Promise of new station for railway campaigners
RAIL campaigners calling for improvements in Mirfield have been promised a new station.
It follows a meeting between passengers, rail bosses and Richard George, who was commissioned by Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to review issues around last year’s chaotic timetable changes.
The changes, which affected about 90% of Northern Rail’s 2,600 daily services, resulted in mass cancellations and delays.
The debacle led directly to the meeting, hosted by Mirfield councillor Martyn Bolt.
Among those present were sen- ior executives of Network Rail, Northern Rail, TransPennine Express and Grand Central.
Clr Bolt challenged Network Rail to clarify what its £3bn TransPennine Route Upgrade (TPU) would mean for Mirfield.
Works to the line between York and Manchester route are due to start in spring this year. “This is a oncein-a-lifetime engineering project, which will massively impact on our station and line s t r u c t u r e ,” he said.
“We don’t want the end result to be faster train speeds through Mirfield and the station getting only a tickle in passing.” We don’t want the end result to be faster train speeds through Mirfield and the station getting only a tickle in passing.
He was told that Mirfield was in line for a new station and certainly would not be left with “just a tickle.”
Speaking after the meeting Clr Bolt said: “It was unique to have all parts of the rail industry together and to be able to have a full and frank exchange of views.
“Mr George had no axe to grind so was able to give an unbiased appraisal and view. We’re now in a position where the rail users can form a united group to share their knowledge and strengthen our campaigns for improvements.”
Announcing the £3bn investment last year, Mr Grayling said he was committed to improving journeys on the route with state-ofthe-art trains, longer carriages and more frequent services.
He said the £3bn earmarked to upgrade the key route between Manchester, Leeds and York represented a third of his department’s total budget for rail improvements between 2019 and 2024.