Appeal for help/ers 09-08-23:
Dear All,
Please can you talk together and sort or source people to get photos of the 'now' Woodhead rail route esp. the Woodhead Tunnels and adjacent road A628 being 'busy'. Really need feedback, not just criticism but other sources. I attach what is done more or less so far. But I need a team effort please before we can finish and put it out. All offers to help gratefully welcomed.
Regards,
Richard
ERTA
Update from Chris Bell: 02-06-23 (views may vary from ERTA perspectives):
To briefly sum up, I updated on progress of Don Valley Railway.
-The outline strategic business case for the bid to the Restoring Your Railways fund has been approved and we are awaiting further news on the Strategic Business Case Bid.
-At the same time the Barrow Hill Line RYR bid is further on and the Strategic Business Case is being developed.
-There are discussions on the potential of combining the two projects and in some way looking at aspirations to maximise and optimise rail capacity into Sheffield by reopening Sheffield Victoria as a second rail hub.
-I also set out the potential of creating a 4train /hour cross city rapid transit corridor between Wadsley Bridge and Woodhouse to match tram to Brighton aspirations expressed by Clive Betts MP. This would be created by extending 1/2 hrly Chesterfield - Sheffield (via Barrow Hill) to Chesterfield and a 1/2hrly Stocksbridge/Deepcar service towards Worksop improving frequency by avoiding the constraints of nunnery main line junction.
-I also pointed out that moving other services to Victoria from Midland could assist in delivering more Sheffield City Centre Capacity and significantly increase the number of hourly destinations accessible by direct train services.
- Moving Lincoln and Gainsborough Central services creating 2 express and 2 stopping services to Worksop every hour could improve this service to that currently offered between Sheffield and Barnsley. Service on this corridor could be created by extending the Robin Hood Line service creating direct services from Mansfield etc to Sheffield.
-The Kirton Lindsay line services could be deparliamentrified and go to Barton on Humber (in line with another RYR bid) as well as Cleethorpes.
If Barrow Hill line trains are extended to Nottingham diverted via Trent Valley calling at Alfreton, Langley Mill, Ilkeston, Attenborough and Beeston it may be possible to upgrade the all-purpose service to an Intercity style fast supplemented by a stopping service.
-If the Sheffield - Leeds via Dearne stopper is diverted to Victoria and supplemented by a deparliamentrified Sheffield to York via pontefract hourly service this may allow a 2/hr Nottingham to Leeds and Bradford service achieving Northern Powerhouse Rail frequency aspirations with slight timetable adjustments to Nottingham-Liverpool & Cross Country services.
Regarding Woodhead route beyond Deepcar, SYMCA are keen to develop the link to Penistone, though I personally have doubts over its viability compared with other options favouring options via Barnsley to serve other west West Yorkshire destinations.
SYMCA are dismissive of reaching Manchester despite uncertainties of benefit of Hope Valley Line up grade.
Therefore I now categorise Woodhead along with Matlock Buxton aspirations as not in my lifetime.
I hope that summary is of assistance
Yours, Chris Bell
Update on 29-05-2023 Have your say, support our calls for rebuilding Colne-Skipton and Woodhead and join ERTA and offer to become a volunteer - it all helps get things progressing and done. ERTA wants Colne-Skipton and Woodhead amongst other rebuilds made a top priority: https://transportforthenorth.com/our-north/strategic-transport-plan/ and https://ertarail.co.uk/
On
Saturday 20th May I attended the ERTA Sheffield meeting being held
at the Benjamin Huntsman which is a Wetherspoons pub and there were 5 people
there - our members David Ferguson and Christopher Hyomes, plus Stephen Chaytow
(MEMRAP) and Chris Bell (Don Valley Railway). The following items were
discussed:
·
MEMRAP (Buxton/Chinley - Matlock) -
There is expected to be an increase in aggregate production which is being
planned.
·
Buxton will be connected to Chinley
via a freight-only line using a Very Light Railway (similar to what is proposed
for Coventry).
