{"id":985,"date":"2013-03-30T17:42:51","date_gmt":"2013-03-30T17:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/?p=985"},"modified":"2013-03-30T17:42:51","modified_gmt":"2013-03-30T17:42:51","slug":"hopes-for-new-valley-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/?p=985","title":{"rendered":"“Hopes for New Valley Station”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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[from the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 30th March 2013]<\/h1>\n

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\"Slaithwaite<\/p>\n
Last day of former Slaithwaite Station in\u00a0 1968<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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THIS week has marked 50 years since the Beeching Report led to rural\u00a0 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\u00a0 trying to turn that around. <\/strong><\/p>\n

THE Beeching Report in effect wiped out the Colne Valley\u2019s local rail\u00a0 links.<\/p>\n

Transport expert Prof Paul Salveson is in no doubt that the impact was\u00a0 devastating \u2013 but another Huddersfield line that should have been axed got an\u00a0 11th-hour reprieve and has led the way nationwide in how a community can rally\u00a0 around its rail line.<\/p>\n

And one of the closed Beeching stations \u2013 Slaithwaite \u2013 re-opened in December\u00a0 1982 to buck the trend.<\/p>\n

Prof Salveson said:<\/p>\n

\u201cBeeching wiped out the Colne Valley\u2019s rail links with\u00a0 the closure of Slaithwaite, Longwood and Milnsbridge and Golcar. Marsden\u00a0survived with just a handful of trains.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But Huddersfield had lost other stations long before Beeching.<\/p>\n

Prof Salveson said:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Meltham branch had closed to passengers as early as\u00a0 1949 while Holmfirth trains ceased in 1959.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the Holmfirth branch had survived into the 1970s it would today be a\u00a0 prospering part of West Yorkshire\u2019s rail network.<\/p>\n

\u201cInstead, it\u2019s a town that\u2019s throttled by traffic and the buses get stuck as\u00a0 much as the cars and lorries.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven the Meltham branch might have done reasonably well as the \u2018western end\u2019 \u00a0 of a cross-county local network. The really tragic losses were the local\u00a0 stations in the Colne Valley. We\u2019ve got Slaithwaite back thanks to Metro, but we\u00a0 still need a station to serve Golcar and Milnsbridge.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

GLAM Trac \u2013 Golcar Longwood and Milnsbridge Transport Campaign \u2013 is\u00a0 organising a petition to get Metro to look seriously into a new station.<\/p>\n

Prof Salveson \u2013 who is also a Kirklees councillor \u2013 added:<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a local\u00a0 councillor for Golcar and Milnsbridge I believe passionately that a new station\u00a0 serving these communities would be a catalyst for economic\u00a0 regeneration.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cBeeching was wrong in closing them and Slaithwaite, which now carries a\u00a0 quarter of a million passengers each year, is clear evidence that people want to\u00a0 use local train services more than ever.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe aim now is for a single station which would be convenient for both\u00a0 Golcar and Milnsbridge.<\/p>\n

\u201cMilnsbridge needs a shot in the arm and a railway station would be the\u00a0 catalyst for wider regeneration.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s no accident that Slaithwaite and Marsden are doing relatively well\u00a0 economically while Milnsbridge still struggles.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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\u201cThey have their own stations yet Milnsbridge doesn\u2019t but it could come back\u00a0 into its own as a thriving local centre if the right infrastructure was\u00a0 provided.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

He added:<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big challenge facing local rail services is having enough room\u00a0 for expansion in the face of an increasing number of fast services on the\u00a0 TransPennine route. \u201cGovernment announcements on electrification are very\u00a0 welcome but that won\u2019t solve the capacity problems on its own. There is a need\u00a0 for additional track capacity to accommodate a half-hourly stopping service\u00a0 which would call at a new station for Golcar\/Milnsbridge, freight and special\u00a0 passenger trains.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of people move into the Colne Valley because there are good rail links\u00a0 with Leeds and Manchester and would certainly use a station serving the\u00a0 Milnsbridge and Golcar areas.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Prof Salveson added:<\/p>\n

\u201cAt least one operator wants to run trains from\u00a0 Huddersfield to London and under current plans it would be impossible.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s crazy to invest in a railway but only provide for limited capacity and\u00a0 no room for expansion.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[from the Huddersfield Daily Examiner, 30th March 2013] Last day of former Slaithwaite Station in\u00a0 1968 THIS week has marked 50 years since the Beeching Report led to rural\u00a0 train stations shutting. Local railway expert Prof Paul Salveson tells ANDREW … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[67],"class_list":["post-985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-golcarmilnsbridge-station-campaign","tag-golcarmilnsbridge-station-campaign"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=985"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":988,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/985\/revisions\/988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smart-rail.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}