Calder Valley Ideas

[MarkyT]

Sounds potentially messy, combining services like that, but I’d means longer train at the Leeds end of the route so maybe that’s worth the uncertainty caused by relying on getting the fast and slow to Bradford within a few minutes of each other?

Fasts would catch up with slows to an extent anyway. Combining would ensure maximum passenger capacity on the last leg into Leeds. If the units couldn't couple up for any reason then the fast portion could carry on to Leeds alone.

However, it’s also about ensuring that Rochdale/ Hebden Bridge etc get a competitive journey time to Leeds, versus forcing passengers from those towns heading to Leeds onto the slow train stopping at Mytholmroyd etc because the fast services terminate at Bradford

The 5 minutes or so penalty for stopping at New Pudsey and Bramley wouldn't compromise this to any meaningful extent and would be preferable to changing trains at Bradford.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

This currently happens anyway with the Hull terminators, so there's no real change other than perhaps timings.

Easier with the Hulls as they terminate from the Bradford direction, and the turnback is towards Brighouse/Sowerby. Terminating from the Brighouse direction and using the turnback siding would require crews to change ends three times rather than just once.
I can certainly see the merit in running a Leeds-Leeds looping service via Halifax and Bradford, but there's equal merit in extending the Hull-Halifax to Huddersfield, which should save one unit compared to running separate Huddersfield to Bradford shuttles. Just needs a Low Moor stop adding which would only cost a few minutes.

 

[cle]

I think we're under-estimating, especially for their sizes, how many commute from Todmorden and Hebden Bridge (and some others) to both Manchester and Leeds. They both need 2tph of reasonable speed to each. More so than Rochdale I would say, but I like it as an intermediate hub and place to pass. More lines there could help.

Yes the Calder is secondary to the main Huddersfield route, but it links a lot of decent sized places and a lot of 'above their weight' commuter locations. If it was ever electrified, sped up and more frequent, I think slow and semi usage would eclipse Standege, which is more weighted to fast services. So it has a role for sure.

If the Blackpool service remains via Bradford - which I agree with, it's a long-standing connection and a rare 'long distance' service for the city - then could a second service, for example from Preston, run to Hull via Brighouse? Or even Manchester - Halifax - Dewsbury - Hull. For the pairs, not the end-to-end. The current one doesn't quite do as much.

Westwards, I agree that Chester should be the fastest pattern, for Chester-Leeds services (Warrington too). A second fast pattern, rather than Wigan - might be able to be joined up with the other North Wales service (Llandudno, to be Bangor) to provide some consistency on that corridor. And remove a Piccadilly. Plus more longer distance possibilities for North Wales.

 

[Bantamzen]

Easier with the Hulls as they terminate from the Bradford direction, and the turnback is towards Brighouse/Sowerby. Terminating from the Brighouse direction and using the turnback siding would require crews to change ends three times rather than just once.

True, I hadn't thought of that. Then maybe run it through to Bradford to avoid that issue.

I can certainly see the merit in running a Leeds-Leeds looping service via Halifax and Bradford, but there's equal merit in extending the Hull-Halifax to Huddersfield, which should save one unit compared to running separate Huddersfield to Bradford shuttles. Just needs a Low Moor stop adding which would only cost a few minutes.

Again though, my suggestion would give both Bradford & Halifax an additional Manchester service, which to be honest would be much more useful than running the Hull all the way around to Huddersfield.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

Again though, my suggestion would give both Bradford & Halifax an additional Manchester service, which to be honest would be much more useful than running the Hull all the way around to Huddersfield.

My Hull to Huddersfield suggestion is unrelated to any additional Manchester services (which I agree would be a good thing). The numbers using that service all the way from Hull to Huddersfield would be tiny, but the same goes for extending that same Hull service to Manchester (assuming TPE gets sorted out at some point). What the Hull to Huddersfield service would do is free up a unit and crew*, which paths permitting could then be used on an additional Calder Valley semi-fast.

