“Hynes seeks better trains for the North”

Posted on November 27, 2014 by admin

[from Rail Magazine, 26th November 2014]

At last, some sense from a senior railway industry figure.

“One of the things that really strikes me is that the gap between the quality of local services between the North and the South has actually widened.”

“People arrive on a sleek Pendolino train at Manchester Piccadilly, and then we put them on a Pacer to Marple.”

“We’ve talked about HS3 and speeding up journey times across the North, which is absolutely the right thing to do. But people still need to get into work in Leeds and Manchester.”

“The workers don’t live there, they need to get from the suburbs, and there needs to be a plan for that. At the moment I don’t see it.”

“You can’t keep speeding the inter-city services at the expense of local rail services.”

Alex Hynes, Managing Director of Northern Rail

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For reporting incidents on the ale trail

Posted on November 10, 2014 by admin

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“Rail campaigners all get on board with new Colne Valley transport group”

Posted on November 10, 2014 by admin

http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-news/rail-campaigners-board-new-colne-7671967

[from the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 26th August 2014]

Colne Valley rail campaigners have all got on board with the creation of a new, bumper transport group.

Members of Friends of Slaithwaite Station, SMART, Golcar Longwood and Milnsbridge Transport Campaign and Off the Rails have joined forces under the new banner Colne Valley Connections, to help speed ahead with their drive to create better public transport for residents in the area.

And now they want other community groups and more people to join them so they can put more pressure on authorities to act.

The group first came together to put forward their response to the new Northern and Trans-Pennine franchise bids that are currently under decision.

They would like to see a raft of priorities put in place by whoever is given the green light to run services, which includes the creation of a new station at Milnsbridge, better rolling stock, more frequent trains and full disabled access for Marsden station.

Rail expert and Golcar resident, Paul Salveson, who is involved in the new umbrella group, said:

“This gives all local rail campaigners an opportunitiy to be more effective in campaigns as we will be able to pool our knowledge and resources.

“As electrification is planned to be rolled out along this line over the next few years it is important that our community has a united voice to get our points of view across to those in charge of the projects.

“We want improved services, including a new station for Milnsbridge, better quality trains and more frequent services .

“We’re also keen to get full disabled access at Marsden Station and would like to see shops and booking offices introduced onto station platforms in the area.

“These are in place on the Lancashire side of the line so there is no reason why we should not be able to have the same for west Yorkshire residents.”

The group will shortly be setting up a Facebook page and any community group or individual who is interested in getting involved and expressing their views should email paul at paul.salveson@btinternet.com

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“HS3 should be completed before HS2 reaches Yorkshire, says Railfuture campaign”

Posted on October 30, 2014 by admin

[from the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 29th October 2014]

 

Transport campaigners have called for an earlier start to the huge HS3 project to free up slower lines serving Huddersfield stations.

Railfuture says work on a high-speed Leeds to Manchester line – dubbed ‘HS3’ – should start before the controversial HS2 line reaches Yorkshire.

The campaign group proposes a slower 125mph between the two cities to save costs and start work sooner.

HS3, backed on Monday by Prime Minister David Cameron, will see huge investment in the east-west rail linkes across the Pennines and will halve the 40-mile journey time between Leeds and Manchester.

But it is unlikely the service will stop in Huddersfield because of the speeds involved.

The transport group Railfuture says HS3 should use the old Woodhead route, freeing up the existing line between the two cities and creating a faster link to Sheffield.

The new capacity will also enable a new station to be built at Milnsbridge, and for a semi-fast service to run from the Calder Valley to Leeds via Dewsbury, Railfuture said.

Nina Smith, chair of Railfuture Yorkshire Branch, said:

“It cannot wait for HS2 to reach Yorkshire.

“Costs should be kept down by building it as a 125mph route rather than an ultra-high speed line.

“Early completion is essential, not just to join up the ‘northern powerhouse’ cities, but also to free up space on both the Huddersfield and Hope Valley lines so that more semi-fast and stopping services can be run to serve the communities along those routes.”

“Another advantage of a new high speed route will be to use it for fast container and other freight services between Hull, Manchester and Liverpool (and Ireland), thus removing some of the very heavy M62 lorry traffic.

“The new route will therefore need to be four-track in places.”

http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/west-yorkshire-news/hs3-should-completed-before-hs2-8012348

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