My Idea - Extend Huddersfield - Castleford services to York

[yorksrob]

I was sat on the Castleford to Huddersfield service today and was impressed about how its popularity from Cass and Normanton is growing (7 on from Normy).

Why not extend the service eastwards to York. This would have the following benefits:

It would connect the Five towns area, which requires some regeneration, with York, one of the most successful City economies in the region.

It would provide much improved connectivity not only from the five towns, but also from Wakefield to the east of the country.

Wakefield gets an extra direct service to York, as do Deighton and Mirfield.

Sherburn gets a better service.

It could pick up Ulleskelf and Church Fenton, allowing York - Hull to be speeded up.

The benefits are myriad.

 

[4-SUB 4732]

I was sat on the Castleford to Huddersfield service today and was impressed about how its popularity from Cass and Normanton is growing (7 on from Normy).

Why not extend the service eastwards to York. This would have the following benefits:

It would connect the Five towns area, which requires some regeneration, with York, one of the most successful City economies in the region.

It would provide much improved connectivity not only from the five towns, but also from Wakefield to the east of the country.

Wakefield gets an extra direct service to York, as do Deighton and Mirfield.

Sherburn gets a better service.

It could pick up Ulleskelf and Church Fenton, allowing York - Hull to be speeded up.

The benefits are myriad.

I'm sure if it was that easy it would have been done.

 

[yorkie]

I'm sure if it was that easy it would have been done.

I think it would be easy; you'd probably just need extra stock. However the issue probably isn't whether it is easy but it's more likely to be a case that it would be unwise to introduce it until the current rolling stock and crewing shortages are solved.

But after that, why not?

Platform utilisation might be an issue at York, but it shouldn't be: platform 1 is typically only used by the hourly Hull services and the infrequent Dearne Valley services. Even then, Dearne Valley trains frequently use other platforms anyway. Also platform 6 has plenty of spare capacity in the hours that LNER don't terminate there.

 

[LMS 4F]

A good idea but I have to think very unlikely. The service from Pontefract Baghill is appalling and of limited use to anyone wanting to use it for commuting. I have been led to believe it is because North Yorks Council has no money to support the service and as beyond Castleford towards York is all in North Yorkshire then presumably the same would apply.
In addition from Castleford to Monk Fryston is currently freight only and would require investment.
Add to that the need for extra units and staff and it all means that it is unlikely for a long time, if ever.

 

[yorkie]

In addition from Castleford to Monk Fryston is currently freight only and would require investment.

Not true.

Ignoring railtours I have been on many passenger trains via Castleford; it's a regular routeing.

There were 8 passenger trains scheduled to go via Castleford between York & Leeds today!

 

[4-SUB 4732]

The most likely reason is that the main towns / cities (Huddersfield, Wakefield) are already well-linked to York (or easily via Leeds), and the Castleford turnarounds are mainly for people to get to/from Leeds which is the conurbation of choice.

Direct flows like Mirfield to York are extremely unlikely to fill even a 153.

 

[yorkie]

The most likely reason is that the main towns / cities (Huddersfield, Wakefield) are already well-linked to York (or easily via Leeds), and the Castleford turnarounds are mainly for people to get to/from Leeds which is the conurbation of choice.

If you are suggesting there isn't much demand for Castleford to York I think you are mistaken. When the Scarborough Spa Express went that way, the number of people getting off (after having had a day in York or Scarborough) was staggering.

Direct flows like Mirfield to York are extremely unlikely to fill even a 153.

No-one is suggesting you would "fill" a train but the service is currently not as well used as it should be; I think that extending it to York would reduce the number of empty seats that you currently have on this service as it would make the service more useful.

Huddersfield - Wakefield is always going to be a lightly used route, there is no getting away from it. But, having made the decision to extend to Castleford, it makes sense to continue to York.

Mirfield to York would benefit marginally but Castleford to York would be a huge benefit; you are talking about a journey time of about a third of the existing journey time.

But it's not just about providing a better service to York from those towns, but also improving the Hull to York route. There is a big demand for Hull to York transport but the existing rail journey time is too slow for rail to be competitive. The journey time direct is 20 minutes, but via Sherburn & Church Fenton it's more like 32 minutes.

Some trains do Hull to York in just under an hour. That's not great but it's acceptable. If all trains could be accelerated to take under an hour, instead of over 1 hour 10, that would be a boost.

