Perhaps we ought to keep back a few 144's to rejuvenate such lines. "tackling genuine problems" could be used as an excuse never to actually improve anything over what we have.
Its a waste of resources to have such routes and not use them to improve local journey opportunities.
Or, you could argue that (after huge increases in passenger numbers elsewhere on the network), it's a waste of resources to have such lightly used routes (and that the answer might be to give up on some of them)?
On a similar note, Northern seem to have problems with the ever growing popularity of the line between Leeds and Knottingley/Goole. (Always seem to be new housing developments popping up around Pontefract / Glasshoughton / Castleford!)
A few examples :-
07:04 Goole to Leeds is generally 2 units of 2 joined together, so 4 carriages but now very rarely much seating left by Castleford, I feel sorry for the poor residents of Woodlesford if the 07:38 Castleford to Leeds gets cancelled which it has been doing several times recently for some reason!
18:00 Leeds to Knottingley tonight was a 2 carriage 144, people left behind at Leeds
19:12 Leeds to Knottingley always seems to be a single carriage 150 which can get pretty cosy sometimes
Wonder what the May 2018 timetable changes and replacement of the pacers will do in terms of trying to level out the congestion on certain services
I agree that the Knottingley/ Pontefract/ Castleford corridor deserves better services to Leed - I still have (former) colleagues who do the commute and it's come a long way from that period around 2001 when Arriva gave up on trains (running replacement bus services for many months).
I've argued regularly that Leeds - Castleford - Knottingley should be half hourly (rather than the tedious dog-leg on the Leeds - Castleford - Barnsley service that gets overtaken by a semi-fast Leeds - Barnsley 158) - I'm all in favour of improved services through Castleford.
But, knowing people in the area, the demand is to Leeds - not to York/Sheffield. Look at the local bus/coach services. Mass transportation like heavy rail needs to focus on the busiest routes.
In the late 70s and early 80s there were more local trains on this route and some of them loaded reasonably well they had 3 cars, the 074x from Sheffield and the 17xx return always running comfortably full. However, as someone who did passenger counting on those trains in the summer of 1980 for the DM Doncaster, most of them were between Sheffield and York or beyond, a lot of them rail staff travelling to York HQ. The first InterCity from Sheffield to York wasnt until 0900 then no better than 2 hourly after that and these DMUs just filled the gaps. With XC now half hourly there is just no need for these locals, running around empty and taking units that are needed elsewhere. Most people in Pontefract have no social or economic connection to Sheffield or York, so lets cull them once and for all. Rotherham Masborough was also a dead duck, so far from the town centre that local passenger counts were abysmal. The mere existence of a line in itself doesn't mean it necessarily fits current travel patterns.
Fair points.
The old Cross Country service used to be terrible between Sheffield and York - randomly going via Doncaster *or* Leeds *or* both - some huge gaps in the timetable (as the service was mainly southbound in the morning and northbound in the evening).
Not too many years ago many people would have been saying the same about lines like the Aire & Wharfe in West Yorkshire. Now NR & TOCs are trying to figure out the best way to shoehorn in extra capacity to satisfy the constantly growing demand. That's not to say there absolutely should be more use of these lines, but the argument that not enough people use them when the only services are near to useless for people that might actually want to use them isn't necessarily covering the whole picture. Much of the area east of Leeds is being eyed up for various potential projects, both for business and for housing. And with existing lines being close to or alongside such potential developments one eye has to be kept on the possibility of at least a useful increase in capacity. Things can and do change, as anyone still "enjoying" the drive into Leeds (for example) and trying to find somewhere to park that doesn't need a mortgage will surely testify. Indeed the PR1 & PR2 Park & Ride schemes are evidence that people are taking advantage of any scheme that avoids the drive into the centre. Perhaps two or three more runs a day on the lines in question might tap into such a market (as York is equally as nightmarish in commute into, as I'm sure is Sheffield).
Case in point below....
The Aire/Wharfe Valley lines work well because they are simple routes that run into the heart of the cities that those towns have the strongest economic connection to (Leeds and Bradford).
At the moment, the significant demand from Castleford/ Pontefract/ Knottingley is into Leeds.
If you build several thousand more houses in the area east of Leeds then the significant demand will still be for services into Leeds.
As you say, that's where the traffic congestion is - people heading into Leeds.
Any DMU you find to run peak services from Pontefract into York/Sheffield is one that could be used as additional capacity on services from Knottingley/ Pontefract/ Castleford into Leeds.
Much as I love Sheffield, I'm realistic enough to accept that it's not a big draw to people in places like Pontefract - they want to have better services into their nearest big city and they ought to have them (rather than "nice to have" luxuries like increased services to York/ Sheffield).
If there were regular coaches from Knottingley/ Pontefract/ Castleford to Sheffield/ York then I'd say that it might be evidence of a market that rail wasn't serving very well. But the Forum habit of pointing to a lightly used line and saying "the fact that it has poor passenger numbers is evidence of why we should throw more resources at it" doesn't convince me, when we have enough problems meeting genuine demand on existing lines with finite numbers of DMUs.
