Written evidence from the Leeds Northern Railway Reinstatement Group

(TIC 115)

Thank you for inviting this submission into reintroduction of sustainable rural rail public transport to the City of Ripon, and towns of Wetherby and Tadcaster in the Counties of North and West Yorkshire.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The proposal stated hereinafter refers to the campaign started in 1987 to reinstate the railway Harrogate-Ripon-Northallerton closed in 1967. In 2011, the campaign was extended to include Harrogate-Wetherby-Cross Gates-(Leeds) and Wetherby-Tadcaster-Church Fenton-(York/Doncaster/Leeds), closed in 1964, to create a new sustainable strategic freight and passenger through route. We are advised and supported by professional transport consultants who think this proposal is sound and realistic as it would:-

1. Create a strategic passenger route north from Leeds to Northallerton 15 miles shorter than via York reducing fuel/energy use.
2. Create a passenger route from Leeds to Northallerton up to 10 minutes shorter in journey time than via York.
3. Provide rolling stock for Wetherby, Harrogate and Ripon services, that would otherwise operate via York, reducing reinstatement costs.
4. Create an alternate and 7-day railway for planned or emergency diversions between York and Northallerton not available since 1967.
5. Allow freight to be diverted between Northallerton and Doncaster by creating a strategic freight route avoiding the ECML and three congested flat junctions in York and three in Doncaster.
6. Increase capacity for additional high speed passenger paths by diverting freight away from the ECML between Newcastle and Peterborough.
7. Reconnect Ripon, Wetherby and Tadcaster to the National rail system and to each other.
8. Restore through trains to Harrogate (pop. 77,000) withdrawn in 1967.
9. Allow Harrogate to Northallerton (and northwards) journey time reduction of 55 minutes avoiding an additional journey and change of trains via York as at present.
10. Reduce the number of terminating trains and platform blocking at Leeds west end bay platforms by converting them to through trains increasing station capacity.
11. Allow more local through trains across Leeds with increased productivity of rolling stock and train crew as turnround time will be reduced to a much shorter dwell time.
12. Allow longer local train journey’s between turnrounds also increasing productivity of rolling stock and train crew.
13. Allow additional through trains to more destinations with improved connectivity, encouraging growth and increased travel opportunity.
14. Create the opportunity for modal shift on already congested A61 and A58 corridors from Ripon and Wetherby to Leeds respectively particularly in the peaks.
15. Ease car parking capacity at existing commuting railheads in north and northeast Leeds City Region by increasing the number of railheads.
16. Reduce CO2 emissions in the A61/A58 corridors.
17. Increase capacity at nodal points of York and Leeds.
18. Future Proof for growth.
19. Address “Peak Oil and “Peak Car” predictions.

INTRODUCTION

There has been rapid growth in rail travel over the last ten years to the point where more passengers are using the rail Network than at any time since 1929 when there was nearly double the amount of capacity. In the Leeds City Region, passenger footfall has grown by 54% in the same timescale that National footfall has increased only 39%. This has created “Capacity Crunch” on local routes into Leeds. Justine Greening, MP, promised 5% additional peak time seats by 2018 with trans Pennine electrification but this has already been swallowed up six years before delivery. At current rates of growth, 30% additional seating will be needed by 2018 unless above inflation fare increases strangles demand.