Some proposals would cost a lot of money and never be viable. This isn't in that category.

 

[4-SUB 4732]

If you are suggesting there isn't much demand for Castleford to York I think you are mistaken. When the Scarborough Spa Express went that way, the number of people getting off (after having had a day in York or Scarborough) was staggering.

No-one is suggesting you would "fill" a train but the service is currently not as well used as it should be; I think that extending it to York would reduce the number of empty seats that you currently have on this service as it would make the service more useful.

Huddersfield - Wakefield is always going to be a lightly used route, there is no getting away from it. But, having made the decision to extend to Castleford, it makes sense to continue to York.

Mirfield to York would benefit marginally but Castleford to York would be a huge benefit; you are talking about a journey time of about a third of the existing journey time.

But it's not just about providing a better service to York from those towns, but also improving the Hull to York route. There is a big demand for Hull to York transport but the existing rail journey time is too slow for rail to be competitive. The journey time direct is 20 minutes, but via Sherburn & Church Fenton it's more like 32 minutes.

Some trains do Hull to York in just under an hour. That's not great but it's acceptable. If all trains could be accelerated to take under an hour, instead of over 1 hour 10, that would be a boost.

Some proposals would cost a lot of money and never be viable. This isn't in that category.

Are you attempting to make a serious comparison between the Scarborough Spa (a steam charter and an experience) running once a week for a few months and an hourly scheduled service? If so, I suggest just stopping there. It’s a novelty, and Castleford is off the A1M and M62 - hardly like it’s a hamlet producing loads of people who all magically want to go to York. There’s a very limited commuter market and leisure too.

As for Hull <> York journey time improvements, that’s a separate thing and in turn frequency would trump journey time alone. Especially when half the trains go via Sherburn and half go direct.

 

[30907]

As for Hull <> York journey time improvements, that’s a separate thing and in turn frequency would trump journey time alone. Especially when half the trains go via Sherburn and half go direct.

The great majority of Hull-Yorks now run via Sherburn so there is a definite benefit to cutting journey time - Hull-York will realistically never be half hourly. (Sorry, brain fade!)

I think the idea is worth pursuing, and it would be operationally quite convenient (one extra unit, possibly work at Castleford...).

However, I wonder if there are other permutations that would serve the area better, for example
Leeds-Featherstone-Pontefract-Knottingley-York (existing service extended - serving most of 5 towns, would need some retiming)
or Sheffield-Barnsley-Castleford-York (diverted Hallam stopper, would need an extra Leeds-Castleford to replace and Normanton/Darton stops on the Hallam semis).
I don't know the details of passenger flows in the area, but from limited experience none bar to/from Leeds are huge.

 

[yorksrob]

I'm sure if it was that easy it would have been done.

You could say that about anything - until it's done !

A good idea but I have to think very unlikely. The service from Pontefract Baghill is appalling and of limited use to anyone wanting to use it for commuting. I have been led to believe it is because North Yorks Council has no money to support the service and as beyond Castleford towards York is all in North Yorkshire then presumably the same would apply.
In addition from Castleford to Monk Fryston is currently freight only and would require investment.
Add to that the need for extra units and staff and it all means that it is unlikely for a long time, if ever.

There is undoubtedly an issue with funding areas outside of the PTE. Nevertheless, they manage to get the York - Hull stoppet, so may be.

Are you attempting to make a serious comparison between the Scarborough Spa (a steam charter and an experience) running once a week for a few months and an hourly scheduled service? If so, I suggest just stopping there. It’s a novelty, and Castleford is off the A1M and M62 - hardly like it’s a hamlet producing loads of people who all magically want to go to York. There’s a very limited commuter market and leisure too.

As for Hull <> York journey time improvements, that’s a separate thing and in turn frequency would trump journey time alone. Especially when half the trains go via Sherburn and half go direct.

I think that you're underestimating the draw of York as a destination. All services that end up there tend to be popular.

The great majority of Hull-Yorks now run via Sherburn so there is a definite benefit to cutting journey time - Hull-York will realistically never be hourly.

I think the idea is worth pursuing, and it would be operationally quite convenient (one extra unit, possibly work at Castleford...).

However, I wonder if there are other permutations that would serve the area better, for example
Leeds-Featherstone-Pontefract-Knottingley-York (existing service extended - serving most of 5 towns, would need some retiming)
or Sheffield-Barnsley-Castleford-York (diverted Hallam stopper, would need an extra Leeds-Castleford to replace and Normanton/Darton stops on the Hallam semis).
I don't know the details of passenger flows in the area, but from limited experience none bar to/from Leeds are huge.

