[from the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 30th March 2013]
THIS week has marked 50 years since the Beeching Report led to rural train stations shutting. Local railway expert Prof Paul Salveson tells ANDREW HIRST the impact it had on the Huddersfield area and the ongoing problems in trying to turn that around.
THE Beeching Report in effect wiped out the Colne Valley’s local rail links.
Transport expert Prof Paul Salveson is in no doubt that the impact was devastating – but another Huddersfield line that should have been axed got an 11th-hour reprieve and has led the way nationwide in how a community can rally around its rail line.
And one of the closed Beeching stations – Slaithwaite – re-opened in December 1982 to buck the trend.
Prof Salveson said:
“Beeching wiped out the Colne Valley’s rail links with the closure of Slaithwaite, Longwood and Milnsbridge and Golcar. Marsden survived with just a handful of trains.”
But Huddersfield had lost other stations long before Beeching.
Prof Salveson said:
“The Meltham branch had closed to passengers as early as 1949 while Holmfirth trains ceased in 1959.
“If the Holmfirth branch had survived into the 1970s it would today be a prospering part of West Yorkshire’s rail network.
“Instead, it’s a town that’s throttled by traffic and the buses get stuck as much as the cars and lorries.
“Even the Meltham branch might have done reasonably well as the ‘western end’ of a cross-county local network. The really tragic losses were the local stations in the Colne Valley. We’ve got Slaithwaite back thanks to Metro, but we still need a station to serve Golcar and Milnsbridge.”
GLAM Trac – Golcar Longwood and Milnsbridge Transport Campaign – is organising a petition to get Metro to look seriously into a new station.
Prof Salveson – who is also a Kirklees councillor – added:
“As a local councillor for Golcar and Milnsbridge I believe passionately that a new station serving these communities would be a catalyst for economic regeneration.
“Beeching was wrong in closing them and Slaithwaite, which now carries a quarter of a million passengers each year, is clear evidence that people want to use local train services more than ever.
“The aim now is for a single station which would be convenient for both Golcar and Milnsbridge.
“Milnsbridge needs a shot in the arm and a railway station would be the catalyst for wider regeneration.
“It’s no accident that Slaithwaite and Marsden are doing relatively well economically while Milnsbridge still struggles.
“They have their own stations yet Milnsbridge doesn’t but it could come back into its own as a thriving local centre if the right infrastructure was provided.”
He added:
“The big challenge facing local rail services is having enough room for expansion in the face of an increasing number of fast services on the TransPennine route. “Government announcements on electrification are very welcome but that won’t solve the capacity problems on its own. There is a need for additional track capacity to accommodate a half-hourly stopping service which would call at a new station for Golcar/Milnsbridge, freight and special passenger trains.
“A lot of people move into the Colne Valley because there are good rail links with Leeds and Manchester and would certainly use a station serving the Milnsbridge and Golcar areas.”
Prof Salveson added:
“At least one operator wants to run trains from Huddersfield to London and under current plans it would be impossible.
“It’s crazy to invest in a railway but only provide for limited capacity and no room for expansion.”
Read more: Examiner http://www.examiner.co.uk/news/local-west-yorkshire-news/2013/03/30/how-beeching-s-rail-axe-affected-huddersfield-s-stations-86081-33086403/#ixzz2P2avmQtr
