Northern launch Hull Halifax service

[trawler]

Northern officially launched their new service today between Hull and Halifax via Leeds amd Bradford at Hull Paragon. Until now Hull has been the closest city to Leeds with the least frequent service - just one Transpennine service per hour. Well supported today by civic leaders from both Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire Councils, Humber LEP, Chamber of Commerce and community groups. Very good media coverage on newspapers, TV and local radio.

 

[D.K.TAYLOR]

1

Northern officially launched their new service today between Hull and Halifax via Leeds amd Bradford at Hull Paragon. Until now Hull has been the closest city to Leeds with the least frequent service - just one Transpennine service per hour. Well supported today by civic leaders from both Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire Councils, Humber LEP, Chamber of Commerce and community groups. Very good media coverage on newspapers, TV and local radio.

170456 was the 09-?? Of Halifax this morning few mins late departure

 

[Peter Bonner]

Northern officially launched their new service today between Hull and Halifax via Leeds amd Bradford at Hull Paragon. Until now Hull has been the closest city to Leeds with the least frequent service - just one Transpennine service per hour. Well supported today by civic leaders from both Hull and East Riding of Yorkshire Councils, Humber LEP, Chamber of Commerce and community groups. Very good media coverage on newspapers, TV and local radio.

Heard on the radio (Burnsie show on BBC Humberside ) that launch train was late in arriving. Pity as this a very useful service. Cd be a good competitor for TPE if Northern cd sort things out.

There was talk that it wd run to Beverley and Bridlington but service from there now runs direct to York instead.

 

[GoneSouth]

It was nice to see a high quality train at Bradford Interchange when I passed through on Monday. I was surprised to see the 170 alongside a 142, summed up the state of northern nicely. Yes I know Bradford now has 195s but by high quality I meant something that was genuinely pleasant to ride on

Anyway, nice to see a train with a new destination on the board at BDI, must be nearly 40 years since the last direct service to Hull ran!

 

[Peter Bonner]

It was nice to see a high quality train at Bradford Interchange when I passed through on Monday. I was surprised to see the 170 alongside a 142, summed up the state of northern nicely. Yes I know Bradford now has 195s but by high quality I meant something that was genuinely pleasant to ride on

Anyway, nice to see a train with a new destination on the board at BDI, must be nearly 40 years since the last direct service to Hull ran!

Yes I agree a good example of "connectivity". Lets hope its a success.

170s versus 195s? Im inclined to say 170s but they do need a chance to get going and there are loads of stops on this service!

There was talk at one time that the service wd go onto Bridlington. That wd have been an asset for east yorks!

 

[GoneSouth]

=There was talk at one time that the service wd go onto Bridlington. That wd have been an asset for east yorks!

You’ll be in a minority calling a direct link to Bradford an asset

I agree though, good move for many reasons

 

[trawler]

Yes the plan was for a Bridlington-Hull -Halifax service but changed for York instead. I understand that was to do with pathing.

I sorted out the guest list today and used my press contacts. A very positive news story to promote rail tonight on Calandar.

The new service is crewed by a mixture of Hull and York crews (Hull only work up to Leeds). The York crews will revert to the new York to Scarborough when that starts and Hull will run all.

 

[scrapy]

Not sure what you mean by closest city to Leeds with the least frequent service. Preston and Salford are both closer to Leeds than Hull with 1tph. Ripon is considerably closer with 0tph

 

[trawler]

Preston is further away in mileage and certainly journey time. Salford is hardly comparable as so close to Manchester and much smaller in population to Yorkshire's 4th largest city and a major UK port. Ripon is a small town. Leeds is Hull's regional centre as part of Yorkshire and the Humber. Salford is not and has very good services to nearby Manchester which as I understand is covered by the Mayor of Greater Manchester.

 

[IanD]

Preston is further away in mileage and certainly journey time. Salford is hardly comparable as so close to Manchester and much smaller in population to Yorkshire's 4th largest city and a major UK port. Ripon is a small town. Leeds is Hull's regional centre as part of Yorkshire and the Humber. Salford is not and has very good services to nearby Manchester which as I understand is covered by the Mayor of Greater Manchester.