I don't mind what permutation particularly, so long as Normanton gets a direct service (and ideally twice hourly to Leeds).

 

[yorkie]

Are you attempting to make a serious comparison between the Scarborough Spa (a steam charter and an experience) running once a week for a few months and an hourly scheduled service?

It was you who appeared to claim that residents of Castlefield chose not to visit York; if that is what you were suggesting I was demonstrating why I believe that not to be the case.

If so, I suggest just stopping there. It’s a novelty, and Castleford is off the A1M and M62

Having good road connectivity isn't a good reason to have poor rail links.

- hardly like it’s a hamlet producing loads of people who all magically want to go to York. There’s a very limited commuter market and leisure too.

The Huddersfield - Wakefield - Castleford service is lightly used; it does indeed have a "limited" market. But if you are going to have that train (as we do at present) it may as well be extended to York. There are many empty seats on these trains, but I believe if it was run through to York you would get greater use of the service along the existing line of route.

As for Hull <> York journey time improvements, that’s a separate thing ...

Yes it is a separate thing but, as @yorksrob said, this would enable it to happen!

...and in turn frequency would trump journey time alone. Especially when half the trains go via Sherburn and half go direct.

I don't understand what you are saying.

I believe the proposal would be for there to be an hourly York - Church Fenton - Sherburn - Castleford - Wakefield - Huddersfield service, and an hourly York - Selby - Brough - Hull service.

The great majority of Hull-Yorks now run via Sherburn so there is a definite benefit to cutting journey time - Hull-York will realistically never be hourly.

It is hourly already.

I think the idea is worth pursuing, and it would be operationally quite convenient (one extra unit, possibly work at Castleford...).

However, I wonder if there are other permutations that would serve the area better, for example
Leeds-Featherstone-Pontefract-Knottingley-York (existing service extended - serving most of 5 towns, would need some retiming)
or Sheffield-Barnsley-Castleford-York (diverted Hallam stopper, would need an extra Leeds-Castleford to replace and Normanton/Darton stops on the Hallam semis).
I don't know the details of passenger flows in the area, but from limited experience none bar to/from Leeds are huge.

These are all potentially good ideas too.

 

[bluenoxid]

I would just divert the existing York-Sheffield’s and mothball Pontefract Baghill as a starting point. There are various options available for the service. Fastest route would not serve Pontefract but would include Castleford.

 

[yorkie]

The original suggestion didn't involve Baghill at all. Rather than abolish that service, it would be good to see it run every 2 hours or so.

It's been surprisingly well used, given how infrequent it is, almost every time I have used it!

 

[VT 390]

I think it is a good idea because it would provide an alternative to via Leeds Transpennine Express services so could be quite useful when ever this route has delays.

 

[yorksrob]

The original suggestion didn't involve Baghill at all. Rather than abolish that service, it would be good to see it run every 2 hours or so.

It's been surprisingly well used, given how infrequent it is, almost every time I have used it!

Indeed. If there's a market from Ponte to York, there'll be one from Normy and Cass as well.

 

[LMS 4F]

I would just divert the existing York-Sheffield’s and mothball Pontefract Baghill as a starting point. There are various options available for the service. Fastest route would not serve Pontefract but would include Castleford.

So Pontefract would lose a poor service and Castleford would gain one instead. As the Sheffield - York goes via Moorthorpe what route would it take to get to Castleford?
Getting back to the original point of this thread taking away one of the two Castleford to Leeds services is not going to be acceptable around where I live. Additional services if and when possible but I don't like the idea of cutting back on any routes. We should be encouraging more service not robbing one to give to another.

 

[yorksrob]

So Pontefract would lose a poor service and Castleford would gain one instead. As the Sheffield - York goes via Moorthorpe what route would it take to get to Castleford?
Getting back to the original point of this thread taking away one of the two Castleford to Leeds services is not going to be acceptable around where I live. Additional services if and when possible but I don't like the idea of cutting back on any routes. We should be encouraging more service not robbing one to give to another.

To be clear, my original idea doesn't involve removing either of the two Cass - Leeds services an hour.

