Todmorden Curve

[WatcherZero]

£7m. upfront price tag for Todmorden Curve rail link
Date: 23 March 2010

BURNLEY MP Kitty Ussher has received information from the Government that the cost of reinstating the Todmorden Curve is agreed to be £7m. upfront and then it will probably require some on-going subsidy at least for the first few years.
Mrs Ussher received the information in answer to a Parliamentary question. Kitty Ussher is hopeful the North West Regional Development Agency will provide the cash and has written to the Chief Executive, Steve Broomhead, to confirm their contribution.

The government funds the RDAs so they can decide whether to spend the money on schemes like this, however the Conservative Party have said they would scrap the RDAs if they were elected, she added.

The ongoing subsidy can then be provided by local partners like Burnley Council, the RDA and Lancashire County Council, all of whom are in turn funded by national government to some degree. If it goes well, central government has confirmed to Mrs Ussher they can then take over the costs directly.

She said: "This is good news as it shows people are getting down to the business of making this crucial scheme work. I call on the RDA to use the money the Government gives them to fund the reinstatement of the Todmorden Curve and to do so quickly. The best thing local people can do to help this scheme to happen is to vote Labour at the election, to give the RDAs the future they need to keep investing in Burnley."

Chris Mole (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Transport) said: "The Department for Transport has had recent discussions with the scheme promoters, Network Rail and Northern Rail, about the provision of a direct service between Burnley and Manchester via a reinstated curve at Todmorden. It has been confirmed that such a scheme is feasible, but would require capital funding of around £7m. for the reinstatement of the Todmorden Curve and it is most likely that on-going subsidy would be required at least in the early years.

"The promoters are aware both capital and initial on-going subsidy costs of the scheme have to be funded through local and regional funding sources. The Government provide funding to the region through the regional funding allocation so they can decide what projects should be given priority from the resources available. Once implemented, if the scheme demonstrates its success after three years then the Department for Transport would consider funding the service as part of the national rail network, subject to funds being available in the period 2014-19."

Kitty said: "I am hopeful the RDA will be able to fund this investment, and provide Burnley residents with a fast rail link to Manchester. I will release the answer I get from Steve Broomhead as soon as I receive it".

Possibly growing closer after Lancashires dissapointment it wasnt in the Northern Hub study (not that it should have been as a different issue), as long as NWDA can fund it before the Tories shut it down.

 

[tbtc]

Would make sense, especially with the spare capacity at the east end of Manchester Victoria now the Oldham Loop services aren't running.

Manchester - Bolton - Blackburn - Burnley will always struggle due to the lack of paths on the Bolton line - rebuilding the chord would be a good idea.

 

[Deerfold]

Would make sense, especially with the spare capacity at the east end of Manchester Victoria now the Oldham Loop services aren't running.

Manchester - Bolton - Blackburn - Burnley will always struggle due to the lack of paths on the Bolton line - rebuilding the chord would be a good idea.

You could get 1 tph just by extending the current Wigan - Rochdale service before you even need any extra capacity.

 

[Welshman]

It would make very good sense, especially if Todmorden were to have the necessary crossover and resignalling to allow the York-Blackpools to reverse there, thus adding little by way of a time penalty, but allowing a Todmorden -Blackburn-Preston-Blackpool service as well as a faster Manchester-Burnley one.

 

[A60K]

It would make very good sense, especially if Todmorden were to have the necessary crossover and resignalling to allow the York-Blackpools to reverse there, thus adding little by way of a time penalty, but allowing a Todmorden -Blackburn-Preston-Blackpool service as well as a faster Manchester-Burnley one.

I've not been on the Calder Valley line for years, but is Todmorden really such an important place to serve that it's worth imposing 8-10 minutes delay on all the passengers from York/Leeds/Halifax to Burnley/Blackburn/Preston/Blackpool?

 

[Deerfold]

I've not been on the Calder Valley line for years, but is Todmorden really such an important place to serve that it's worth imposing 8-10 minutes delay on all the passengers from York/Leeds/Halifax to Burnley/Blackburn/Preston/Blackpool?