When the campaign started in 1987 to put Ripon back on the railway map, the Northallerton-Ripon-Harrogate route had been closed for twenty years. Ripon had noticeably declined in prosperity in the intervening years and continues to do so. The purpose of the campaign was to reduce traffic on the A61 Ripon-Harrogate road in the peaks and provide a better public transport hub for Ripon and surrounding hinterland. Outside peak hours at that time there was an hourly bus to Harrogate throughout the day with last buses finishing about 10.00pm. North of Ripon, the local bus service was almost non-existent (as it still is to-day) with only three buses a day to Thirsk. Barbara Castle stated in 1966 that there would be a replacement express bus to Thirsk and Northallerton railway stations as a condition of approving closure in 1967. This service lasted less than two years. This was not adequate for the 900 students at Ripon Teacher Training College for evenings out or for travelling home at weekends mid term. The whole College supported the campaign to restore a railway service. Reinstatement didn’t come fast enough as student numbers dwindled to the point where College was not sustainable and closed in 2002 after 140 years as a higher educational establishment. Ripon lost £4m contribution annually to the local economy from students and lecture staff. Beeching had a far greater impact on the prosperity of Ripon than just losing a rail service. The Principal blamed closure on the closure of the railway as students had cited poor transport communications preferring to attend the twinned College of York St John. Decline will continue as the Ministry of Defence announced earlier this year closure of Ripon Army Barracks with the loss of local civilian jobs and the loss of 1,800 military incomes to the local economy. If ever railway reinstatement is needed to boost the economy here in Ripon, now is the time. Closure is to save £200m of Defence budget annually. Rail reinstatement Harrogate-Ripon-Northallerton could easily be paid for out of first year savings and needs reinstating as soon after closure in 2017 as possible.

The current bus service in 2013 is every 15 minutes Ripon to Harrogate between peaks but inexplicably only every 30 minutes in the peaks and hourly between 7.00pm and 11.00pm. This level of service is only sustained by the large number of bus pass journeys. Without bus pass concessions (530,000 journeys between Ripon and Harrogate in 2011) this frequency would be unsustainable so indirectly is heavily subsidised. Eight buses an hour passing through the narrow, congested city centre streets is now becoming a problem with air quality and cause for concern of environmentalists and the City Council. North of Ripon only five buses a day between the hours of 7.30am and 5.30pm Sundays, Bank Holidays excepted and four daily during school holidays. There is no integration whatsoever with trains at Thirsk and Northallerton stations.

The A61 is the most dangerous road in Yorkshire. According to the Office of National Statistics there have been 23 fatalities on the eleven miles section between Ripon and Harrogate alone since 1999. A car occupant is 60 times more likely to be killed on this stretch of road than a passenger on a parallel railway. (DfT statistic)

A Ripon-Harrogate reinstatement feasibility study was conducted between 2004 and 2006 producing a Demand Forecast, Environmental Impact Study and Engineering Appraisal. It was forecast that 0.72m passengers per year would use Ripon station if reopened, almost the same actual footfall figures for Skipton, another North Yorkshire market town of similar population, in the same year. There would be a reduction of 143,000 car journeys per annum on the A61 between Ripon and Harrogate as 65% of all commuters travelling out of Ripon daily, travel along the A61 for all or part of their journey to Harrogate, 49%, Leeds, 11% and Bradford, 5%.

1.02m visited attractions within Greater Ripon in 2012 such as Ripon Cathedral, Ripon Racecourse, Newby Hall, Fountains Abbey and Lightwater Valley Theme Park. All visitors travelled by road but it was estimated in 2006 that 5% would come by rail if the station was open but not contribute to fares taken at Ripon booking office. This is additional to the 0.72m estimated footfall in the same year. Contributory revenue is difficult to estimate so wasn’t included. Contributory revenue was certainly not taken into account in the highly flawed analysis of the Beeching Report. This resulted in many marginally profitable stations closing unjustifiably including Ripon and many smaller coastal resorts that had a summer influx of visitors who booked their travel tickets at inland towns and cities remote from seaside resorts.

I was privileged to unofficially see the balance legers for the Workington-Cockermouth-Keswick-Penrith line for 1962. The line as a whole ran at a loss all year round but in the 12 weeks of summer, contributory revenue from the Saturday and Sunday excursion trains from Whitehaven/Workington, Newcastle, Manchester and elsewhere and the 5 or 6 special trains run from London for Keswick Convention every Eastertime more than covered the direct operating losses. British Rail lost this annual revenue forever after the line closed in 1966/72 as it all moved to road transport or didn’t travel at all causing a drop in the local economy of Keswick. This concept was only recognised and accepted during the 1980s in the campaign to save the Settle to Carlisle railway line.