 

[VT 390]

So Pontefract would lose a poor service and Castleford would gain one instead. As the Sheffield - York goes via Moorthorpe what route would it take to get to Castleford?
Getting back to the original point of this thread taking away one of the two Castleford to Leeds services is not going to be acceptable around where I live. Additional services if and when possible but I don't like the idea of cutting back on any routes. We should be encouraging more service not robbing one to give to another.

It wouldn't be cutting any Leeds services though as there would still be hourly Sheffield to Leeds and Knottingley to Leeds services which would serve Castleford, the Huddersfield service does not currently go to Leeds.

 

[bluenoxid]

So Pontefract would lose a poor service and Castleford would gain one instead. As the Sheffield - York goes via Moorthorpe what route would it take to get to Castleford?

It all would depend on the options chosen but all options would be via Barnsley and Wakefield Kirkgate. At that point there are various options including

Castleford
Castleford (reverse), Pontefract
Above plus Knottingley (reverse)
Featherstone, Pontefract

 

[IanXC]

The issue would be finding a path between Church Fenton and York. The Sheffield-Yorks have a slot only because the Hull-Yorks go via the mainline at that time for instance, so perhaps if they all went that way then there would be a path for an ex Huddersfield when there's no ex Sheffield.

You could probably go to Selby easily enough, but I'm not sure there'd be much demand for that.

On this bit of railway I'd suggest diverting all the Hull-Yorks via the mainline and running a separate Selby-York via Sherburn would be best use of what capacity there is; there is a significant market for Sherburn-Selby in particular which some of the ideas in this thread don't seem to account for.

 

[ian959]

Isn't it the case that extending services/combining end to end services to make longer single journeys is a fair part of the reason why Northern got into the ****? The longer the multi-stopping journeys are, the more likely they are to introduce delays especially if routing through/to major destination stations. Sort out the problems of the Northern franchise and the infrastructure first before introducing more, longer services onto the network.

 

[yorkie]

It's certainly true there is a demand for Sherburn to Selby, though that is covered by the 403 bus.

I can understand why people would prefer a train, though South Milford station does serve the town of Sherburn but admittedly you'd be reluctant to walk there if you lived the other side of Sherburn.

Isn't it the case that extending services/combining end to end services to make longer single journeys is a fair part of the reason why Northern got into the ****? The longer the multi-stopping journeys are, the more likely they are to introduce delays especially if routing through/to major destination stations. Sort out the problems of the Northern franchise and the infrastructure first before introducing more, longer services onto the network.

I don't see how @yorksrob's proposed Huddersfield - Wakefield - Castleford - York service is going to be particularly prone to delay?

At the moment it's a very lightly used service as it doesn't go anywhere useful at the eastern end. It would make sense to extend it to York.

We are not talking about reopening any disused lines, it would only require additional rolling stock and staff. I've seen various suggestions on this forum that would likely see less usage than this one, yet would cost far more to implement, as the lines were mothballed or no longer exist at all.

 

[4-SUB 4732]

It's certainly true there is a demand for Sherburn to Selby, though that is covered by the 403 bus.

I can understand why people would prefer a train, though South Milford station does serve the town of Sherburn but admittedly you'd be reluctant to walk there if you lived the other side of Sherburn.

I don't see how @yorksrob's proposed Huddersfield - Wakefield - Castleford - York service is going to be particularly prone to delay?

At the moment it's a very lightly used service as it doesn't go anywhere useful at the eastern end. It would make sense to extend it to York.

We are not talking about reopening any disused lines, it would only require additional rolling stock and staff. I've seen various suggestions on this forum that would likely see less usage than this one, yet would cost far more to implement, as the lines were mothballed or no longer exist at all.

I meant to reply to your earlier post but just got distracted.

Going to this point explicitly, you are saying it ‘simply needs rolling stock and staff’ but we obviously are discussing things like pathing and what not as well, meaning this isn’t ‘simply’ at all.

Indeed, aside from steam train anecdotes we aren’t hearing about evidence of traffic flows etc that make this idea ‘go’.

 

[yorksrob]

The issue would be finding a path between Church Fenton and York. The Sheffield-Yorks have a slot only because the Hull-Yorks go via the mainline at that time for instance, so perhaps if they all went that way then there would be a path for an ex Huddersfield when there's no ex Sheffield.

You could probably go to Selby easily enough, but I'm not sure there'd be much demand for that.

On this bit of railway I'd suggest diverting all the Hull-Yorks via the mainline and running a separate Selby-York via Sherburn would be best use of what capacity there is; there is a significant market for Sherburn-Selby in particular which some of the ideas in this thread don't seem to account for.

