New stations around Wakefield?

[61653 HTAFC]

Based on discussion in the Trans-pennine Route upgrade threads, but not wishing to distract from those core discussions, I've created this thread to discuss the possibility of new station(s) on the Huddersfield to Wakefield line.

WYPTE in the past had campaigned for a station along this section, with Horbury Bridge being still on their wishlist AFAIK. I have a vague memory of seeing a WYPTE map in the early 1990s which included a station along this line at Thornhill Lees (south side of Dewsbury), though no station was ever opened here during this period.

Horbury junction was (erroneously as it turns out) also mentioned as a location for a station, though such a station would be more suitable as a Parkway type affair as there's little surrounding population but easy access to J.39 of the M1.

 

[AndyHudds]

A bay platform at Westgate would be a good idea, there is plenty of room for one now the new building has been built. The Wakefield service has seen the passenger numbers plummet with no London connection. I see no point on running through to Castleford from Huddersfield.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

A bay platform at Westgate would be a good idea, there is plenty of room for one now the new building has been built. The Wakefield service has seen the passenger numbers plummet with no London connection. I see no point on running through to Castleford from Huddersfield.

I get the impression that the Castleford service is largely to provide an additional service between Cas and Wakefield, rather than untapped demand between Huddersfield and Cas. When the Huddersfield service turned back at Kirkgate it was possible to operate with just one unit, but if it got delayed it would knock on to the return journey. The service now runs with two units but with adequate turnaround times at either end.

At the now notorious summer 2018 timetable change, the truncated Wakefield Kirkgate service was supposed to be allocated a 3-car 144 but the subsequent changes to TPE services (splitting the stopper at Huddersfield) meant use of platform 5, which meant a 3-car pacer was too long.

The Castleford does connect quite well into the Leeds service at Castleford, so gives an alternative to the sardine-can conditions on TPE. Extending to York would provide an additional alternative to TPE, and probably be more beneficial than restoring the Westgate link which isn't really needed with such a frequent service into Leeds from Huddersfield. If the Huddersfield to Westgate link was to be reinstated, extending through to Leeds (like the Knottingley does) would be more likely than going to the expense of providing a bay platform which points in the wrong direction for most flows. Failing that, using the extant turnback facility would make more sense than providing a bay.

 

[Spartacus]

I think the idea of a Thornhill/Dewsbury South station might as well be forgotten when Ravensthorpe's moved to be able to serve Wakefield trains.

The more I think about it the more I think Horbury Junction might not be a bad idea. Placing the station just West of the junction would reduce the number of platforms required to 3 if built in the area of land last used for the GNER Mallard refurbishments: I can't really see it being required any more. The area of trackwork could be used for parking, access off Forge Lane, with possibly more if looking at a parkway off Green Lane. Distance from Horbury Town Centre would be similar to that to a Horbury Junction station, though further from Ossett.

Horbury Junction would I think be the best bet just looking at this line, though I don't think anywhere lends itself too well to having a good sized car park.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Agree that giving Ravensthorpe platforms on the Wakefield line rather kills any lingering need for a Thornhill station (I do wish I'd kept those old timetable leaflets that depicted it with an "opening soon" note!), but a station in the Horbury area would do reasonably well. One concern with putting it at the Junction would be that that area of Wakefield isn't easily accessible from the other side of the river Calder (this can be seen by the traffic jams around Thornes Park each evening) without building a new road bridge in the area. Between the A636 bridge at Calder Island, and the bridge which gives Horbury Bridge its name, there are surprisingly no road crossings other than the M1. The fact that one hasn't already been built suggests that it isn't an easy job, for whatever reason.

 

[sheff1]

WYPTE in the past had campaigned for a station along this section, with Horbury Bridge being still on their wishlist AFAIK.

A station for Horbury was on the suggested list back in the 70s. Many other stations have opend in W Yorks in the intervening years so it would seem there is some (insurmoutable ?) issue with Horbury.

I get the impression that the Castleford service is largely to provide an additional service between Cas and Wakefield

I have also noticed the fall off in passengers now the Huddersfield - Westgate - London connection has gone and am unconvinced that the loss was worth it to provide extra Wakefield - Castleford journeys. The daytime 10 min frequency bus serice to Cas surely remains the best option for most.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

A station for Horbury was on the suggested list back in the 70s. Many other stations have opend in W Yorks in the intervening years so it would seem there is some (insurmoutable ?) issue with Horbury.

I have also noticed the fall off in passengers now the Huddersfield - Westgate - London connection has gone and am unconvinced that the loss was worth it to provide extra Wakefield - Castleford journeys. The daytime 10 min frequency bus serice to Cas surely remains the best option for most.

The Huddersfield service was cut back to Kirkgate initially for two reasons: firstly to allow the hourly service to be run with a single unit (in the interim period before the extension to Cas); and secondly so that the Knottingley to Wakefield Kirkgate could be extended to Leeds via Westgate, providing Streethouse, Featherstone and Pontefract Tanshelf with a Leeds service.

As I understand it, in recent years fewer and fewer people were using the Wakefield services to connect to London, in favour of Leeds with a more frequent service using nicer trains. The Wakefield to Huddersfield service does well on school/college traffic, with the posh folk of Mirfield sending their kids to the independent schools in Wakefield.

 

[AndyHudds]

The Huddersfield service was cut back to Kirkgate initially for two reasons: firstly to allow the hourly service to be run with a single unit (in the interim period before the extension to Cas); and secondly so that the Knottingley to Wakefield Kirkgate could be extended to Leeds via Westgate, providing Streethouse, Featherstone and Pontefract Tanshelf with a Leeds service.

Was this a good enough reason for Huddersfield passengers to lose the London connection at Wakefield? If you bought tickets to London on the East Coast line from Huddersfield it would always send to connect at Wakefield, some people don't want to go to Leeds to connect. I guess though they have to prioritise with capacity so they obviously deemed getting a direct Leeds service to the '5 towns' a priority ovr London connections.

 

[xotGD]

Was this a good enough reason for Huddersfield passengers to lose the London connection at Wakefield? If you bought tickets to London on the East Coast line from Huddersfield it would always send to connect at Wakefield, some people don't want to go to Leeds to connect. I guess though they have to prioritise with capacity so they obviously deemed getting a direct Leeds service to the '5 towns' a priority ovr London connections.

More overcrowding on TPE services between Hudds and Leeds and more folk crossing the footbridge & milling around in front of the ticket gates at Leeds are further negatives of the change.

Of course, as someone who took advantage of the extra direct services between Knottingley and Leeds I was all in favour!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Was this a good enough reason for Huddersfield passengers to lose the London connection at Wakefield? If you bought tickets to London on the East Coast line from Huddersfield it would always send to connect at Wakefield, some people don't want to go to Leeds to connect. I guess though they have to prioritise with capacity so they obviously deemed getting a direct Leeds service to the '5 towns' a priority ovr London connections.

In a word, yes. By nature of it being an hourly service, it only ever connected with half the London services anyway, whereas the FIVE fast services per hour to Leeds, plus the stopper, connects into all the services that pass through Westgate. Once TPE finally have their new stock in service, capacity will be less of a problem. If it removed the only connection into ECML services, that would probably have been reason to not do it... but it didn't.

I'd definitely be in favour of extending the Castleford service to York, but that's another matter.