*= you'd no longer need a separate Huddersfield to Bradford service which requires 2 units for the hourly service. One unit goes into the Hull cycle to cover the extension to Huddersfield, the other is freed up.

 

[Neptune]

My Hull to Huddersfield suggestion is unrelated to any additional Manchester services (which I agree would be a good thing). The numbers using that service all the way from Hull to Huddersfield would be tiny, but the same goes for extending that same Hull service to Manchester (assuming TPE gets sorted out at some point). What the Hull to Huddersfield service would do is free up a unit and crew*, which paths permitting could then be used on an additional Calder Valley semi-fast.

*= you'd no longer need a separate Huddersfield to Bradford service which requires 2 units for the hourly service. One unit goes into the Hull cycle to cover the extension to Huddersfield, the other is freed up.

By adding in another CV service you aren’t freeing anything up by sending the Hull to Halifax services through to Huddersfield. You are far more resource heavy.

I’d personally prefer to see the only additional service be an extension to the Hull service through to Blackburn or Preston. This would require 3 additional units plus crew resources. This would finally give us 2tph from Leeds - Bradford - Burnley - Blackburn and any extensions thereof.

Leeds - Manchester is well catered for, Bradford/Halifax - Manchester has 2tph with one being a fast and one stopping at just 3 additional stations providing connectivity to those places. Hebden Bridge has 3tph to Manchester/Leeds and Todmorden has 4tph to Manchester which are the bigger markets for those areas. Halifax and Bradford have 4tph to Leeds of course and 5tph between them.

With an additional call at Rose Grove to connect with the Colne service (whether it be on the HUL - BBN or YRK - BPN or a mixture thereof) this might even make SELRAP realise that the Copy Pit line actually does exist!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

By adding in another CV service you aren’t freeing anything up by sending the Hull to Halifax services through to Huddersfield. You are far more resource heavy.

I'm basing my numbers on the next timetable (which is only a few weeks away) which has both services in question being hourly.
Merging the soon-to-be-hourly HUD-BDI with Hull to Halifax frees up 2 units, and a path out of Bradford towards Halifax. One of those units has to go onto the Hull to Halifax circuit if it becomes a Hull to Huddersfield. You're still one unit up after that, said unit could then be used to strengthen another diagram.

There is the loss of one service per hour between Halifax and Bradford, but there are probably better ways of filling that gap than either terminating something at Halifax, or sending a 90mph 158 on a slow dawdle around West Yorkshire. Both of which happen at present.

 

[Neptune]

What the Hull to Huddersfield service would do is free up a unit and crew*, which paths permitting could then be used on an additional Calder Valley semi-fast.

I was replying to this bit of your post. An additional hourly CV semi fast service would require 3 units if just operating between Manchester and Leeds. Obviously more if extending at either end.

I honestly don’t see the merits of yet another Leeds - Manchester via Halifax service. The route is far more than end to end journey’s and for me, any additional full length journey needs to go onto the Calder Valley’s other main route which is the Copy Pit line to boost connections between West Yorkshire’s heartland and East Lancashire up to 2tph. The ideal situation for this is to use one which already has the crucial paths through Leeds which is the Hull - Halifax service. In the current timetable this makes it half hourly on the route too.

Just throwing another Leeds - Halifax - Man Vic is just going to thin out an already decent enough service and may encourage more 2 car use which nobody wants. Extending HUL - HFX up to either Blackburn or preferably, and path dependant, Preston also allows for better connectivity for the oft moaned about Colne line services through to West Yorkshire with decent connections allowed at Rose Grove which has the advantage of being an island platform.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I was replying to this bit of your post. An additional hourly CV semi fast service would require 3 units if just operating between Manchester and Leeds. Obviously more if extending at either end.