Perhaps my service could split a 153 at Church Fenton or Sherburn for Selby for that market.

Isn't it the case that extending services/combining end to end services to make longer single journeys is a fair part of the reason why Northern got into the ****? The longer the multi-stopping journeys are, the more likely they are to introduce delays especially if routing through/to major destination stations. Sort out the problems of the Northern franchise and the infrastructure first before introducing more, longer services onto the network.

This isn't a service that has been extended across the width of the country through the Castlefield corridor. The section East of Castleford is very lightly used to Church Fenton, and on from there, the route is quadrouple track.

Just because there have been some problems with some very ambitious timetabling changes, doesn't mean that the passenger network should be kept in aspic.

 

[yorkie]

Going to this point explicitly, you are saying it ‘simply needs rolling stock and staff’ but we obviously are discussing things like pathing and what not as well, meaning this isn’t ‘simply’ at all...

As already mentioned, the proposal is that the existing service from Hull via Sherburn is diverted to run via the main line; this already happens some hours anyway.

Therefore the only remaining issue is when the paths are used by the Sheffield to York services. At present there are only three of these per day!

Also as mentioned in post 13, another option might be for the Dearne Valley stoppers to run every 2 hours, and that would leave capacity for the Hudds - Castleford service to be extended to York in the other hours.

The only drawbacks to these proposals are for Sherburn to Selby journeys; I accept that's not ideal to remove them but given there are existing trains from South Milford to Selby and buses from Sherburn itself to Selby I think the overall connectivity benefits are much stronger than the loss of Sherburn to Selby.

I'm not always in agreement with @yorksrob when it comes to speculative ideas but in this case it genuinely would be a good idea that could actually be viable.

 

[yorksrob]

Perhaps there is something that could be done to make it easier for people to get from Sherburn to South Milford station. Is there a pavement along the main road to the village, for example.

 

[4-SUB 4732]

Perhaps my service could split a 153 at Church Fenton or Sherburn for Selby for that market.



This isn't a service that has been extended across the width of the country through the Castlefield corridor. The section East of Castleford is very lightly used to Church Fenton, and on from there, the route is quadrouple track.

Just because there have been some problems with some very ambitious timetabling changes, doesn't mean that the passenger network should be kept in aspic.

Split two 153s? Last time I checked Church Fenton wasn’t permissive and even if it was, what a ludicrous idea.

 

[tbtc]

Sheffield-Barnsley-Castleford-York (diverted Hallam stopper, would need an extra Leeds-Castleford to replace and Normanton/Darton stops on the Hallam semis).
I don't know the details of passenger flows in the area, but from limited experience none bar to/from Leeds are huge.

TBH, this is the one good idea I've seen on the thread.

The rest seem to be along the lines of "this existing service is poorly used, so we might as well do something - anything - to try to make it viable - especially an idea to restore a regular service onto a bit of generally unused route through fairly empty countryside". I'm not convinced that the "Deighton and Mirfield to York" market is that big (in fact, are there even commercial bus services from *Castleford* to York these days?)

Two points, firstly:

1. The Huddersfield - Wakefield service only runs to Castleford because one unit can't reliably do the round trip from Huddersfield to Wakefield in an hour (a round trip that is less than twenty five miles, as the cross flies) - similarly it takes two DMUs to provide an hourly Huddersfield to Bradford service (again, under twenty five miles round trip as the crow flies). And we wonder why the Provincial network is so heavily subsidised
2. If Huddersfield - Wakefield had been closed by Dr Beeching we'd have people demanding it's re-opening, promises that it could sustain several trains per hour, stuff about "why does everything have to go via Leeds" etc. However, the reality is that the West Yorkshire routes that don't serve Leeds are pretty quiet affairs - planning a service from Huddersfield to York that avoids Leeds (and takes so long that it'll get overtaken by at least a couple of the four Huddersfield - York trains per hour) seems a waste of resources.

