Garforth considers itself posh, so expect NIMBYism....
Why expect NIMBYism when all development would be within railway boundaries?
Wouldn't a quick win be 4 tracking in the Crossgates area, as Crossgates station used to be 4 track, and there would be no demolition and it would all be within the railway boundary. Extending the 4 track could then be looked at as follow up.
Just 4 tracking at Cross Gates wouldn't be long enough as another station is proposed at Osmandthorpe between Neville Hill and Cross Gates. This section was quadruple track until the late 1960s. As the line is going to be electrified, if 4 tracked, the Ring Road overbridge at Cross Gates will have to be rebuilt as the anticlockwise carriageway is the original arched bridge and there isn't the clearance over the outside two tracks for wires.
I'm not sure 4 tracking beyond Thorpe park is needed. I think its difficult to make the case for more services than two per hour stopping at East Garforth or Micklefield given the formers proximity to Garforth and the latter's relatively small population.
I do think that more stations are needed within the Leeds urban area and Cross Gates, Thorpe Park, and Garforth could all justify a regular four train per hour frequency. I think a sensible solution would be quad track Neville Hill to Thorpe and revive the east Leeds parkway concept through a flyover and reversing point at Thorpe Park.
The original proposal was to have a turnback at Micklefield adjacent to the A1(M) as that was the last/first station in West Yorkshire.
Garforth is not small, that is why East Garforth was built. The car park at Garforth was doubled in size about 10 years ago as it was full each day and motorists were parking on street. When I was there on early Monday afternoon, the only parking spaces available were disable spaces (which were all cordoned off). This shows that it is heavily used as a Parkway station for Leeds and York It would be sensible to have a turn back to include Garforth and 4 track to there. It would be interesting to see if car parking becomes less when Thorpe Park opens.
You wouldn't get 4 tracks between Leeds and Neville Hill without demolition and some serious engineering. It only needs 4 tracking from Neville Hill for 2/3 stations eastwards anyway as that's enough time for a nonstop to get past and it would struggle to catch the stopper in front of that before the junction at Micklefield.
You obviously don't know Leeds. Half the distance between Leeds and Neville Hill through Marsh Lane cutting is already 4 tracked with plenty of room on railway land to extend towards the viaduct.
Expensive and disruptive - yep. But IIRC much of the land required is actually empty or used by roads so only a handful of buildings would need to be demolished. Would cause carnage in Leeds city centre though.
This isn’t necessarily a quick win as four track is only useful if you’re using it to overtake - so you have to hold a train in the four track section (presumably a stopper at Crossgates) whilst another train overtakes it on the parallel track. If you simply restored the four-tracking through the station you’d have to hold the stopper there for at least five minutes if not more - I can’t remember what the headways are on that section. Ideally it makes more sense to four-track a section with two or more stations so the faster trains can loop stoppers without causing too much of a time penalty.
Someone knowledgeable at last.
What do you call serious engineering?
Looks like it needs an 800m low viaduct immediately south of the current one, demolishing one modern-ish boring office block that might be worth redeveloping anyway. It almost looks like the path has been deliberately kept clear.
The difficult and disruptive bit would be the Marsh Lane tie in, probably involving a new long bridge over the road and rail realignment.
Wouldn’t it make a huge difference to Leeds station congestion if you could run more trains through rather than terminate? could also put some inner suburban stations in, but tricky terminate them if you don’t have a Welwyn Style flyover.
Only 200 yards of the viaduct would need widening from the bus station eastwards where the ground is level with the railway. Network Rail is already investigating widening this part if the viaduct to 4 tracks to accommodating a station here and 3 tracking the viaduct from here to Leeds station. No major roads alongside the viaduct to stop this. Only back roads
Leeds would be better served with a separate transit system for the inner suburban area, not heavy rail stations.
Yes I agree, but a heavy rail station and footbridge to the bus station would be more user friendly for commuters than changing at Leeds, especially commuter trains from the west extended across Leeds.
Looking at Google Earth I think that 4 tracking from Wesley Place bridge to just east of Crossgates would be achievable by staying within existing railway boundaries, a distance of just over 3 miles, going back in history quite a bit of this was 4 track I think, to extend further at either end would move the project to a whole new level, so the question is, would that be enough of an improvement to make it worth the effort. Whilst further improvements would be nice to have I can't see it happening taking into account the current wider political situation. Crossgates would remain as is, with the fast lines through the middle, like it used to be.
You would still have the bottleneck at the east end of Leeds station but fast or stopping trains would be segregated once they are away from the station.
I agree
