Making Transport Better in Leeds: Does Bradford Have The Answer?

Provocations

How do we make transport better in Leeds? asks James Blythman …

My theory is that Bradford is the key.

So how does that work I hear you ask? Well, it’s quite simple: Bradford Cross-rail.

Say that again?

Leeds continues to suffer from chronic congestion in its road networks and rail capacity issues at Leeds City Station. Bradford continues to suffer from its rail and road systems not being fully plugged into national systems. Both cities roads have been named and shamed again recently in the Tom-Tom most congested places report.

Leeds City Region is fairly polydemic (meaning inhabiting more than two regions: Ed) in regards to labour but it simply does not have a rapid transport system to support it. Hence a major reason towards why we have severely clogged up roads.

The road system around Leeds has been rapidly expanded during the last 50 years. The planners simply can’t keep up with the demand. Around 50 years ago also saw decommissioning within the rail system. This included both lines and stations being removed. In hindsight this has been widely seen as shortsighted. The last 20 years has seen some of these decisions overturned with the reintroduction of stations. There are still a lot of possibilities for new stations. It is also still feasible for some old lines to be reintroduced. However, there is a massive hindrance. That is capacity at Leeds City Station.

This is because Leeds is essentially the hub of rail transport for West Yorkshire. It has major lines both terminating there and passing through it. These include Transpennine, Cross Country, Midland Mainline, East Coast Mainline and Calderdale services. To get anywhere in West Yorkshire or beyond you have to go into Leeds to change to get to the place you want to get to. Its bit like the London Underground conundrum. That you have to go into central London to get a connection to anywhere else. The transport Tsars of London are spending billions trying to partially alleviate this idiom through Cross Rail.

I believe West Yorkshire needs the same.

Leeds City Region and Metro should be exploring a Cross-rail project in Bradford. What does this mean? Well it’s not a new proposal and there is an action group who are lobbying for it. Bradford currently has two stations which are not linked and serve different, mainly local, rail networks. Cross-rail would see them linked and allow trains to travel through Bradford.

This would enable Bradford to take some of the strain from Leeds through taking increased national significance. For instance it would open up new routes from the south to Scotland via Skipton and Carlisle. This could be exploited by existing East Coast and Midland Mainline Services. Also a new east to west cross country service could be introduced. It would also enable direct links from the south and west via Bradford to the airport. Building on this a new Transpennine service could be constructed going via Bradford, Leeds Bradford Airport and Harrogate providing a new link between the North West and the North East.

In turn this would reduce the strain on Leeds which could enable an expansion in local stations and services. Perhaps even reintroducing old lines (where short sighted councils haven’t allowed old tracks to be built on) to, for example, Wetherby and Otley. Benefits could include connecting some of the regions tourist attractions into the rail system. Fairburn Ings, Bolton Abbey, Armley Industrial Museum, Kirkstall Abbey and the Middleton Railway to name a few. It would enable any rail link to Leeds Bradford International Airport via Leeds to run frequent services from a variety of starting points.

Furthermore, it could form the basis of a new housing strategy a la 19th Century London. New villages and towns could be formed around the railway. Stations could be reintroduced in urban centres such as Hunslet, Beeston, Armley and Stanningley to both help reduce congestion and stimulate local economies. These could be complemented by park and ride style stations near major roads or motorways. It could enable commercial and leisure destinations such as Lawnswood Business Park and the White Rose Centre respectively to be transformed into true town centres.

So is there a catalyst? Well yes. More than one. High Speed 2 will be coming to Leeds in 20 years time. This provides an opportunity to build wider improvements to the local rail network. There is also increasing Government focus on investing in infrastructure to spur economic growth. A similar scheme is beginning elsewhere in, dare I say it, Manchester. The Northern Hub project is seeking to improve capacity in Manchester through linking Victoria and Piccadilly railway stations.

Probably the most important enabler is the formation of Leeds City Region and the part decentralisation of transport funding. Our local authorities have complained for years about being starved of adequate funding. Now they have more control lets see what they can do – together.

14 comments

  1. I agree that serious investment is needed in transport, particularly rail in West Yorkshire. The transport network in the city region or perhaps in the whole mainly urbanised areas of Yorkshire / Lancashire should be managed as one entity, like in London, to capitalise in de-centralised rail funding.