Cost of reinstatement from Ripon to Harrogate was calculated at £43m +/- 33%. This produced a BCR of 1.22 so was not taken forward by North Yorkshire County Council in 2006.

The campaign was revived in 2011 after reading Reports by ATOC “Connecting Communities” and Network Rail “East Coast Capacity Review 2016”. If Northallerton-Ripon-Harrogate could be extended to Wetherby and Leeds the business case would be more favourable as all the boxes would be ticked in the ATOC Report. ATOC calculated Harrogate-Ripon reinstatement only with a BCR of 4.3 without Capex. After reading East Coast Capacity Review 2016 it was decided to go with an additional route from Wetherby to Church Fenton to create a strategic through freight route allowing diversion of freight off the ECML. It was stated by Network rail that one freight train on the ECML takes up the space of two high speed passenger paths. As an additional 80 passenger train and 30 freight train paths daily have been identified on the ECML between Doncaster and Northallerton post 2016, 27 freight trains each way per day need routing another way to create the capacity required. This should push BCR high enough to be competitive with other rail infrastructure proposals such as reinstatement of East West railway, Reading and Kings Cross station improvements. Access charges from freight alone would pay for reinstatement of this route within 60 years. This is the Government benchmark for funding projects.

According to the Leeds City Region Local Development Framework, Ripon and Wetherby are planned to expand by 22,000 residents collectively by 2025. 7,000 houses are planned for East Leeds either side of the abandoned Wetherby-Cross Gates trackbed and possibly over it as route protection of the trackbed has been withdrawn. It is essential that this route is protected as it will provide high volume transport into and out of the centre of Leeds in the peaks in only a few minutes, much faster than street-running trams proposed by Leeds City Council and supported by local MP Alec Shelbrooke.

Funding at present is being raised, by donations, for a feasibility study on the extended proposal to determine BCR. Time consuming as North Yorkshire County Council and Leeds Metro will not contribute.

PUTTING THE CASE FOR REINSTATEMENT

1. Leeds-Wetherby-Harrogate-Ripon-Northallerton is 13 miles shorter than Leeds-York-Northallerton. As such this route should be shorter in journey time than via York.

Leeds-Cross Gates was mostly quadruple track until after the Wetherby line closed in 1964. At the first opportunity this section was reduced to double track to save on track maintenance and signalling costs. This section would have to be quadrupled again.

Due to development on certain parts of the trackbed between Cross Gates and Wetherby, particularly former station sites at Thorner, Bardsey and Collingham, there will have to be some offline deviation and new build. Depending on how many of these settlements wish to retain a station on a reinstated railway, depends on the route chosen. Stations would be desirable as all these villages have expanded considerably since closure of the railway in 1964. Wetherby has almost doubled in size since Beeching chose it as the first closure in his 1963 Report. It is proposed to double again to 22,000 by 2025. A route has been identified with a line speed of 80/90mph for non-stop trains between Leeds and Wetherby using 60% of the original formation.

Onwards to Harrogate, offline construction will be required around the village of Spofforth but the original trackbed can be used to the former Crimple Junction where the Leeds-Horsforth-Harrogate line is still operational. 100mph would be attainable from Wetherby to within a mile of Harrogate station.

From Bilton Junction, just over a mile north of Harrogate, line speed again would be 100mph all the way to Ripon. Two miles of offline construction would be necessary to bypass the settlement of Wormald Green as a long cutting has been filled-in with domestic refuse on top of bagged asbestos fibre. Avoiding this former looping route will reduce the distance by over half a mile and create a straighter alignment. A quote of £4.3m to empty this cutting and remove contents to a recognised landfill site is almost the cost of new build to divert around it. It also solves a problem providing an overbridge, in excess of £1.0m, at a former level crossing due to site constraints and proximity of the A61 and dwellings.

