Low Moor - new station - now open

[Spartacus]

Uncharted, or badly charted, mine shafts and workings are just one reason I laugh at people who think Leeds should have some sort of underground, it's bound to be a rabbit warren of flooding or gas filled workings under there.

 

[cavie78]

Uncharted, or badly charted, mine shafts and workings are just one reason I laugh at people who think Leeds should have some sort of underground, it's bound to be a rabbit warren of flooding or gas filled workings under there.

Leeds should have an underground because it's a massive city without adequate transport infrastructure. There are plenty of nasty things under London.

 

[Spartacus]

They tend to be very well documented though, and even then people still keep drilling holes into them.

 

[quantinghome]

Leeds should have an underground because it's a massive city without adequate transport infrastructure. There are plenty of nasty things under London.

Um, London Clay is considered a pretty ideal tunnelling medium.


Anyway, I'm not sure an underground is such a great idea even if it was practical. Stations would be more spread out than bus or tram stops, and it would take time to get to platforms from street level. As a result, the extra time to get to the train would wipe out the advantage of a faster service.

 

[edwin_m]

Metrolink shows what can be achieved with surface running in the city centre, provided the will is there to do something about roadspace reallocation.

 

[quantinghome]

Metrolink shows what can be achieved with surface running in the city centre, provided the will is there to do something about roadspace reallocation.

That's been done a long time ago in Leeds. A public transport box was created around the pedestrian core, with cars kept further out on a loop around the centre. Originally intended for use by the supertram, it's now planned for the t-bus.

The difference with Manchester is that leeds has no rail routes that can be readily converted to tram, and there are great swathes of the city with no current or past railway lines.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I'm afraid I didn't, neither from the bus nor from the Blackpool to York 158 which I passed the site half an hour earlier on.

If you do notice anything new at Low Moor, be sure to post it on this thread.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

If you do notice anything new at Low Moor, be sure to post it on this thread.

Will do, though I only head that way every 2 or 3 weeks.

 

[Ianigsy]

Bradford Council's transport boss, Councillor Val Slater, who also sits on the Combined Authority transport committee, said the delay couldn't be helped as safety had to come first.

She said: "When the design was done the old maps indicated that there was a mine shaft there. However, when work began, the maps were inaccurate and it wasn't where it said it was on the map, it was somewhere else.

"Unfortunately, it was right where the passenger lift was meant to go."

Missed opportunity for underground parking?

Having commuted into Leeds for nearly 18 years ago, its transport problems exercise me from time to time- somebody always has to be the biggest city in Europe without light rail or a metro, but in the case of Leeds I think it's a case of terrain and short-sighted post war planning. In particular, many of the most affluent suburbs are situated on a massif to the north and substantially higher than the city centre, which the Victorians built around and which wasn't much developed until the inter-war period at the earliest. Of course if Leeds were in Germany, you'd have an S-bahn solution taking the Harrogate and Castleford lines under City station, out again at Marsh Lane and turning back at Micklefield!

I do wonder whether the changes that technology is bringing to the working world are also making the various authorities reluctant to fund innovative solutions in case by the time they come to fruition in 10-20 years' time, we aren't working 9-5 five days a week.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Passed through Low Moor earlier, slowly but surely it's starting to look like a station. Platforms now partially surfaced, lift tower on the up almost complete, didn't see the down. No footbridge span as yet, obviously!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
By the way, the trains I was on in both directions were Huddersfield services so will eventually call at Low Moor. Both had extensive waits at Halifax which will presumably get shorter once LMR opens.

 

[47802]

With just 120 car parking spaces with only access from unimproved local roads I can't see the locals being too pleased with the increased traffic and street parking if the station is popular.

I can't understand why there is no direct access from the non too distant M606.
K

The nearby Industrial Estate has access from the M606 but no access from Cleckheaton Road. I presume this has been done to prevent HGV accessing the industrial estate from Cleckheaton Road and prevent car drivers using it as a short cut to and from the M606.

Therefore for access from the M606 you would need a separate car park which doesn't have access to Cleckheaton Road, and the station would ideally on the Bradford side of Cleckheaton Road rather than the Halifax side where it is currently being built. I suspect the proposed service has neither the frequency or capacity to handle a major Park and Ride Service at present.