Ripon is a small city.

 

[HullRailMan]

The new Northern service leaves Hull 7/8 mins after the TPE. Seems rather pointless to have two trains an hour to Leeds but running at virtually the same time.

 

[Peter Bonner]

The new Northern service leaves Hull 7/8 mins after the TPE. Seems rather pointless to have two trains an hour to Leeds but running at virtually the same time.

But given the chronic unreliability of TPE services atm the Northern service might actually help to fill gaps!

Take ur point though. A half hourly or so service from Hull to Leeds wd be better.

Northern are supposed to be adding a York to Scarboro service at some future time and precisely the same issues may apply on that line too.

 

[HullRailMan]

But given the chronic unreliability of TPE services atm the Northern service might actually help to fill gaps!

Take ur point though. A half hourly or so service from Hull to Leeds wd be better.

Northern are supposed to be adding a York to Scarboro service at some future time and precisely the same issues may apply on that line too.

The same has happened with Northern trains on the woods coast line from Hull. Run at 30 minute intervals for years, now they leave at roughly xx00 and xx21, leaving a 40 minute gap.

 

[Whisky Papa]

You’ll be in a minority calling a direct link to Bradford an asset

I agree though, good move for many reasons

Having worked at Bradford Interchange in recent years, I found Bridlington was a very frequent request for holidaymakers, and I'm sure a direct train would have been greatly appreciated. At least this takes the change at Leeds out of the equation.

 

[3270]

The new Northern service leaves Hull 7/8 mins after the TPE. Seems rather pointless to have two trains an hour to Leeds but running at virtually the same time.

It's all to do with getting a path between Micklefield and Leeds.
For example the 1015 Hull-Halifax calls at Micklefield 1104-1105 then East Garforth, Garforth and Crossgates arriving Leeds 1139. This is just ahead of the 1007 Redcar - Manchester Airport which arrives Leeds at 1042. If the Halifax left Hull at 1038 (to make a half hourly pattern with the xx08 TPE departures) it would call at Micklefield at 1127-1128 with several non-stop services just behind it: Redcar-ManAir passing Micklefield at 1132, York-Blackpool at 1139 and Scarborough-Liverpool at 1142. These non-stop services would have to stagger all the way to Leeds behind the Halifax and therefore miss their paths beyond Leeds. In addition the Hull-Halifax departing Micklefield at 1128 would only be 7 minutes behind the 1107 York-Leeds stopper (Micklefield 1121) resulting in the two stoppers per hour towards Leeds being at xx21 and xx28 from Micklefield, so the "two trains within 7 minutes" problem is just shifted onto the stopping service east of Leeds.

 

[geoffk]

But given the chronic unreliability of TPE services atm the Northern service might actually help to fill gaps!

Take ur point though. A half hourly or so service from Hull to Leeds wd be better.

Northern are supposed to be adding a York to Scarboro service at some future time and precisely the same issues may apply on that line too.

It was reported in "Today's Railways UK" that the Blackpool - York will be extended to Scarborough. I had assumed it would be a self-contained service from York using platform 2 and therefore not having to cross the ECML.

Extending the Blackpool, while offering more journey opportunities, will introduce another performance risk at a time when Scarborough has had a bad time with the poor reliability of the TPE service - not to mention a possible four-hour journey on a train with only one toilet. And on present timings, the two trains will be around 5 to 10 minutes apart in both directions!

 

[Peter Bonner]

It was reported in "Today's Railways UK" that the Blackpool - York will be extended to Scarborough. I had assumed it would be a self-contained service from York using platform 2 and therefore not having to cross the ECML.

Extending the Blackpool, while offering more journey opportunities, will introduce another performance risk at a time when Scarborough has had a bad time with the poor reliability of the TPE service - not to mention a possible four-hour journey on a train with only one toilet. And on present timings, the two trains will be around 5 to 10 minutes apart in both directions!

