Reopening of the disused tunnels at Standedge and Harecastle

[Philip]

I was wondering if there are good cases for reopening the disused railway tunnels through Standedge and Harecastle hills, to act as freight loops?

The advantages that spring to mind are potentially taking a freight path away from busy parallel lines and diverting them through the currently disused tunnels, with fast trains passing through the currently live tunnels and potentially creating new paths on both the lines in question and the parallel lines. These parallel lines being the Calder Valley line and the Grand Junction between Crewe and Stafford. This scheme could allow existing and new stopping trains to use the tunnels as a loop and so improve timetable reliability, particularly on the Standedge line.

I don't know what state the disused Standedge tunnels are in, but having observed Harecastle I can tell you it looks in reasonable condition.

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

I was wondering if there are good cases for reopening the disused railway tunnels through Standedge and Harecastle hills, to act as freight loops?

The advantages that spring to mind are potentially taking a freight path away from busy parallel lines and diverting them through the currently disused tunnels, allowing fast trains to pass through the currently live tunnels and potentially creating new paths on both the lines in question and the parallel lines. These parallel lines being the Calder Valley line and the Grand Junction between Crewe and Stafford. This scheme could allow existing and new stopping trains to use the tunnels as a loop and so improve timetable reliability, particularly on the Standedge line.

I don't know what state the disused Standedge tunnels are in, but having observed Harecastle I can tell you it looks in good condition.

Harecastle, no. They can’t fit the wires in which is why they were closed.

 

[Dr Hoo]

Harecastle, no. They can’t fit the wires in which is why they were closed.

There are loops just south of Harecastle anyway.

 

[Jorge Da Silva]

There are loops just south of Harecastle anyway.

Well yeah true. There is no benefit to reopen the tunnel and it was cost a bomb to reopen as it would require major modifications to fit wires in for very little benefit.

 

[Bald Rick]

I was wondering if there are good cases for reopening the disused railway tunnels through Standedge and Harecastle hills, to act as freight loops?

No one has looked, as it’s a mad idea. If you need more capacity, it would always be cheaper and easier to build loops at grade, rather than doing so in a tunnel that’s been closed and barely maintained for more than half a century.

 

[The Planner]

You can't get a second stopper north of Stoke as it is, let alone a freight path.

 

[adamedwards]

The other issue at Harecastle is subsidence in the hill. I've been through the canal tunnel where the ceiling gets very very low in places. I would think the old rail tunnel would need a complete rebuild.

 

[Ianno87]

There are loops just south of Harecastle anyway.

And not much freight that goes, or needs to go, that way in the first place.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

The other issue at Harecastle is subsidence in the hill. I've been through the canal tunnel where the ceiling gets very very low in places. I would think the old rail tunnel would need a complete rebuild.

And that's the new canal tunnel, which has already had its towpath taken out to counteract subsidence. Brindley's original canal tunnel was abandoned long ago also for reasons of subsidence.

 

[nr758123]

I was wondering if there are good cases for reopening the disused railway tunnels through Standedge and Harecastle hills, to act as freight loops?

The advantages that spring to mind are potentially taking a freight path away from busy parallel lines and diverting them through the currently disused tunnels, with fast trains passing through the currently live tunnels and potentially creating new paths on both the lines in question and the parallel lines. This scheme could allow existing and new stopping trains to use the tunnels as a loop and so improve timetable reliability, particularly on the Standedge line.

I don't know what state the disused Standedge tunnels are in, but having observed Harecastle I can tell you it looks in reasonable condition.

Reopening the disused Standedge tunnel bores to provide a three mile long four track section was part of some early versions of what eventually became the Transpennine Route Upgrade. Railtrack had proposals for this as long ago as 1999. As I recall (and I'm not sure about dates) four tracking from Marsden to Diggle was part of what at the time was called the Northern Hub proposals. Then four tracking was deemed unnecessary because electrification could allegedly achieve the same benefits. Then electrification between Stalybridge and Huddersfield was Graylinged.

There has been plenty of speculation as to what condition the disused Standedge tunnels are in, but as far as I know no definitive answer.

 

[furnessvale]

And not much freight that goes, or needs to go, that way in the first place.

Although a proposal to gauge enhance the Uttoxer line would send a few more freights that way it still wouldn't justify reopening the tunnel.

 

[Philip Phlopp]

There has been plenty of speculation as to what condition the disused Standedge tunnels are in, but as far as I know no definitive answer.

There's damage to the lining of one of the tunnels (I think the 1848 tunnel) which resulted in a set of steel ribs being fitted to the tunnel for reinforcement.

If you really need to four track, and particularly if TRU is going to be the alternative to HS3, then build a new double track tunnel, either on a completely new alignment or as per Farnworth Tunnel and re-bore one of the existing tunnels. It won't be cheap, but I can't see the long term maintenance of two bores well over 100 years old with pre-existing medical conditions being financially sensible.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

One of the disused bores at Standedge (the one on the left at the Yorkshire end when facing into the tunnels) is maintained to a reasonable standard as the emergency access/escape route for the canal tunnel. Fire appliances periodically get driven in there as part of training exercises, though whether the engineering standards allowing this compare with those required for an operational railway is another matter.

If either or both of the single bores were to reopen to trains, something would need to be done to maintain or replace this arrangement.

 

[Ploughman]

When I worked in the tunnel on various renewals, a one way system was in place so both single bores were in use.
Also, to recover materials from the tunnel end at Marsden, we accessed Artic Tippers and forks at the West end access and drove them through to load up and back through. This would be about 1999 - 2005