Due to development of the station site at Ripon, construction of Ripon City bypass on the former trackbed, the A1(M) upgrade to six lane highway and the trackbed being incorporated into agriculture elsewhere, much of the Ripon-Northallerton section will have to be new build as far as Maunby. The advantage of this is that as the area is flat, agricultural and sparsely populated, the line can be engineered to 125mph alignment. It is unlikely trains capable of this speed will be daily users, but it is proposed to make this route a diversion route for York-Northallerton in the event of planned or emergency closure. Diverting this way should add no more than 30 minutes to an East Coast journey; important in calculating late arrival refunds.

Trains stopping at Northallerton have to do so on the main East Coast lines in between 125mph trains and soon to be 140mph when IEP is introduced. Two additional platforms are needed to the east of the present ones to segregate Teesside stopping trains from non-stop East Coast trains. As Northallerton station is elevated on embankment, grade separation is possible at the south end without interfering with non-stop trains. This would eliminate an at grade junction for Teesside immediately to the north of the station and the conflicting moves that presents. The opportunity can be taken with this upgrade to connect with the line from Ripon.

It is proposed, in the trans Pennine post electrification draft timetable, to operate six trains per hour from Manchester to Leeds with two per hour extended to Newcastle and one each per hour extended to Middlesbrough and Hull. Together with a York-Blackpool service, Leeds-Selby and Leeds-York all stations services, Cross Country, an occasional East Coast service and freight trains not to mention the Leeds East Parkway shuttle service Metro wishes to introduce, Leeds to Micklefield Junction could see 13 trains per hour each way on an already optimised route. This is impossible with an at grade junction, four intermediate stations and a further two proposed.  This could be reduced to 11 an hour each way by diverting the two Newcastle trains per hour via Wetherby, Harrogate and Ripon to Northallerton. This would provide all three towns with an exceptional 30 minute interval service with each other and with stations to Manchester/Manchester Airport/Liverpool and Newcastle.  As this route is shorter than via York, there will be energy savings. Operating the Middlesbrough service this way was considered as it was to remain diesel operated  and would remove a diesel operated service from an otherwise all electric line but this was discounted for the reason that the business case for electrifying to Middlesbrough was being investigated subsequently. The three towns would have a reduced hourly only service and Thirsk would lose a service as stops were unlikely to be inserted into Newcastle trains.  If Northallerton-Middlesbrough electrification study shows sufficient value to justify proceeding, then perhaps an additional service per hour can be extended beyond Leeds to Middlesbrough via Harrogate avoiding the busy section Leeds to Micklefield.

I have always considered extending some Manchester-Newcastle trains to Edinburgh replacing some East Coast stops between Newcastle and Edinburgh allowing Kings Cross-Edinburgh services to be accelerated. They could return to Manchester via Carstairs, Carlisle and Preston and vice versa in a loop. This would increase productivity of the units by reducing down time at turnround in Edinburgh. Five coach IEP trains would be more suitable for this service having uniformity of top speed with East Coast trains and more suitable for long distance inter City travel than Class 350/4 units on order that I hope is just a stop gap solution. Manchester-Preston-Glasgow/Edinburgh is 40 miles longer than Manchester-Euston yet there is no comparison in the quality of trains operated on each route. Liverpool-Newcastle is the same distance as Kings Cross York and again the comparison of train quality is unequal.

2. This route is 13 miles shorter than via York (15 miles shorter via Horsforth and Harrogate). If constructed to line speeds mentioned above, journey time could be up to 10 minutes shorter even with stops at Wetherby, Harrogate and Ripon. To improve BCR for this reinstatement, diverting freight off the ECML was considered to increase capacity for more passenger trains from 2016 onwards mentioned in the East Coast Capacity Review. 

3. This reinstatement is unique in that rolling stock provision need not be added to reinstatement costs and BCR as the service would be diverted from a route it is planned to be operating on anyway.

