New station for Bradford would not be of benefit to the city - Yorkshire Post Letters

As a Bradfordian with a knowledge of railways and railway history, I remain unconvinced that the proposed new station for Bradford on the Northern Powerhouse Rail link will be of any benefit to the city at all.

When the old Adolphus Street station was first opened in 1854, it was found to have been sited too far out from the town to be of any benefit.

The Great Northern Railway who operated the station subsequently negotiated with the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway to share their new station for Bradford (Bradford Exchange): closing Adolphus Street to passengers in 1867, but retaining the station for freight and parcels until 1972.

The proposed site of the new station is set to be further out from the city than Adolphus Street was - it would take at least 20 minutes to walk (the quickest method with current traffic levels) from the new station to City Hall, meaning that any time saving by travelling from Leeds or Manchester via the new link versus existing services would be, at the very best, negligible.

Indeed, I have worked out that travelling from Leeds via the new link would leave you arriving at City Hall 10 minutes later than via existing services.

It is also debatable as to whether having a through station on a Trans-Pennine route would benefit the city. Huddersfield has had just this facility since railways reached the town, yet it is not prospering.

I feel that a much better option would be to campaign for the electrification of the Calder Valley Line (including the Copy Pit Line) to link into existing electrification schemes, and provide improved electric train services on the route using Hitachi bi-mode Class 800 series IET sets similar to those operated by LNER as their Azuma trains.

A freight-only diversionary route through Broomfields could be installed on a triangular junction, so as to avoid Bradford Interchange.