If the Spen Valley line were ever to reopen I think it would be more suited to a Tram Train operation than a heavy rail service and perhaps a Park and Ride scheme could be incorporated as well.

Even though I live fairly close to Low Moor although not close enough to walk except when I have a long walk on the cycleway, I'm still sceptical as to how useful it will be.

 

[AndyHudds]

The nearby Industrial Estate has access from the M606 but no access from Cleckheaton Road. I presume this has been done to prevent HGV accessing the industrial estate from Cleckheaton Road and prevent car drivers using it as a short cut to and from the M606.

Therefore for access from the M606 you would need a separate car park which doesn't have access to Cleckheaton Road, and the station would ideally on the Bradford side of Cleckheaton Road rather than the Halifax side where it is currently being built. I suspect the proposed service has neither the frequency or capacity to handle a major Park and Ride Service at present.

If the Spen Valley line were ever to reopen I think it would be more suited to a Tram Train operation than a heavy rail service and perhaps a Park and Ride scheme could be incorporated as well.

Even though I live fairly close to Low Moor although not close enough to walk except when I have a long walk on the cycleway, I'm still sceptical as to how useful it will be.

If the Spen Valley line was to re-open it would be highly expensive, where does it go at Ravensthorpe? You'd need to build in a connection in Leeds direction, one in the Huddersfield direction and reconnect it into the Wakefield Line. What would make it more useful would be to open the Horbury Curve at the same time to give access for Bradford to South Yorkshire and the East Midlands. I do think the Spen Valley needs to be back on the rail map, as it has a large population with no access to rail but I don't know if it ever will, I've never seen any kind of concerted campaign to get it re-opened or any kind of feasibility studies done on it.

 

[47802]

If the Spen Valley line was to re-open it would be highly expensive, where does it go at Ravensthorpe? You'd need to build in a connection in Leeds direction, one in the Huddersfield direction and reconnect it into the Wakefield Line. What would make it more useful would be to open the Horbury Curve at the same time to give access for Bradford to South Yorkshire and the East Midlands. I do think the Spen Valley needs to be back on the rail map, as it has a large population with no access to rail but I don't know if it ever will, I've never seen any kind of concerted campaign to get it re-opened or any kind of feasibility studies done on it.

Of course reopening the Spen Valley route wouldn't be cheap no reopening is and I'm not expecting it anytime soon or maybe even in my lifetime, however the track bed is essentially intact so it potentially has e a better chance than some.

I dont agree there is great need for connections all over the place at the Dewsbury end, or for it to be a through heavy rail route to Sheffield there are other ways of doing that from Bradford either via Halifax or the new Northern Connect service to Nottingham that will go via Leeds.

The concentration in my view should be as a local tram train route, which could offer more stations on the Spen Valley conurbation than heavy rail, along with it being easier to fit in tram stop type stations now at Cleckheaton and Heckmondwike and potentially retain the popular cycleway as well. Initially you could look at a scheme as far as Heckmondwike with a longer term goal of a route into Dewsbury Rail Station

 

[bluenoxid]

What is the land like near Chain Bar and the railway bridges. Could a car park go in with a shuttle/service to Leeds

 

[61653 HTAFC]

What is the land like near Chain Bar and the railway bridges. Could a car park go in with a shuttle/service to Leeds

That'd be doable depending on how much money you want to throw at it. The bridge over the M62 still stands just west of the motorway junction, but the railway formation is at a significantly higher elevation than the A-roads that intersect at said junction. I'm also not sure if a parkway for Leeds would do well if the trains/tram-trains have to run into Bradford Interchange and back out again.

 

[AndyHudds]

Where would the car park go, on the A58?

 

[47802]

What is the land like near Chain Bar and the railway bridges. Could a car park go in with a shuttle/service to Leeds

As a Park and Ride it would really have to be aimed at Bradford more than Leeds and Chain Bar Roundabout doesn't need any more traffic its bad enough as it is at peak time.

I would say a more ideal location would be the Euroway Estate Junction, and then access via Staithgate Lane or Transperience Way with a station their
rather than the Current Low Moor Station.

Anyway I guess we are starting to get off the point now.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Well, as Kirkstall Forge finally opened today, perhaps this Low Moor thread will begin to attract more contributors.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Well, as Kirkstall Forge finally opened today, perhaps this Low Moor thread will begin to attract more contributors.