4. At present there is not a practical diversion route between York and Northallerton since the Harrogate-Northallerton line closed in 1967 (see page 2 of accompanying diagram). In fact, this is the only section of ECML between Kings Cross and Edinburgh that doesn’t have an alternate route. The very last trains to use this route for three days after closure in March 1967 were diverted northbound ECML trains due to a double derailment of two northbound trains south of Thirsk in July 1967. The Ripon line was reopened at short notice once signal boxes were manned. To prevent this happening again, British Rail demolished an overbridge with undue haste north of Ripon within hours of the emergency diversion ending without even lifting the track first. There were plenty of disused bridges that could have been demolished but the one chosen carried the B6267 and this had to be closed for four days until the gap was filled in. This was the mentality that existed at the time as if railways were a deadly disease to be eradicated. Unfortunately it was my generation living outside conurbations that suffered from this paranoia until we were old enough to drive and own a car. Millions did the same and deserted the railways for the open road not because they wanted to but because we were forced to by closure of a local line or station. Rural areas have not yet recovered from this short termism stupidity 50 years on as replacement bus services were withdrawn shortly afterwards also.
   
   Even though quadruple tracked, York-Northallerton has been closed totally on 10 occasions in the last 18 months as an emergency. As such, trains are delayed or even cancelled with the inconvenience to the passenger that that causes and fare refunds for being more than 60 minutes late is 100%. This costs in excess of £1.0m for each closure depending on length of time. In the last 18months, Network Rail would have saved £5.0m in refunds had trains been able to divert from York on the currently operational line to Harrogate then via Ripon to Northallerton in less than 30 minutes additional journey time. Over time this would fund reinstatement of this line. A business case has already been made for track and signalling upgrade by 2019 and electrification soon afterwards between York and Harrogate. Line speed should become 100mph between Skelton Junction, York, and Knaresborough in the upgrade as the route is almost straight. Junction and signalling at Harrogate for Northallerton should be installed concurrently to reduce costs.

5. To enhance the BCR it is proposed to divert freight trains away from the ECML between Northallerton and Doncaster. Increased capacity has to be found somewhere post 2016 as explained in the 2010 East Coast Capacity Review mentioned in the introduction. There are several pinch points on this part of the ECML for freight, namely Skelton Bridge Junction where southbound freight has to cross both north and south fast lines on the flat to access the York freight avoiding line. Following on immediately Skelton Junction has to be negotiated where trains to and from Harrogate join by crossing north and south fast and north and south freight lines to access York station. At the south end of York station freight rejoins the ECML at Holgate Junction. This is still a bottleneck despite adding an additional track here in 2011. A grade separated junction would improve conflicting moves at both Skelton junctions but would be very difficult due to site constraints. Flyovers are difficult due to consecutive road overbridges and a flyunder would be difficult due to the proximity and frequent flooding of the River Ouse? . I am sure these difficulties will be overcome but at what cost?

The ideal freight trains to divert are the ones to and from Teesside bound for Doncaster and the ECML or Sheffield and the Midlands. These could easily be diverted via Harrogate, Wetherby and Tadcaster to Church Fenton then routed via Pontefract to South Elmsall and Bentley to Doncaster where an existing grade separated junction at Bessecarr allows access to the upgraded Lincoln line and eventually Peterborough. Freight for Rotherham and Sheffield would continue through Moorthorpe and not turn off at South Elmsall.

There would have to be additional reinstatement to accommodate this traffic. From Wetherby, there would be some new offline construction at two sites to Tadcaster but from here new construction would be required west of Tadcaster, over the A64 dual carriageway to south of Stutton. and then original trackbed to Church Fenton where a new chord would be constructed over the Leeds-York line to meet at a junction with the Church Fenton-Pontefract line at Little Fenton.

