Now that Northern Powerhouse Rail has mutated into Marsden Poorhouse Rail (I know that's unfair), how does Bradford benefit from the HS network?
The city (centre) gains a direct electrified route to Leeds, with a small but significant time saving. Travel towards London will be no better or worse than for anywhere else in West Yorkshire. It is the Manchester direction where the abandonment of the original NPR routing (and yes, I know it was optimistic to hope for it) will be most noticeable.
So how do things stand?
1. Interchange to Piccadilly via Leeds and "HS3" will eventually take 55min - which is the same as the better diesel time to Victoria now.
2. Interchange to Huddersfield via Halifax is slow and indirect, and I can't see a massive speed-up being possible, so it is unlikely to be quicker than (1).
(2a. It would theoretically be possible to build/rebuild a more direct route (about 3 miles shorter) via Bailiff Bridge, but that misses Brighouse as well as Halifax. Or (more expensive!) to follow the Spen Valley from Low Moor to Cleckheaton and then tunnel towards Heaton Lodge Jn. I can't see the remotest chance of either of these.)
3. This leaves the existing Calder Valley route. Electrify it (see numerous comments in the "why Leeds to Bradford?" thread), and introduce a half-hourly service via Castlefield to Piccadilly (and beyond); even with the present stopping pattern it should be possible to do the journey in 50min to Victoria and 60min to Piccadilly.
Obviously this means a recast of the Calder Valley services, but that will happen anyway.
A modest proposal - any better ideas?
The city (centre) gains a direct electrified route to Leeds, with a small but significant time saving. Travel towards London will be no better or worse than for anywhere else in West Yorkshire. It is the Manchester direction where the abandonment of the original NPR routing (and yes, I know it was optimistic to hope for it) will be most noticeable.
So how do things stand?
1. Interchange to Piccadilly via Leeds and "HS3" will eventually take 55min - which is the same as the better diesel time to Victoria now.
2. Interchange to Huddersfield via Halifax is slow and indirect, and I can't see a massive speed-up being possible, so it is unlikely to be quicker than (1).
(2a. It would theoretically be possible to build/rebuild a more direct route (about 3 miles shorter) via Bailiff Bridge, but that misses Brighouse as well as Halifax. Or (more expensive!) to follow the Spen Valley from Low Moor to Cleckheaton and then tunnel towards Heaton Lodge Jn. I can't see the remotest chance of either of these.)
3. This leaves the existing Calder Valley route. Electrify it (see numerous comments in the "why Leeds to Bradford?" thread), and introduce a half-hourly service via Castlefield to Piccadilly (and beyond); even with the present stopping pattern it should be possible to do the journey in 50min to Victoria and 60min to Piccadilly.
Obviously this means a recast of the Calder Valley services, but that will happen anyway.
A modest proposal - any better ideas?
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