Todmorden to Burnley seems to be an important enough flow for bus companies to be fighting over passengers - First and Transdev between them provide 4bph - a lot in that part of the world. Unfortunately adding the stop at Todmorden probably would make if faster to go via Manchester and Change if going between Leeds and Preston.

 

[A60K]

That's what I was thinking - so a Burnley to Manchester via Todmorden service would be good, but leaving the Blackpool to York services as they are would sound best.

 

[4SRKT]

Maybe this could allow the Calder Valley timetable to get back to a more sensible pattern. Cease running the through, poorly utilised, Leeds > Dewsbury > Brighouse > Manchester, and replace with a Leeds > Hebden Bridge terminator, and a through Manchester > Burnley working. Then standardise the Leeds > Bradford > Manchester back onto a half hourly service. The current timetable is extremely elegant as a theoretical planning exercise, but sees such absurdities as Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge having only an hourly service to Halifax and Bradford. Hourly frequencies in this part of the world just won't do, and that's what this timetable consists of: 4 separate hourly operations meshed to make a service that is frequent enough if you regard Leeds and Manchester as the only places of any worth, but with lots of gaps and irregular intervals for intermediate stations.

As for the question of a fast service Bradford > Manchester, which is undoubtedly desirable to aid Bradford's plug-in to the network, could this be achieved by running a 170 Bradford > Brighouse > Huddersfield > Piccadilly (and Airport maybe?)? This could run in the path of the ridiculous Leeds > Wakefield service, which could be cut short at Bradford, and Huddersfield > Wakefield run independently with stock suitable to the traffic levels (one of those pump trucks you see in cowboy films for example). The current Bradford > Huddersfield service is very slackly timed, presumably to ease its passage over Bradley Jn. This could clearly be tightened up, and its reliability in respect to arrival time at this junction could be improved by the train commencing at Bradford rather than at Leeds. Does anyone really gain much by making a so-called Bradford > Manchester 'express' by cutting out four stops on the Calder Valley (and still a risk of getting a 150/2, hardly the stuff of expresses)?

 

[Deerfold]

Maybe this could allow the Calder Valley timetable to get back to a more sensible pattern. Cease running the through, poorly utilised, Leeds > Dewsbury > Brighouse > Manchester, and replace with a Leeds > Hebden Bridge terminator, and a through Manchester > Burnley working. Then standardise the Leeds > Bradford > Manchester back onto a half hourly service. The current timetable is extremely elegant as a theoretical planning exercise, but sees such absurdities as Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge having only an hourly service to Halifax and Bradford. Hourly frequencies in this part of the world just won't do, and that's what this timetable consists of: 4 separate hourly operations meshed to make a service that is frequent enough if you regard Leeds and Manchester as the only places of any worth, but with lots of gaps and irregular intervals for intermediate stations.

As for the question of a fast service Bradford > Manchester, which is undoubtedly desirable to aid Bradford's plug-in to the network, could this be achieved by running a 170 Bradford > Brighouse > Huddersfield > Piccadilly (and Airport maybe?)? This could run in the path of the ridiculous Leeds > Wakefield service, which could be cut short at Bradford, and Huddersfield > Wakefield run independently with stock suitable to the traffic levels (one of those pump trucks you see in cowboy films for example). The current Bradford > Huddersfield service is very slackly timed, presumably to ease its passage over Bradley Jn. This could clearly be tightened up, and its reliability in respect to arrival time at this junction could be improved by the train commencing at Bradford rather than at Leeds. Does anyone really gain much by making a so-called Bradford > Manchester 'express' by cutting out four stops on the Calder Valley (and still a risk of getting a 150/2, hardly the stuff of expresses)?

The changes on the Caldervale line have resulted in me catching a lot more buses (I don't mind buses, but tend to do buses for short journeys with the aim of connecting to trains for longer ones). The reduction in frequency to/from Bradford affects those transferring to the Airedale/Wharfdale lines, so with four trains Bradford to Halifax, it's often faster to get the bus to Sowerby or Hebden Bridge. Even at peaks there can be 40-odd minute gaps in the train service.

The most annoying part is that the extra service via Dewsbury was introduced *before* the reduction in service via Bradford - it was welcome as an additional service but not instead of the previous well-used one.

It does seem to have been a change to get more trains running but not where people actually want them.