I honestly don’t see the merits of yet another Leeds - Manchester via Halifax service. The route is far more than end to end journey’s and for me, any additional full length journey needs to go onto the Calder Valley’s other main route which is the Copy Pit line to boost West Yorkshire’s heartland with East Lancashire for 2tph. The ideal situation for this is to use one which already has the crucial paths through Leeds which is the Hull - Halifax service. In the current timetable this makes it half hourly on the route too.

Just throwing another Leeds - Halifax - Man Vic is just going to thin out an already decent enough service and may encourage more 2 car use which nobody wants. Extending HUL - HFX up to either Blackburn or preferably, and path dependant, Preston also allows for better connectivity for the oft moaned about Colne line services through to West Yorkshire with decent connections allowed at Rose Grove which has the advantage of being an island platform.

Ah, got you now- sorry for the confusion. Of course, freeing up a single unit wouldn't by itself allow anything new. It would however help the existing Huddersfield to Bradford service to be a bit less of a financial basket case.

On balance, I'm inclined to agree that any additional service might be better off going up the Copy Pit rather than to Victoria. As a few have said, the Calder Valley will never compete with Standedge on speed alone, but there's a fair bit of potential for growth at most intermediate stations. Electrification would go a fair way to speeding up the stoppers, and it's the stoppers I'd be looking to improve. Fast services on a two track railway with little or no scope for overtaking just throw up more problems than they solve.

 

[Neptune]

Ah, got you now- sorry for the confusion. Of course, freeing up a single unit wouldn't by itself allow anything new. It would however help the existing Huddersfield to Bradford service to be a bit less of a financial basket case.

The vast majority of routes across the country don’t have figures that add up. Huddersfield - Bradford suffers too many issues at the moment. Slow crawl between Bradley Wood Junction to Bradley Junction with slow turnouts at either end, the long slow slog between Greenland and Dryclough again with slow turnouts. Once TRU is able to split the slow and fast lines hopefully this will speed things up a little and eventually with other works and possibly bi-mode trains and even dare I say electrification of this section then maybe just maybe it will require 1 unit to operate (a 3 car 331 would be preferable if electrified).

On balance, I'm inclined to agree that any additional service might be better off going up the Copy Pit rather than to Victoria. As a few have said, the Calder Valley will never compete with Standedge on speed alone, but there's a fair bit of potential for growth at most intermediate stations. Electrification would go a fair way to speeding up the stoppers, and it's the stoppers I'd be looking to improve. Fast services on a two track railway with little or no scope for overtaking just throw up more problems than they solve.

Yes for some reason some posters seem to believe that the Calder Valley is some kind of Intercity railway which can easily handle 6 fast tph. The reality is that it is a secondary inter-regional route which needs to handle multiple different kinds of service.

People only seem to see the Leeds - Manchester element and believe it could be some form of ECML with regular end to end services without even considering the 2 tph Rochdale - Man Vic stopper, the 1tph Man Vic - Blackburn via Copy Pit, the 1tph York - Blackpool via Copy Pit, the 1tph Huddersfield - Bradford, the 1tph Halifax - Hull. It seems to be all about speeding up the main services that affect them and disconnecting places such as Brighouse. Most people don’t even want to consider that a healthy amount of people travel from there to Manchester because for some reason a long service that stops a few times (ie and inter-regional service) is wrong and anything above an hour in length should be a glamorous 5 or 6 coach express.

See the various poster decrying the fact that the Chester - Leeds service stops at 3 more stops than the 1Jxx Leeds - Man Vic services. Like those with buffer stop allergies they must suffer from doors opening and closing allergies and how dare the people of Sowerby Bridge and Mytholmroyd have a direct connection to the West Coast mainline and Chester at the considerable cost of less than 10 minutes to me.

I honestly don’t understand the mentality some people have on here. The railways are supposed to about decent connectivity for all, unless you’re a rail enthusiast with your imaginary ‘non enthusiast relative’ who seems to always comment on things that only bother enthusiasts.