I'll have a look at what's what tomorrow, either from the train or the 268 bus, or both.

 

[Francis]

Well, as Kirkstall Forge finally opened today, perhaps this Low Moor thread will begin to attract more contributors.

I had a Northern Rail day rover yesterday, and was on the 1645 Shipley (ex-Skipton) to Leeds. It left on time and then was stopped repeatedly at signals. The guard said that the opening of Kirkstall Forge was causing congestion problems with the Skipton/Ilkley line trains. Teething problems, but maybe they will have to loosen up the timetable a bit. That whole Midland route down into Leeds looks as if it was once four track, now only two track. Needs extra capacity!
I wasn't pleased because I had planned to go on the only daily train Leeds to Goole and missed it!

 

[johntea]

Bad news for Low Moor, delayed by at least another TEN MONTHS(!) due to apparently more mines

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/14620419.New_station_runs_into_further_delay/

 

[PR1Berske]

And lo this thread returns to its slumber...

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Bad news for Low Moor, delayed by at least another TEN MONTHS(!) due to apparently more mines

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/14620419.New_station_runs_into_further_delay/

I wonder how this news will be given a gloss stating how far more important health and safety is when compared to mundane matters such as full ground evaluation tests that were carried out, but then not expanded in remit, in the early stages of this new railway station development....

Incidentally, is it not the case that May 2017 is also the latest opening date for the new Cambridge North railway station?

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Bad news for Low Moor, delayed by at least another TEN MONTHS(!) due to apparently more mines

http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/14620419.New_station_runs_into_further_delay/

Hopefully it is mine WORKINGS rather than "mines" causing the issues, as the latter would be a hazard requiring, in the words of the late Capt. Edmund Blackadder, the standard procedure which is to jump fifty feet into the the air and then scatter oneself over a wide area...

 

[lejog]

I wonder how this news will be given a gloss stating how far more important health and safety is when compared to mundane matters such as full ground evaluation tests that were carried out, but then not expanded in remit, in the early stages of this new railway station development....

I've heard that the surveys were a sorry tale, so looked up the Ground Investigation Report here.

• Records showed 4 mineshafts within the boundaries of the development.
• A significant circular feature named "Mineshaft 4" was discovered in an initial 2004 survey and its position was recorded by GPS as 8-10m north of the track.
• A full survey was carried out in 2011, digging trenches to investigate this feature but no signs of it were found in the recorded position.
• No trenches were dug within 5 metres of the line to avoid the possibility of subsidence.
• It was concluded that the feature identified in 2004 was not a mineshaft, although warnings were given that mineshafts may be encountered during construction.

It seems that the 2004 survey wrongly recorded the position of the mineshaft and that the 2011 survey didn't spot the circular feature nearer the track.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Any further news on the specific problem over the last six weeks that have since been made public with regards to the nearness of any shaft to the current running line.

I would be interested to know if there have been other such recorded occurrences in other areas.

 

[SAS1979]

Any idea when this station will finally be finished now?

 

[lejog]

Still due May 2017, as reported today in The Telegraph & Argus.

The under-construction £10.8 million Low Moor railway station has suffered a series of delays, most recently this summer, when the opening date was put back by a further ten months as teams searched for more hidden mine workings.

A 60m-deep mine shaft had been discovered at the site earlier in the year, prompting the extra surveys.

But now a new report, which will go before the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Bradford sub-committee on Friday, says a May opening is still being worked towards.

......

It adds: “Previously unrecorded mine workings, discovered on the northern side of the new station development, are currently being treated.

"This requires substantial engineering works, including the filling and capping of two previously unidentified shafts.

“The capping of these shafts is almost complete and, when finished, will allow the remainder of the station platforms and lift shaft and footbridge to be completed.”

 

[Grumpy]

Still due May 2017.

Well they're certainly trying. Passed this morning (Saturday) and there were plenty of staff on site working on the towers for the lift/footbridge.

 

[mm333]

The T&A are reporting that it will now open on Sunday 2 April http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co....or_long_awaited_railway_station/?ref=mrb&lp=3

The article says the first train to call will be the 0830/0832 to Halifax. Although the GC to London is due through at 0802. Are Grand Central calling from day 1?