    Agreed that there is potential to put stations in more places, around Leeds mainly. Not having a station between Guiseley and Leeds, a line which runs parallel to one of the busiest road corridors in the city is a strange one. Though the time taken fannying around with Low Moor, Apperley Bridge and Kirkstall Forge stations doesn’t fill anyone with confidence.

    Cross rail in Bradford would take a lot of pressure off Leeds – and re-opening old lines like Skipton to Colne would help provide a new east-west route and the Spen Valley line, from Low Moor Bradford – towards Dewsbury would help provide a new north-south route.

    The growth in rail passenger numbers in last couple of decades has been significant; investment, certainly in this part of the world, has not.

    1. It amazes me when local politicians complain we can’t get funding for a mass transit public transport system. Especially when no party has pursued one based on maximising our most unexploited transport asset: the railway.

    1. You’re probably right when we have local leaders like this (from 2010)…

      “Councillor Chris Greaves, deputy chairman of transport authority Metro and a Conservative councillor on Bradford Council… ‘Will this really help Bradford? [Re Bradford Cross-rail] If anything there’s a danger it might actually hurt Bradford because people would just get on a train and go straight through.'”

      http://www.thetelegraphandargus.co.uk/news/8179836.__100m_crossrail_gains_support___and_criticism/

  3. The Leeds-Bradford corridor would be ideal for a mass-transit metro-type system, given the density of housing along the route, with currently only Bramley and (New) Pudsey serve on this route (and neither are particularly well located or accessible).

    The daft thing is how easy it would be to accommodate this without disrupting the existing heavy rail system. Both of the Leeds-Bradford routes were at one time mostly four-track routes, reduced to two tracks during rationalisation in the 60s/70s. The trackbed and bridges are mostly still there, other than a crossing of the Stanningley bypass which was built after the number of tracks was reduced. This is a significant vacant corridor passing through dense suburbs that is going to waste. Even a guided busway or cycle way would be worthwhile, though buses never match the appeal or usership levels of trams or heavy rail services.

    The same also applies heading east, as far as Crossgates was at one time four-tracked.

    A Leeds Crossrail could encompass a Bradford (or Pudsey) to Cross Gates (or Wetherby) service running on most of this formation, with a (if cost was no object) cross-city route from the east taking a line north through the old Marsh Lane goods depot, passing through Quarry Hill, over the roundabout (how about re-using the white elephant listed petrol station as the ticket office for an elevated station serving the Eastgate development?) then along the centre of the Headrow, down a largely pedestrianised Park Row, across City Square, Wellington Street then up on to the old Leeds Central Station viaduct and westwards via Wortley.

    This could even tie-in with a cross-Bradford line serving Skipton/Ilkley to the north.

    Would it be substantially more expensive (ignoring the cross-city pipedream) than trying to shove a tram or trolleybus through Headingley? Would it not increase the attractiveness of west Leeds and east Leeds, such that this might reduce demand on the congested north of the city? Would a regenerative effect on places like Armley and Osmondthorpe be an added benefit?

    1. This article was drawn from my experiences of using the Leeds – Bradford Interchange (and also Forster Square) train to get to and from work.

      Arriving back in Leeds on these services you notice the serious congestion at Leeds City Station. Especially if the train terminates at Leeds then the service often can wait 5 or more mins to get a platform. I’m guessing onward services are prioritised so they can keep to their timetable.

      Then you have the reverse journey. You leave a station of 17 platforms serving a city of 700k people and arrive at a station of 4 platforms serving a city 500k people.

  4. I had a lot of sympathy for your argument until you mentioned the folly that is HS2 which is due to drain away £32bn of investment that could be put into upgrading the existing network in useful ways like those you advocate.

    I can’t help feeling that the poor state of the rail network in Bradford is a key factor in holding back the city’s progress. From my own point of view, I cannot understand why it should be quicker to get from Huddersfield to Bradford by bus rather than by train. Except for the fact that the original line between the two was closed in the 1970s and since services were reinstated in 2000, they have had to go via Halifax.

    On the subject of direct trains to Scotland via the Settle to Carlisle line. Such things used to exist. I was born in Nottingham, and, in my childhood, there used to be direct trains from Nottingham to Glasgow via Leeds, and Carlisle. The ending of these services was one of the key reasons why the Settle to Carlisle line was nearly closed.