At South Elmsall, a junction would have to be installed to meet with the Leeds-Doncaster mainline where there was a former junction but to take both lines over to the southwest side. Quadruple track would be installed from here to Doncaster segregating freight, twice hourly trains stopping at South Elmsall, Adwick and Bentley and twice hourly Sheffield-Doncaster-Adwick SYPTE shuttles from twice hourly non-stop Leeds-London trains. This would allow slight acceleration of London trains. Time is allowed for late running stopping trains as there is nowhere to overtake between South Elmsall and Doncaster. The two additional lines would enter Doncaster on the west side of the complex remote from the station and ECML. The only conflicting move is with the Doncaster-Sheffield line that crosses at the immediate south of Doncaster station. The route to Lincoln can then be accessed through the West Yards and flyover without further confliction.

Removing freight on the two track York-Doncaster section of the ECML would allow more passenger trains and reduce conflicting moves with trains off the Leeds line at the flat junction to the immediate north of Doncaster. It also removes congestion of southbound ECML freight trains running through Doncaster station heading for Sheffield and the Midlands having to cross the northbound fast and slow line at the flat junction immediately south of the station.

               Conversion of Drax power station, near Selby to burn biomass will result in additional trains from the Port of Tyne as biomass only has one third the thermal energy of coal. As there will be

               little storage at Drax because unlike coal, biomass must be kept dry and not stored in the open, the plant will operate the  “just-in-time” system meaning that deliveries must be 100%  

               reliable and to time. To ensure continuity of delivery as Drax supplies 8% of the Nation’s electricity, imported biomass is being taken from three sources on three separate routes from
               Hull, Immingham and Port of Tyne. Reinstatement through Harrogate to Church Fenton will create a second route for this time sensitive traffic in case the ECML is not available north of
               York. Currently there is not a practical diversion route between York and Northallerton as already emphasised.

6. All freight between Newcastle and Northallerton could be diverted off the ECML if necessary by reopening the Leamside line to Ferryhill and then via Stockton, Eaglescliffe, Northallerton

        flyunder and on to Harrogate, Church Fenton, Knottingley for Drax and Rotherham, Chesterfield, Trent for Radcliffe-on-Soar also being converted. Eggborough could also be converted
        and that would cause capacity problems at York even after infrastructure improvements. Biomass from the Port of Tyne would be the ideal traffic to route along the Leamside line as the
        northern end is close to this port and this traffic will continue in very large volumes, three trains of biomass to every one of coal formerly, for the foreseeable future. If and when home
        grown biomass is produced from Keilder Forest and the Scottish Highlands then the two Anglo-Scottish routes north of the Border will not be able to cope with three times the amount of
        freight already using these routes.         

7. Self explanatory. Wetherby and Tadcaster closed in January 1964, the very first Beeching closure and Ripon in March 1967. Harrogate services were reduced as all lines connected to Harrogate.

8. At the time of Cross Gates-Wetherby-Harrogate closing there were through trains from Liverpool to Newcastle via Leeds City travelling this way stopping at Harrogate and Ripon. There was also a through Glasgow Queen Street-Kings Cross Pullman service stopping only at Harrogate and two Ripon-Kings Cross services via Harrogate and Horsforth reversing at Leeds Central. Only four years beforehand the Harrogate Sunday Pullman to Kings Cross was routed non-stop to Doncaster via Wetherby, Tadcaster, Church Fenton and Pontefract. In 1967,  Ripon lost all trains and Harrogate all through services except the morning Yorkshire Pullman and late afternoon trains to London and mid afternoon and evening arrivals from London.

         9.    For the first time since 1967, Harrogate through services would be restored particularly to the North where journey times would be reduced by 55 minutes. Currently passengers have to
                travel 20 miles slightly south to York and change trains to continue north. This is a disincentive to travellers who are elderly, disabled or with heavy luggage. This is reflected in the very low
                footfall for Harrogate passengers bound for the North of only a few thousand annually and the low overall footfall for a conference town of this size. Ilkley, pop. only 12,000 outperformed
                Harrogate in the 2010/11 annual footfall figures by 1.32m to 1.29m and again in 2011/12 figures 1.373m to 1.369m respectively. Harrogate is underperforming for a rail connected town of
                this size by about 0.5m footfalls annually and that is due to lack of through services to other parts of the network.

