to overtake slower ones and thereby substantially increasing the capacity of the route. There’s also a proposal to electrify the route between Manchester and York, which will allow more trains to run (because electric trains have better acceleration) and result in the current obsolete trains being replaced by something better.
[At the moment it looks like reopening of the tunnels and electrification are alternatives. Both would increase capacity. At present it looks unlikely that both would take place.]
Again, all very commendable and something which SMART strongly supports and as soon as practicable.
However, at the moment reopening the disused tunnels and electrification are just proposals, neither funded nor approved. These proposals were re-announced last week, but there’s no certainty as to when or if they will go ahead. They may happen, at some unspecified date in the future.
[Passengers of a certain age may recall being at a public meeting at the Riverhead Tap in Marsden in 1999, at which proposals for reopening the disused tunnels, along with reinstatement of four tracks between Huddersfield and Diggle and rebuilding of Marsden and Slaithwaite stations, were announced. Glossy brochures were distributed. Let’s hope it doesn’t take another 12 years before something like this is approved and implemented.]
So, if you’re in the Department for Transport or Network Rail, and your lords and masters have told you that you need to plan for six express trains per hour between Leeds and Manchester in the new franchise specification but you can’t assume you have the increased capacity from either reopening the tunnels or electrification, what do you do?
A proposal currently being examined is that after 2016 when the Ordsall Chord has been built six express trains per hour will run between Leeds and Manchester. As one path an hour is needed for freight that would leave no paths for the stopping service.
The proposal is that four expresses would run from Leeds to Manchester Victoria calling only at Huddersfield. These would continue from Victoria, alternately, to Liverpool and to Piccadilly and Manchester Airport.
To make up the six trains per hour two “semi fasts” would run:- Leeds to Dewsbury to Huddersfield to Stalybridge to Manchester. Each of these “semi-fasts” would stop at two of the four stations between Huddersfield and Stalybridge, in order to retain some semblance of a service to Slaithwaite, Marsden, Greenfield and Mossley. This would mean that it would in future it would be impossible say to go directly from Greenfield to Marsden (or other combination) without going via Huddersfield or Stalybridge. This takes us back to something resembling the local service which existed circa 1987.
There has been some discussion as to which combination of stations each “semi-fast” should call at – Slaithwaite+Marsden and Greenfield+Mossley, or Slaithwaite+Greenfield and Marsden+Mossley. One of these suggestions would mean no direct train service between Slaithwaite and Marsden, apparently this would not matter because “the local bus services provide excellent links between Marsden and Slaithwaite”. Excellent in this context is a euphemism for “frequent but a lot slower and more expensive”. Hopefully this suggestion will not be taken any further.
Marsden to Greenfield will no longer be a 6 mile, 8 minute journey. Instead, it will be a 20 mile round trip changing at either Huddersfield or Stalybridge, taking at least 30 minutes and probably considerably longer. The only thing which won’t change is the eye-watering fare.
Transport for Greater Manchester have been consulted on this, and it would be very surprising if their counterparts at West Yorkshire Integrated Transport Authority (that’s what used to be “Metro”) had not also been consulted.
Not every aspect of the proposal is bad. Those trains which call at Slaithwaite and Marsden would go to Piccadilly instead of Victoria, which will suit some passengers and not others. A direct train to Leeds with a slightly reduced jurney time is a definite benefit. However, reinstatement of the direct link with Leeds should not be dependent on the loss of services between intermediate stations. In our view this is outweighed by loss of the ability to travel from Slaithwaite and Marsden to other intermediate stations.
If all this comes to pass there is no guarantee that we would ever regain the stopping service or ever get the 30-minute service which we have been campaigning for. Once something has been cut, it can be very difficult to get it back.
Why is it an issue now, when the changes would not take place until 2016, which seems a long way off? Because, in spite of appearances, running a railway takes some serious forward planning and the decision-making process is already in progress. By next year decisions about the train services from 2016 will have been made, so now is the time to try to influence the decision-making process.
Our view is that there should be no cuts to the local service, and any increase in the number of fast services between Leeds and Manchester should only take place when (by reopening the tunnels and/or electrification) it can be provided without damaging the local service.
It’s possible (though somewhat ambitious) that reopening of the tunnels and/or electrification could be completed by December 2016, in which case cuts to the local service would no longer be on the agenda.
SHRUG has contacted all the MPs along the route, along with various councillors, TfGM and WYITA, and their responses are awaited.
October 1st 2011, updated November 4th 2011
Brilliant resume of the situation, keep it up.
Slawit77