 

[Manutd1999]

Extending HUL - HFX up to either Blackburn or preferably, and path dependant, Preston

Lots good ideas/discussion on this thread, but this suggestion seems to have broad support.

Regarding Brighouse and the balance of fasts/stoppers, maybe it is best to continue sending one 'stopper' via Brighouse and one via Bradford, as per today?

In the half-hour where the stopper runs via Bradford, the fast service could be curtailed at Bradford. In the opposite half-hour, the fast service would continue to Leeds.

Something like this:

Half-hour 1:
Victoria - Rochdale - Hebden - Halifax - Bradford
Victoria - Rochdale - all stops - Sowerby - Halifax - Low Moor - Bradford - Pudsey - Bramley - Leeds
(Blackpool) - Hebden - Halifax - Bradford - Pudsey - Bramley - Leeds - (York)
Victoria - Rochdale - Littleborough - Todmorden - (Blackburn)

Half-hour 2:
Victoria - Todmorden - Hebden - Halifax - Bradford - Pudsey - Bramley - Leeds
Victoria - Rochdale - all stops - Sowerby - (Leeds via Brighouse)
(Preston) - Hebden - Sowerby - Halifax - Bradford - Pudsey - Bramley - Leeds - (Hull)
(Huddersfield) - Halifax - Low Moor - Bradford

 

[Bantamzen]

Yes for some reason some posters seem to believe that the Calder Valley is some kind of Intercity railway which can easily handle 6 fast tph. The reality is that it is a secondary inter-regional route which needs to handle multiple different kinds of service.

People only seem to see the Leeds - Manchester element and believe it could be some form of ECML with regular end to end services without even considering the 2 tph Rochdale - Man Vic stopper, the 1tph Man Vic - Blackburn via Copy Pit, the 1tph York - Blackpool via Copy Pit, the 1tph Huddersfield - Bradford, the 1tph Halifax - Hull. It seems to be all about speeding up the main services that affect them and disconnecting places such as Brighouse. Most people don’t even want to consider that a healthy amount of people travel from there to Manchester because for some reason a long service that stops a few times (ie and inter-regional service) is wrong and anything above an hour in length should be a glamorous 5 or 6 coach express.

Nobody believes that the Calder Valley route is anything of the sort. I'm not sure why you are even making this assertion.

See the various poster decrying the fact that the Chester - Leeds service stops at 3 more stops than the 1Jxx Leeds - Man Vic services. Like those with buffer stop allergies they must suffer from doors opening and closing allergies and how dare the people of Sowerby Bridge and Mytholmroyd have a direct connection to the West Coast mainline and Chester at the considerable cost of less than 10 minutes to me.

The "various poster" was me, and as a user of this service between Bradford & Warrington it simply occurred to me that a service that trundles between Leeds to Todmorden that suddenly becomes a faster & longer service beyond seems a bit daft when you have two services (Leeds-Manchester) that could be better purposed to be the stoppers. As for the Sowerby / Mytholmroyd argument, I assume that you are equally passionate about having the Blackpool service call at both so as not to deny the residents of both towns access to the East Lancs towns, the WCML at Preston and of course Blackpool?

I honestly don’t understand the mentality some people have on here. The railways are supposed to about decent connectivity for all, unless you’re a rail enthusiast with your imaginary ‘non enthusiast relative’ who seems to always comment on things that only bother enthusiasts.

Frankly I have no idea what you are talking about here.

 

[Philip]

Bradford does have strong connections with the west of the Pennines as you state, families often move across one way or the other through changes in work commitments and often gravitate to the smaller towns & cities to live because they are cheaper, even though the work commitments may be more based around Manchester & Leeds. As for WCML connections, we are talking about 1 per hour that also happens to travel onto a very popular tourist spot for many people in Bradford. Its not like there's some expensive bespoke service here, its usually a 2,3 or 4 car 158 that trundles its way there.

