Long-term neglect of a rail asset
From: A Oldfield, secretary, Huddersfield, Penistone and Sheffield Rail Users’ Association, Worrall, Sheffield.
IS the 150th anniversary of the opening of Sheffield Midland Station a time for celebration?
No. Rather than back slapping and self congratulation, should not Sheffield City Region leaders be ashamed at the long-term neglect of this key asset and the lack of any significant rail investment in the city since Woodhead electrification in 1954? Would not despair instead of delight be more appropriate?
Let current data illustrate matters. In the 2018/19 Office of Rail and Road station-usage survey, Sheffield – England’s fourth largest city – attracted 9.9 million passengers, resulting in it attaining 44th place in the UK station-usage table. Is this not a sorry performance?
Sadly this situation seems set to remain for years because the Integrated Rail Plan of the Sheffield City Region (SCR) relegated Midland Main Line electrification to an aspiration.
Electrification is the future; it is a must. Electrification defines the North-South divide so how could this stance have ever been considered in the first place, let alone be approved?
TransPennine travel should embrace electrification too. Presently this centres strictly on Manchester to Leeds, though calls for Liverpool to Hull are rising, leaving Sheffield even more detached and disadvantaged.
Northern England is served by a Victorian rail network with few exceptions. One such exception is the Woodhead route, which welcomed the future in 1954 with the start of SheffieldManchester electrified services. It is electrification proven and, 66 years on, modern, compared with other TransPennine lines.
A century on from the opening of Sheffield Midland, the electric trains were withdrawn in January 1970 by Harold Wilson and Barbara Castle. What consideration did they show towards Sheffield?
With South Yorkshire having been identified as one of the poorest areas across Europe, it desperately needs investment. That must be rail investment.
But what chance does Sheffield have of ever getting on the right track without long overdue investment – and does this not also demand a complete change of mentality from SCR on rail, reflecting ambition and vision?
The SCR is not expected to fund electrification but is expected to fight for it.
Don’t leave Sheffield as an electrification-exclusion zone. When the wires appear, won’t that be the time to celebrate?