Halifaxlad
Established Member
With WYCA consulting yet again on their refined proposals for this new station called 'Leeds Bradford Airport Parkway' and with the impact of COVID and resistance to Leeds Bradford Airport Expansion, this has got me thinking about potential alternatives.
This proposed station aims to do two things...
1) Provide access to Leeds Bradford Airport via a shuttle bus (presumably an extension of one of the existing bus services)
2) Provide a parkway for Leeds!
As an alternative for 1)
The existing airport could be served by a shuttle bus from Horsforth via a new road, although this would have to approach the station from the North. Similar to Mark T suggestion in the thread 'Leeds Bradford Airport - Alternative rail access proposals?' (https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...ive-rail-access-proposals.169772/post-3655953) Although I would remove the turnback siding so the land could be made into a road in order to allow this shuttle bus service to pick up directly from the Harrogate bound platform. If a turnback siding is desired/required in the future I would put a short chord in at Arthington using the old trackbed of the Otley line. Possibly running it as close to Poole in Wharfedale as possible where a single platform could be created.
As an alternative for 2)
I would build the proposed 'Horsforth Woodside' station that is South of Horsforth by about the same distance Burley Park is away from Headingley.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsforth_Woodside_railway_station)
The new stations study 2014 does say in relation to this...
"4.31.Horsforth Woodside appears to offer the best potential business case, with no significant construction or operational issues identified (although the gradient is 1 in 100), and a reasonable level of trip potential demonstrated by the forecasting model."
Ironically LBA Parkway is also assessed in this report although its referred to as Cookridge and probably doesn't include the benefits of a link to the airport. "North of Horsforth, the sites of Cookridge and Arthington Parkway both scored poorly in the 4.32.assessment."
The 'New Railway Stations in North and West Yorkshire Feasibility Study Final Report West Yorkshire Combined Authority 14 October 2014' can be found here. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060333/http://www.wymetro.com/uploadedFiles/WYMetro/Content/news/projects/projectdetails/New Stations Study Report v1.0 FINAL Redacted.pdf
This proposed station aims to do two things...
1) Provide access to Leeds Bradford Airport via a shuttle bus (presumably an extension of one of the existing bus services)
2) Provide a parkway for Leeds!
As an alternative for 1)
The existing airport could be served by a shuttle bus from Horsforth via a new road, although this would have to approach the station from the North. Similar to Mark T suggestion in the thread 'Leeds Bradford Airport - Alternative rail access proposals?' (https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...ive-rail-access-proposals.169772/post-3655953) Although I would remove the turnback siding so the land could be made into a road in order to allow this shuttle bus service to pick up directly from the Harrogate bound platform. If a turnback siding is desired/required in the future I would put a short chord in at Arthington using the old trackbed of the Otley line. Possibly running it as close to Poole in Wharfedale as possible where a single platform could be created.
As an alternative for 2)
I would build the proposed 'Horsforth Woodside' station that is South of Horsforth by about the same distance Burley Park is away from Headingley.
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horsforth_Woodside_railway_station)
The new stations study 2014 does say in relation to this...
"4.31.Horsforth Woodside appears to offer the best potential business case, with no significant construction or operational issues identified (although the gradient is 1 in 100), and a reasonable level of trip potential demonstrated by the forecasting model."
Ironically LBA Parkway is also assessed in this report although its referred to as Cookridge and probably doesn't include the benefits of a link to the airport. "North of Horsforth, the sites of Cookridge and Arthington Parkway both scored poorly in the 4.32.assessment."
The 'New Railway Stations in North and West Yorkshire Feasibility Study Final Report West Yorkshire Combined Authority 14 October 2014' can be found here. https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060333/http://www.wymetro.com/uploadedFiles/WYMetro/Content/news/projects/projectdetails/New Stations Study Report v1.0 FINAL Redacted.pdf