So why would you break Bradford's connection between there and the East Lancs towns at Halifax? Just because the WCML might not be as important? Although it is also worth pointing out that a surprising amount of Scottish people live here, and have family back over the border. So there are stronger links than you might want to believe.

Speaking of popular tourist spots, are Scarborough or Bridlington more of a draw for the people of Bradford than Blackpool is and potentially would it be a good idea if one of the Calder Valley Bradford services extends to one of these? Geographically I'm guessing Bradford is a good bit closer to Scarborough/Bridlington than it is to Blackpool.

 

[Halifaxlad]

I can certainly see the merit in running a Leeds-Leeds looping service via Halifax and Bradford, but there's equal merit in extending the Hull-Halifax to Huddersfield, which should save one unit compared to running separate Huddersfield to Bradford shuttles. Just needs a Low Moor stop adding which would only cost a few minutes.

I think a Leeds - Leeds looping service would be useful for connecting Bradford to Dewsbury.

Leeds - Manchester is well catered for, Bradford/Halifax - Manchester has 2tph with one being a fast and one stopping at just 3 additional stations providing connectivity to those places. Hebden Bridge has 3tph to Manchester/Leeds and Todmorden has 4tph to Manchester which are the bigger markets for those areas. Halifax and Bradford have 4tph to Leeds of course and 5tph between them.

I would just like to second this comment!

True, I hadn't thought of that. Then maybe run it through to Bradford to avoid that issue.


Again though, my suggestion would give both Bradford & Halifax an additional Manchester service, which to be honest would be much more useful than running the Hull all the way around to Huddersfield.

How about sending a Hull service Bradford - Halifax - Wakefield - Castleford - Selby - Hull ?

As pointed out "Leeds - Manchester is well catered for, Bradford/Halifax" as for Bradford to the City of Wakefield... well thats ... non existent!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I think a Leeds - Leeds looping service would be useful for connecting Bradford to Dewsbury.

The 268 bus does a reasonable job of that. A train having to go via Brighouse and Halifax can't match the direct bus via Heckmondwike and Cleckheaton.

 

[Bantamzen]

Speaking of popular tourist spots, are Scarborough or Bridlington more of a draw for the people of Bradford than Blackpool is and potentially would it be a good idea if one of the Calder Valley Bradford services extends to one of these? Geographically I'm guessing Bradford is a good bit closer to Scarborough/Bridlington than it is to Blackpool.

Honestly speaking, I don't think so. Scarborough is popular but not as popular as Blackpool.

As pointed out "Leeds - Manchester is well catered for, Bradford/Halifax" as for Bradford to the City of Wakefield... well thats ... non existent!

An extra Manchester service down the Calder wouldn't be primarily for the Leeds market. Diverting the service that currently runs via Brighouse to instead run via Bradford & Halifax would be far more useful, whilst turning the Brighouse into a local Halifax/Bradford one would also serve a better purpose. As for Wakefield, well no there isn't a good service but then there isn't an easy way to get there from the Interchange without bringing back an almost identical "Mystery Tour" service that we used to have. Any Bradford-Wakefield route would be better filled by LNER finally starting their once promised bi-hourly London KX service from Forster Square.

 

[Neptune]

As for the Sowerby / Mytholmroyd argument, I assume that you are equally passionate about having the Blackpool service call at both so as not to deny the residents of both towns access to the East Lancs towns, the WCML at Preston and of course Blackpool?

Should the East Lancs service go to 2tph as many people seem to agree would be far more beneficial to the greater good than yet another Manchester service then 100% yes. It’s not like they are causing 15 minutes additional running now is it?

As for my last point which you frankly don’t understand, I was looking at the sheer amount of times an enthusiast has an issue with something such as an additional stop or a noise that nobody else notices then they always have a ‘relative or friend’ that ‘notices it without prompting’. I’m waiting for someone to come up with this with regards 3 additional stops on a Chester service that only seems to bother people on here.