10. Current Harrogate-Horsforth-Leeds trains terminate in the west end bay platforms 1-5. This causes platform blocking for up to 20 minutes in each hour (2x10minutes). It is the wish of Leeds Metro to double footfall on this route in the next 15 years. This cannot be done by train lengthening alone as station platforms at the country end would have to be lengthened. Increasing frequency is a cheaper option when additional units are available and the west end bay platforms would be blocked for longer every hour.

Network Rail is planning to build additional platforms at Leeds to increase station capacity. The cost of one platform can be avoided by creating a through service from Harrogate via Horsforth returning to Harrogate via Wetherby as in a teardrop and vice versa. This would double the service from Harrogate by still using four car units and serve reopened stations on the Wetherby route. Platform blocking would be abolished as through platforms would be used with much reduced dwell time.

Leeds Metro has been planning a shuttle service from Micklefield to Leeds as a park and ride service. Again there is the problem of turnround time at Micklefield on a very busy route and junction even if a dedicated turnround siding and platform are provided. How much better it would be to continue beyond Micklefield to Church Fenton a few miles further on and return to Leeds via Tadcaster, Wetherby and Cross Gates and vice versa in another teardrop on the proposed reinstated line. This would improve interchange at Church Fenton if the adjacent former RAF Church Fenton is converted into a Yorkshire airport. The other Yorkshire airports at Leeds/Bradford and Doncaster are not rail connected. At Leeds through platforms can be used with the same train continuing to say Bradford, Skipton, Ilkley, Huddersfield or Hebden Bridge via Halifax. This will reduce platform blocking again at Leeds west end freeing up another bay platform. The sketch map accompanying this submission will aid explanation of concept.

11. As in paragraph 10, increasing length of local journeys by extending services across Leeds using through platforms instead of terminating in west end bay platforms increases productivity of the unit and also of the train crew as there is less dwell time. Harrogate-Leeds distance is doubled by returning via Wetherby and should maintain fare revenue with a reduction of ten minutes in downtime every hour. Converting Bradford-Leeds shuttles into Bradford-Leeds-Church Fenton-Wetherby-Cross Gates-Leeds-Bradford is an even better example post electrification. The number of turnrounds is halved and revenue earning time is doubled for every cycle. Connectivity is improved by through trains.

12. See paragraphs 10 and 11.

13. See paragraph 10-12.

14. Providing a frequent, quiet, faster than driving, all weather service that was not previously available and a competitive price will encourage motorists to change to train. A 10 minute train
    ride from Ripon to Harrogate is less than half the time by car and a third of the time of a parallel bus journey. Ripon-Leeds is even more marked. It would be 37 minutes by train, up to 80 minutes by car and up to 90 minutes by bus in the peaks even using bus only lanes in Leeds City centre. In the other direction, Ripon-Northallerton only 13 minutes by train is 30 minutes by car and 66 minutes by bus. Ripon-Darlington would be 25 minutes by train and 40 minutes by car mostly on motorway. There isn’t a parallel bus service from Ripon to Darlington without at least one change and average journey time of 160 minutes for a distance of only 32 miles. 3 services only per day each way

15. Those that live within twenty minutes walking time of a railhead will walk (800 yard rule) but car parks must be available at new railheads for motorists. This will ease current railhead car parks as motorists could become walkers at their new railhead. Many people drive from Ripon to Harrogate exacerbating the parking problems at three stations on the Leeds line. By reinstating to Ripon, these motorists would vacate these three station car parks by using Ripon instead. 40% of Ripon residents live within 20 minutes walking time of the proposed station site.

16. As read.

17. See paragraphs 1, 2, 3 and 5 for York and paragraphs 11-13 for Leeds. At present, Network Rail is in the early stages of designing new junctions at Skelton and Skelton     
    Bridge. Due to site constraints, a solution to conflicting moves will be very expensive but will still not solve capacity problems either side of York on the ECML for additional passenger trains. The money would be better spent reinstating a route for freight to bypass York but those high in Network Rail are blinkered to a solution that involves reinstatement. The philosophy appears to be improve what is already there regardless of cost. Reinstatement is a word not used.

