Sheffield to Manchester priorities exclude high-speed

I am surprised that a former Partnership Officer of the High Peak and Hope Valley Rail Partnership (Mike Rose, RAIL 870) is saying that we still need a high-speed line on at least one of the routes between Sheffield and Manchester. A high-speed line is not a priority in crossing the Peak District.

When HS2 was proposed I was wholly in favour, and preached endlessly that “it’s not about getting to the capital 20 minutes faster”. But since then, Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling has axed the LondonSheffield electrification and inflicted long-term damage on railways in the north of England. The priorities have surely changed.

That is why I wrote to several MPs, including the Sheffield Region Mayor Dan Jarvis, advocating a totally new approach using new third rail technology (such as is utilised on the continent and in Canada) to give cleaner, quieter, less visually intrusive transport on the Hope Valley/Don Valley axis.

If it has worked well for Merseyrail for almost a century, why should the newest technology not work well in Sheffield? And if it’s good enough to get millions of people in and out of London every day it’s certainly good enough for the North.

The future, according to Grayling, is hydrogen or battery power. But that future is well beyond our lifetime. We need solutions now.

What Hope Valley passengers want is reliability, comfort, frequency and availability. What we have at the moment is Pacers, a frighteningly uncomfortable ride, lateness, and no late-night services. Getting to a concert at Bridgwater Hall and back without a protracted hour and a quarter or more journey each way would be good, for starters.

I do agree with Mike Rose that Woodhead should be reopened, but for freight rather than luxury high-speed terminus-to-terminus travel. Getting the huge number of lorries off the roads of Stocksbridge, Mottram, Glossop and Hollingworth must be a priority.

Similarly, a third rail Derby/ Matlock/Buxton/Manchester reopening would cut commuting into Manchester, and help manage the enormous problem of cars in the National Park.

And third rail electrification doesn’t need pylons every hundred yards. Slower? Yes. But after my experiences commuting from Grantham to King’s Cross in the 1990s and then Basingstoke to Waterloo for many years, I know which caused me (the passenger) less grief.

Far greater frequency, quiet comfort and sub-100mph is plenty fast enough. I suspect the same could be said of many inter-city links, especially north of Birmingham.

Third rail can be made safe with modern developments such as fibre-glass guarding and side-rail pick-up.

Sometimes, when looking forward, it pays to look back.

And as for the Upper Don Valley… tram-train? Now! David France, Chesterfield