 

[30907]

As pointed out "Leeds - Manchester is well catered for, Bradford/Halifax" as for Bradford to the City of Wakefield... well thats ... non existent!

...apart from a frequent service changing at Leeds, that is.

 

[Halifaxlad]

...apart from a frequent service changing at Leeds, that is.

Clearly I was thinking about direct services!

 

[Neptune]

Clearly I was thinking about direct services!

Grand Central & LNER

 

[507020]

which would be more useful for Bradford: retaining the direct hourly service to East Lancs and Preston, or having an additional Manchester service?

Certainly retaining the Copy Pit service, or even running an additional Copy Pit service would be more beneficial than another Manchester service, of which there are several already, even if the greatest travel demand is to Manchester (which it likely isn’t)

More so than Rochdale I would say, but I like it as an intermediate hub and place to pass. More lines there could help.

Yes the Calder is secondary to the main Huddersfield route, but it links a lot of decent sized places and a lot of 'above their weight' commuter locations.

Westwards, I agree that Chester should be the fastest pattern, for Chester-Leeds services (Warrington too).

How likely is Rochdale to regain its 2nd island platform à la Bolton or Blackburn? With terminating services (2tph from December) picking up stations to Victoria, the only overtaking that would become possible would be for services not calling at Rochdale.

(Living along another L&Y line!) I wouldn’t call it secondary to Standedge. It simply another route, which happens to have a longer journey time owing to it being slightly less direct. It also makes sense to stop all trains at Rochdale, Todmorden and Hebden Bridge, rather than just once at Huddersfield.

Chester should have the fastest Bradford/Leeds service, but it shouldn’t continue into North Wales, for risk of becoming too long and delays breaking the Calder Valley service.

Leeds - Manchester is well catered for, Bradford/Halifax - Manchester has 2tph with one being a fast and one stopping at just 3 additional stations providing connectivity to those places. Hebden Bridge has 3tph to Manchester/Leeds and Todmorden has 4tph to Manchester which are the bigger markets for those areas. Halifax and Bradford have 4tph to Leeds of course and 5tph between them.

With an additional call at Rose Grove to connect with the Colne service (whether it be on the HUL - BBN or YRK - BPN or a mixture thereof) this might even make SELRAP realise that the Copy Pit line actually does exist!

Higher frequencies for places closer together in the way you describe sounds reasonable.

The Blackpool North - York should stop at Rose Grove, but I’m sure SELRAP are aware that the Copy Pit exists, just being expected to walk across Bradford to reach Skipton from Forster Square is unreasonable for passengers coming from East Lancashire.

Yes for some reason some posters seem to believe that the Calder Valley is some kind of Intercity railway which can easily handle 6 fast tph. The reality is that it is a secondary inter-regional route which needs to handle multiple different kinds of service.

The Calder Valley is a kind of InterCity railway, given that Manchester and Leeds are cities and services extend to Chester and York which are also cities. 6tph fast would also be doable at the expense of stopping frequency. At least no one is seriously proposing that.

 

[Neptune]

The Blackpool North - York should stop at Rose Grove, but I’m sure SELRAP are aware that the Copy Pit exists, just being expected to walk across Bradford to reach Skipton from Forster Square is unreasonable for passengers coming from East Lancashire.

No they’d either drive or get the direct bus.

 

[Bantamzen]

As for my last point which you frankly don’t understand, I was looking at the sheer amount of times an enthusiast has an issue with something such as an additional stop or a noise that nobody else notices then they always have a ‘relative or friend’ that ‘notices it without prompting’. I’m waiting for someone to come up with this with regards 3 additional stops on a Chester service that only seems to bother people on here.

I'm not speaking as an enthusiast, but as a user.

Certainly retaining the Copy Pit service, or even running an additional Copy Pit service would be more beneficial than another Manchester service, of which there are several already, even if the greatest travel demand is to Manchester (which it likely isn’t)

I disagree, an extra Manchester service would be much more beneficial than one up Copy Pit. And furthermore it wouldn't actually be an extra service, just one repurposed to run via Bradford and Halifax instead of Brighouse.