18. We don’t know how much longer rail travel will grow at the current annual rates. Studies have estimated 3-5% annually to 2025. An EU directive wants to see a reduction of 60% in road transport greenhouse gases emissions by 2050 by transfer to rail and water. Railfreight is forecast to grow by 120% by 2025. Lead times for civil engineering projects are notoriously long so increase in capacity cannot be executed quickly. By looking at this proposal now and implementing within 5-10 years, capacity will stay ahead of congestion for this anticipated modal shift.

19. Peak oil predictions made in 2000 have been true so far. UK production peaked in 1999 and world production peaked in 2009 six years ahead of prediction. The UK is a net importer of oil again. Oil prices took a Century to reach £1 a gallon in 1980, but only 10 years to double to £2 per gallon in 1990. By 2004 it had doubles again to £4 a gallon and passed £7 per gallon for the first time in 2012 increasing 83% since 2008. This is the fastest increase since the Yom Kippur war of 1973 when Saudi Arabia refused oil exports to the U.S.A causing rationing and a big jump in pump prices in 1974.

In 1971 at decimalisation, my daily commute from Harrogate to Leeds was 0.34p for 36 miles of travel. Petrol was 0.34p per gallon, yes, gallon. The same rail journey to-day is £9.00 return but petrol is only £6.80 a gallon. To make matters worse, car parking in 1971 was free but now Northern charge £3 per day so effectively the daily rail commute is £12.00 nearly double the price of a gallon of petrol used in the same commuting distance.

Peak Car use was passed in 1997 falling to 2007 and has flat lined since. The Banking Crisis had nothing to do with the decline as it happened before the Crisis. It has more to do with high insurance costs for under 25 years old drivers and high cost of owning a car generally. Six Form students at Ripon Grammar School were asked what changes in Ripon would improve their lives the most in a survey by the Civic Society. Unprompted 72% wrote down railway station.

CONCLUSION

I hope I have fully explained the case for reinstating Northallerton-Ripon-Harrogate-Wetherby-Cross gates and Wetherby-Tadcaster-Church Fenton. Primarily reinstatement  is to provide additional capacity but also can become a passenger reconnection for the growing communities of Ripon, Wetherby and Tadcaster providing travel opportunities, increasing social inclusion and  connectivity, particularly northwards, for all age groups. Money saved by planned infrastructure enhancements at York and Leeds could part fund this reinstatement as well as access charges particularly from the heavier and slower MGR coal/biomass freight trains. Savings from fare refunds/compensation of delayed or cancelled passenger/freight trains when the ECML is closed in an emergency, north or south of York, needs including in the calculations.

Ripon City Council are unanimous in their support for this proposal, but although Wetherby and Tadcaster Town Councils cannot support the proposal financially they are not opposed to it. Harrogate Borough Council is non committed. North Yorkshire County Council and Leeds Metro will not support the proposal this time as they claim there isn’t any possibility of reinstatement.

£25m annual funding has been introduced for station reopening. I would like to see the Chancellor, on recommendation from your Committee, approve £50m annually for reinstatement projects with a favourable BCR. This would reinstate 10-15 route miles annually.

Diesel and electric passenger units will become surplus over the next decade due to cascade of 1146 carriages introduced by the Siemens Thameslink order and the recent rolling programme of electrification announced in the last two years. Most of these units, although at the bottom of the desirability pile, still have life in them. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to use these trains on reinstated local routes whilst we have them. Once scrapped this opportunity will be gone and probably never repeated. ROSCOs have already written down these units and I am sure could be encouraged to continue leasing them at a knock down price as a gesture of goodwill instead of destroying an asset until reinstated routes become established.

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to submit this proposal.

September 2013