I'm not convinced that Wakefield needs a second York service per hour, but if Wakefield must have a second York service per hour (there's obviously already the XC services that take under forty five minutes, even with the long dwell at Leeds) then my preference would be:

1. Wait until Northern finally start their proposed Sheffield - Westgate - Leeds service (and hope that they find something better than a two coach 195!)
2. Divert the Sheffield - Castleford service through to York each hour
3. If 75mph paths along the ECML into York are restricted, you could limit the Castleford - York section to the hours when the Pontefract - York service isn't running through Sherburn (i.e. one path per hour at the York end, but alternating between "Sheffield via Castleford" and "Sheffield via Pontefract")
4. Replace the Castleford - Leeds part of the ex-Sheffield service with a (second) Knottingley - Pontefract - Castleford - Leeds service
5. Now that there's two reasonably fast Sheffield - Leeds services per hour (roughly forty five minutes journey time for thirty miles as the crow flies, so not mega fast), stop one of the Sheffield - Kirkgate - Leeds services at Darton and the other at Normanton once per hour
6. As a speculative thing, you could then consider cutting the XC service at Leeds (there's already two TPE services per hour from Leeds to Newcastle, one of which will extend to Edinburgh, the Voyagers are in more need elsewhere, Birmingham to Newcastle is already faster via Doncaster, so use the freed up Voyagers elsewhere)

That would give Knottingley/Pontefract a better commuter service into Leeds (which would be much more useful), it would give Barnsley a link to the ECML (bearing in mind that Barnsley is pretty badly connected, whilst Huddersfield/ Wakefield already have ECML services), it would have more routes that travelled in fairly straight lines (rather than the current nonsense of Sheffield - Castleford - Leeds and the curvet that a Huddersfield - Castleford - York service would have to take to avoid Leeds).

Not a major priority, in the grand scheme of things (when plenty of existing diesel services are crying out for additional capacity!), but more useful than some other suggestions.

 

[4-SUB 4732]

As already mentioned, the proposal is that the existing service from Hull via Sherburn is diverted to run via the main line; this already happens some hours anyway.

Therefore the only remaining issue is when the paths are used by the Sheffield to York services. At present there are only three of these per day!

Also as mentioned in post 13, another option might be for the Dearne Valley stoppers to run every 2 hours, and that would leave capacity for the Hudds - Castleford service to be extended to York in the other hours.

The only drawbacks to these proposals are for Sherburn to Selby journeys; I accept that's not ideal to remove them but given there are existing trains from South Milford to Selby and buses from Sherburn itself to Selby I think the overall connectivity benefits are much stronger than the loss of Sherburn to Selby.

I'm not always in agreement with @yorksrob when it comes to speculative ideas but in this case it genuinely would be a good idea that could actually be viable.

If this all hinges on the Hull <> York going via the main line (vastly quicker by coach I suspect if done properly), Sheffield <> York being so low in frequency that you can run Castleford <> York only every two hours (that sort of frequency doesn’t make modal share), and then people going Sherburn <> Selby have to go by bus (admittedly South Milford to Selby could easily be half-hourly) then why are we not just offering a bus from Castleford to York? We don’t expect many people to use the service so a bus taking in Garforth and Tadcaster and perhaps extended at its southern end to Pontefract could be helpful.

The equally sensible alternative is to extend the Huddersfield - Wakefield - Castleford around to Pontefract Monkhill and up to York; giving Pontefract an hourly service to York and then the Dearne Valley just being peak hour.

 

[yorkie]

If this all hinges on the Hull <> York going via the main line (vastly quicker by coach I suspect if done properly), Sheffield <> York being so low in frequency that you can run Castleford <> York only every two hours (that sort of frequency doesn’t make modal share), and then people going Sherburn <> Selby have to go by bus (admittedly South Milford to Selby could easily be half-hourly) then why are we not just offering a bus from Castleford to York? We don’t expect many people to use the service so a bus taking in Garforth and Tadcaster and perhaps extended at its southern end to Pontefract could be helpful.

Castleford to York by train would be really quick. You wouldn't run a bus for that; it's a long way by bus.

A Castleford to York train or bus wouldn't be viable on its own (Tadcaster and Garforth are already well served) but the issue here is that we have a train that goes beyond Castleford and it would benefit many of those places to extend the service to York.

The equally sensible alternative is to extend the Huddersfield - Wakefield - Castleford around to Pontefract Monkhill and up to York; giving Pontefract an hourly service to York and then the Dearne Valley just being peak hour.

It would involve a reversal and would make the journey time much less attractive for journeys like York to Normanton, but on the plus side you could probably abolish the Dearne Valley service completely if you did that, and Pontefract would benefit significantly.

I don't really know what the best answer is, but extending the service in some shape or form to York does seem a good idea to me, at least in principle.