    While our railway system continues to be run for short-term profit rather than the strategic needs of the nation, we will never get these things right.

    1. Putting the rights and wrongs of the whole project to one side I’m surprised that WY Metro and Leeds City Region haven’t looked to exploit HS2 more. For instance, incorporating Leeds Bradford airport as a possible spur with an onward connection to Bradford. Though there was an announcement recently by the leader of Leeds City Council stating they wanted a train link in the next ten years.

      I agree wholeheartedly with the connection between the state of Bradford and the railway. Though when civic leaders come out with comments such as what I quoted in response to Darren it doesn’t bode for a great future. It’s not just Huddersfield but also York, Harrogate, Manchester and to an extent Wakefield that have poor or lengthy journey times to Bradford.

  5. There was actually a Leeds-Glasgow service running via the Settle & Carlisle a few years ago, it was a cheap way of getting there. I think it was curtailed by the west coast upgrade and paths having to be taken by faster trains. The forthcoming electrification of Leeds-York should allow a few more direct East Coast services from Leeds-Scotland, and consequently the ability to benefit from those East Coast voucher offers they have in the Evening Post every now and then, without having to pay the (relatively) extortionate cost of a Leeds-York journey.

    (With apologies for topic diversion)

    1. At least an open return has been introduced between Leeds and York now! It took long enough. Hears hoping York joins the Metro region soon to further drive down the price.

  6. Bratfud to Glasgow via Settle (changing at Shipley or Skipton, then at Carlisle) is a cracking way to go to Glasgow from West Yorkshire on the cheap. 50 notes for a ‘walk up’ return ticket 😀

    1. Why that would be the scenic route in more ways than one. As a Tyke I love the price!

  7. HS2 Plan B is a full-scheme alternative to HS2.
    Its construction would start North-first.
    Stage One would halve the rail time between Leeds and Manchester Victoria and open an east-west Northern Cities Crossrail. It would take half an hour out of rail times between the major centres of Lancs and Yorks and connect the Crossrail cities south to London without needing two forks north beyond Birmingham; unlike HS2.

    http://hsnorthstart.wordpress….



    Stage Two would connect the new Crossrail north through a new Bradford Central station and Leeds-Bradford Airport; south to St Pancras via Meadowhall and a mainline station at East Midlands Airport; unlike HS2.

    There’s a Midlands Crossrail, too; and Plan B trains would be able to run through St Pancras to interchange with the London Crossrail at Farringdon and the Southern/London Bridge and Gatwick lines via Blackfriars.

    Critiques welcome.

  8. The timetables would need overhauling too. I wish to travel from Shipley to Manchester. Without a doubt I would catch one of the four trains an hour to Leeds (duration 12 minutes). I would then catch one of the four trains an hour to Manchester Piccadilly which make only two stops (one at Huddersfield and the other at either Dewsbury or Staleybridge) and I would be in the centre of Manchester within 90 minutes of leaving home. Now assume the journey via Bradford (even with a crossrail link from Forster Square to Interchange with a service to Manchester hopefully running 4 times per hour). This would stop at Frizinghall, BFS, BI, Halifax, Sowerby Bridge, Mytholmroyd, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden and a host of stations, whose names escape me, beyond the Pennines before arriving in Manchester Victoria about 2 days later.

    As a supplementary factor, the forlorn lawn that was the Bradford Urban Garden has become now mercifully a patch of ploughed-up mud, an indication that the Westfield hole is about to transform into a long- (but not longingly) anticipated consumerist beast with worryingly strong white-elephant potential. For this shopping conglomeration to have any lumbering chance of working (and from the artists’ projections of the complex it scarcely deserves any) it will require passengers to continue to be disgorged at Bradford Forster Square and Interchange stations and thus compelled physically to confront it and perhaps use it by default rather than waving it a dismissive salute from behind a cross-town train window on the way to somewhere else. I’m sure the fact that Leeds is the end of so many lines helps Trinity for example once the novelty has worn off.

    As for bikes and railways, I love Norman Foster’s vision (though I doubt if he has given much consideration to the Beaufort Scale):

    http://www.dezeen.com/2014/01/02/foster-promotes-cycling-utopia-above-londons-railways/

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