Same issue as with Hull to Halifax service. I agree with you that York to Blackpool shd be robust. Its such an important service given its only 1tph. It hasnt been robust of late sadly!!!

 

[GoneSouth]

not to mention a possible four-hour journey on a train with only one toilet

Yes, why have Northern only got 1 toilet on the new 3 coach trains? Everything that company does is bargain basement. I was on a Leeds to Victoria recently where the toilet was locked, that can’t be allowed to happen can it? York to Blackpool or Leeds to Chester are pretty long journeys without a functioning bog!

 

[Peter Bonner]

Yes, why have Northern only got 1 toilet on the new 3 coach trains? Everything that company does is bargain basement. I was on a Leeds to Victoria recently where the toilet was locked, that can’t be allowed to happen can it? York to Blackpool or Leeds to Chester are pretty long journeys without a functioning bog!

Interesting that you mention locked toilets. It happened to me earlier in the year and I complained to conductor. Got the reply that Northern dont HAVE to provide toilets so being locked didnt matter! When I countered that toilets are part of customer service provision he went silent!!

 

[AmateurRambler]

The new service is crewed by a mixture of Hull and York crews (Hull only work up to Leeds). The York crews will revert to the new York to Scarborough when that starts and Hull will run all.

Leeds crew work this service between Halifax and Selby.

 

[AmateurRambler]

Yes, why have Northern only got 1 toilet on the new 3 coach trains? Everything that company does is bargain basement. I was on a Leeds to Victoria recently where the toilet was locked, that can’t be allowed to happen can it? York to Blackpool or Leeds to Chester are pretty long journeys without a functioning bog!

It is entirely reasonable in such circumstances to contact the train crew and request a toilet stop. This is often accommodated if requested.

 

[XC victim]

It is entirely reasonable in such circumstances to contact the train crew and request a toilet stop. This is often accommodated requested.

There are surely very few stations with toilets now to allow toilet stops, especially along this route

 

[Banfurlong]

It's all to do with getting a path between Micklefield and Leeds.
For example the 1015 Hull-Halifax calls at Micklefield 1104-1105 then East Garforth, Garforth and Crossgates arriving Leeds 1139. This is just ahead of the 1007 Redcar - Manchester Airport which arrives Leeds at 1042. If the Halifax left Hull at 1038 (to make a half hourly pattern with the xx08 TPE departures) it would call at Micklefield at 1127-1128 with several non-stop services just behind it: Redcar-ManAir passing Micklefield at 1132, York-Blackpool at 1139 and Scarborough-Liverpool at 1142. These non-stop services would have to stagger all the way to Leeds behind the Halifax and therefore miss their paths beyond Leeds. In addition the Hull-Halifax departing Micklefield at 1128 would only be 7 minutes behind the 1107 York-Leeds stopper (Micklefield 1121) resulting in the two stoppers per hour towards Leeds being at xx21 and xx28 from Micklefield, so the "two trains within 7 minutes" problem is just shifted onto the stopping service east of Leeds.

Bring through to Southport, nice to see direct travel from west coast to east coast

 

[TUC]

At the very least the absence of a toilet should be flagged in station announcements so that passengers can make a choice whether to board.

 

[185143]

This new service bailed me out at Hull on Christmas Eve. My planned TPE to Manchester had been cancelled, so I caught the Northern service 8 minutes behind to Leeds and changed there.

The bad? It was a 3 carriage 144 and terminating at Leeds "due to a fault on this train". I suspect the two issues were related.

 

[johntea]

Why are Northern using a pacer on a brand new service?! Presumably the planned unit was out of action...

 

[Llama]

Easy way to get the 144 back to NL...

 

[Class195]

I've seen 144s, 150s, 155s and 170s on this the route in the last week.

 

[HullRailMan]

It’s was a two car 144 running a peak service from Leeds to Hull the other Friday evening when the original train failed. Better than nothing but looked cosy inside!

 

[SteveM70]

917 off Halifax was a 170 this morning, but the 1017 was a 150. Glad I got the earlier one