·
Ambergate North curve is being
proposed, linking the Matlock branch and the line to Sheffield.
·
Don Valley Railway - Outline
Strategic Business case. Hopefully this will become a Full Business case and
then the Department of Transport.
·
Barrow Hill Railway - That is a
freight-only line from Chesterfield to Woodhouse, and there is now a Full
Business case.
·
Woodhead - There is at present a shortage of construction workers.
We
also discussed the re-opening of the Doncaster - Knottingley railway line
(freight-only line) including the re-opening of Askern Station. Notes by Chris
Hyomes and Simon Barber.
ERTA is only as good as its members inform. We aim to
get back to Sheffield and welcome people to turn out and engage positively. We
still need photos for Woodhead Report to proceed please. Contact richard.erta@gmail.com with firm offers. It is all voluntary for a good
cause – reopening lines!
You may wish to see this article as well:
https://www.itv.com/news/granada/2023-05-25/72-million-boost-for-train-services-in-the-north Ask why Colne-Skipton is not being given the go-ahead despite a good case well argued?!
See also: https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place/Woodhead,+Glossop+SK13+1JA/@53.496728,-1.8717302,15z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m6!3m5!1s0x487bce3038b1bd91:0x4b20a2b276dc139b!8m2!3d53.496729!4d-1.861409!16zL20vMDVuMmsw?hl=en&entry=ttu A628 parallels the old railway route, it is congested and calls for expansion in a National Park (!) abound and yet people like Pip Dunn say there's no business case and that seems a popular stance, without any studies or presented research beyond secret purportation of HS2/3 - which does large conurbations, but as of design, misses out interim places and with no interim local-regional rails, defaults gap-wise to more roads = bad for the environment. This is the time to take action for the local railway to be restored as much as reasonably possible. Join ERTA to get your rail oar into the mix! https://ertarail.co.uk/
Further comment 04-06-2023
Please can you head hunt to find someone willing to take photos of the former Woodhead trackbed - not more than half a dozen or so, Then I can finish my report. Then I can market it on-line and add a bit of weight to the debate on Woodhead rebuild itself.
I can't go there for many reasons, but we need photos asap to pep up the report and for me to use on social media of a 'now' railway, not past glories.
If anyone is willing to help, please let me know.
As a southerner I have to tread carefully, but feel a. there's a rivalry between Leeds and Sheffield and east-west of Pennines; b. there's a diversity of views which means translates to varied agendas which then gets interpreted as 'not knowing exactly the definitive answer' so we get fudge of agencies courting high salaries, trading reports and organising conferences, but absence is spades on the ground as far as reopenings/rebuilds are concerned. Correct me if wrong, but that is my impression. It may also be elsewhere around Britain too, but with limited resources, we can but reach out via the forums, people can use them to introduce new-comers to ERTA, join and volunteer to be either area reps or general helpers where they live. The more we grow, the more we can aspire to do and better. That is how it works, delegated responsibility and leadership from the
EC in prioritising.
We do not wish to be like some organisations who plum for popularism and never get to the Haverhill's and Circencesters' of this world as they don't believe in them, we can aspire to try and raise the game across a wide spectrum and be inclusive. In the 1980's I was told by a Labour MP that Robin Hood Bay line linking Scarborough and Whitby was too far gone and no demand, yet now we see renewed interest and probably desecrated by development as per north of Ripon to Northallerton? We need teams who get in there, make the case and oppose blight/foster reworking to ensure a rail can be got through.
Thoughts?
On the one hand HS2/3 offers principal place to principal place and nothing in between. So driving to a principal place to catch a long distance speed train is probable and/or existing rail commute and change? But what about interim places of places where existing rails and/or criss-cross rail links don't exist anymore? I am not saying 'reopen everything' even as some give that impression, but neither am I saying throw the baby out with the bathwater either and reject everything and swallow Beeching era negativity whole.
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