 

[Andyh82]

Speaking of popular tourist spots, are Scarborough or Bridlington more of a draw for the people of Bradford than Blackpool is and potentially would it be a good idea if one of the Calder Valley Bradford services extends to one of these? Geographically I'm guessing Bradford is a good bit closer to Scarborough/Bridlington than it is to Blackpool.

I believe back in the Northern Spirit days before TPE was split off as a seperate franchise, the Blackpool to York service did run to Scarborough

If the Scarborough line ever does get 2 per hour as was on the cards at one point, it would make sense to join it to the Blackpool York service rather than run as a shuttle, but I imagine it would cause capacity issues at York that a shuttle wouldn’t.

 

[30907]

I would put a half-hourly "fast" BDI-MCV higher priority than a 3rd tph over Copy Pit.

The reason the Chester is not an extension of the present faster train is I assume practical - the present arrangement gives an optimum time ex Chester for an approximately half hourly service to Manchester.
And frankly Bradford-Chester (etc) is not a big enough flow that 5min faster would make much difference to loading.
Of course if you rewrote the timetable completely you might be able to improve it, but it would be only one factor among many.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I disagree, an extra Manchester service would be much more beneficial than one up Copy Pit. And furthermore it wouldn't actually be an extra service, just one repurposed to run via Bradford and Halifax instead of Brighouse.

If you're doing that, you're also removing the link between Batley & Dewsbury and the upper Calder Valley. That service at present loads very well, indeed with the current issues on TPE it seems to perform better than even the Huddersfield stopper.

To be honest the best way to improve the route as a whole would be to get the wires up (including the link via Brighouse to meet the TPRU wires) and run it like a proto-S-bahn. Maybe have some services skipping the most minor stations (Walsden and Bramley, and the Manchester inner-suburban stops) with a 10-15 minute service interval.
Bi-mode units for Copy Pit, scheduled in such a way that they effectively use the same path along the Calder Valley (so the ex-Manchester branches off at Todmorden, with the Blackpool to York coming off the other side of the triangle to fill the same path towards Halifax, and vice-versa). The via Brighouse service could then terminate at Hebden Bridge if it disrupts the pattern, as a more frequent "main" Calder Valley service would make changing easier.

 

[Bantamzen]

If you're doing that, you're also removing the link between Batley & Dewsbury and the upper Calder Valley. That service at present loads very well, indeed with the current issues on TPE it seems to perform better than even the Huddersfield stopper.

To be honest the best way to improve the route as a whole would be to get the wires up (including the link via Brighouse to meet the TPRU wires) and run it like a proto-S-bahn. Maybe have some services skipping the most minor stations (Walsden and Bramley, and the Manchester inner-suburban stops) with a 10-15 minute service interval.
Bi-mode units for Copy Pit, scheduled in such a way that they effectively use the same path along the Calder Valley (so the ex-Manchester branches off at Todmorden, with the Blackpool to York coming off the other side of the triangle to fill the same path towards Halifax, and vice-versa). The via Brighouse service could then terminate at Hebden Bridge if it disrupts the pattern, as a more frequent "main" Calder Valley service would make changing easier.

With perhaps more than a dash of irony, during some early TRU works at the end of the year the Leeds-Wigan flyer will be heading via Bradford for a few days. Maybe once the works start in Ernest around Ravensthorpe this might become a more permanent fixture?

We will be installing new track and better drainage to improve reliability and supporting West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Leeds City Council to enable the build of the new White Rose Station.

TPE will continue to run two trains per hour between Leeds and Huddersfield via Wakefield.

Northern will divert the Leeds – Wigan service via Bradford Interchange with rail replacement buses to connect into services on the Calder Valley.

https://thetrupgrade.co.uk/upcomingclosures/