One question never answered in the "Bring back Woodhead" threads is... would this be as well as the existing Hope Valley services from Sheffield to Manchester? Or instead of (thus freeing up some capacity on the line through Heeley)? Would Manchester passengers have to decide between two Sheffield stations when looking for their train home (stations twenty minutes walk apart, so quite frustrating if you miss your train and then have to schlep over the unattractive walkways over Park Square roundabout to get to the other station?
If the plan is to replace at least some of the Hope Valley services then does this mean removing the through trains from places like Doncaster to Manchester?
Sheffield Victoria is perfectly aligned for a new faster line from Sheffield to Manchester though, which is what presumably all these folk who call for Woodhead to be reopened want!
As I said above, it takes the Glossop trains half an hour to cover the dozen miles from Dinting to Piccadilly, so you're not going to be able to path anything particularly fast down there (with the threat of Metrolink making the local services even more frequent).
Located on a viaduct is neither here no they're as either on the outward or return you would still have to navigate between the platforms, on a viaduct makes access from beneath ideal instead of a footbridge
It is a big issue if you are wanting to find space for a modern accessible route down to Wicker below for passengers - can't just try on people using the steep steps that were acceptable fifty years ago when the passenger services finished.
You could force everyone to use the long ramp down to Furnival Road, but that's a fair walk to the nearest bus stop etc.
The area of the city centre closest to Furnival Road has been decimated since Castle Markets closed down, so you're a long way from the main shopping area - it's really not an attractive proposal, especially not in the dark!
I’ll put it this way:
Reopening the Bakewell line would be more likely than Woodhead.
I agree.
And I'll state that, whilst re-opening the Bakewell line would be A Bad Thing (waste of money, doesn't serve anywhere large, wouldn't be any faster for East Midlands - Greater Manchester journeys than the chord at Dore, complete fantasy to try to squeeze long distance high speed services plus lots of slow quarry trains and local passenger services together even without the suggestion of having single track sections to accommodate the Monsal Trail)...
...
I'd still rather that we re-opened the Bakewell line than re-opened Woodhead (despite me living in Sheffield) - at least the Bakewell line could use existing stations at each end of the route, unlike the rather problematic situation at Sheffield Victoria)
