Calls for tram-train to replace Leeds failed trolleybus scheme
The All Party Parliamentary Light Rail Group, chaired by Leeds MP Greg Mulholland, will this Friday host a special meeting of the Group in Leeds to discuss the way forward for a TramTrain system for Leeds city region.
The All Party Parliamentary Light Rail Group, chaired by Leeds MP Greg Mulholland, will this Friday host a special meeting of the Group in Leeds to discuss the way forward for a TramTrain system for Leeds city region.
The event will take place in the conference room of the Black Prince, City Square, next to Leeds station at 11am on Friday 27th May 2016
It follows the announcement by that the inspector for the public inquiry into the New Generation Trolleybus (NGT) scheme had recommended government reject the scheme. Ministers have since confirmed that Leeds can keep the £173 million that had been allocated for the scheme, and instead use the funds for alternative solutions to Leeds’s transport issues. The Parliamentary Light Rail Group has come out in support of proposals for a Leeds City Region TramTrain network, as supported by Leeds City Council leaders and promoted by Metro between Supertram and the NGT bid. A presentation, made to the Light Rail Group in 2009 put forward for TramTrain network starting with the conversion of the Leeds-Harrogate-York line, a line which is earmarked for and urgently needs electrification so could be converted to TramTrain at the same time.
This would also allow for the short TramTrain link to Leeds Bradford International Airport branching off the Leeds-Harrogate-York railway line with street running from the Kirkstall Viaduct to City Square (by Leeds Railway station). This would be the first line of a new TramTrain network that could then be developed in phases, to connect with Pontefract, Castleford and Wakefield and to Bradford via Shipley utilising existing heavy railway lines.
TramTrains and light rail generally have a proven track record of getting people out of their cars and on to public transport – which is exactly what the Leeds City Region desperately needs. Starting with this line would of course serve many of the same commuters as the NGT route, theA660 corridor and take pressure off the nearby A65 too, two of the most congested roads in the region. It also would allow the fixed link to Leeds Bradford Airport avoiding the need for controversial road links and an unnecessary ‘parkway station’. Tram-trains are designed to share tracks with heavy rail vehicles, meaning that the important Harrogate to London service could still run from Harrogate to Leeds.
A range of key individuals and organisations have been invited to attend Friday morning’s meeting: All Leeds MPs and all members of the Parliamentary Light Rail Group, TramForward, which is the campaigning arm of the Light Rail Transit Association, the Yorkshire and Humber Infrastructure Alliance, and the Leeds, York & North Yorkshire Chambers of Commerce.
Greg Mulholland MP had also called for a Leeds Transport Summit of Leeds MPs, Leeds City Council and business leaders and this has now been organised for the 10th June.
Greg Mulholland MP, Chair of the Parliamentary Light Rail Group and MP for Leeds North West said:
"I very much look forward to Friday’s special meeting of the Parliamentary Light Rail Group in Leeds. Following the decision to reject NGT but happily to allocate £173 million to Leeds, there is a pressing need to get transport experts working with the local authorities on the right 21st century transport system and the Parliamentary Light Rail Group is keen to contribute to this – which is why we have organised a special meeting in Leeds to help lead the way.
“After all the frustrations of failed schemes and false starts, Leeds remains the biggest city in Europe without an underground or a light rail system. An underground is out the question due to cost and the failed attempts to convert road corridors means that the only realistic solution is to convert an existing train line, which is of course how the hugely successful Manchester Metrolink got started.
“The obvious and most realistic way to do this in Leeds is to do what Metro and Leeds City Council favoured post Supertram and pre NGT, which is a TramTrain network for the Leeds City Region starting with the conversion of the Leeds-Harrogate-York line, a line which desperately needs electrification anyway. Starting with this line would of course serve many of the same commuters as the NGT route, the A660 corridor and take pressure off the nearby A65 too, two of the most congested roads in the region. It also would allow the fixed link to Leeds Bradford Airport avoiding the need for controversial road links and an unnecessary ‘parkway station’ and best of all it would at last deliver street running in Leeds City Centre, connecting with Leeds station in City Square.
“I am delighted that the Parliamentary Light Rail Group has backed this proposal, as the only realistic way now to get a modern light rail system in the Leeds City Region and I hope others in Leeds will do the same. So I look forward to discussing this at Friday’s meeting and making this case. It is time for Leeds to catch up with other UK and European cities on transport and the Parliamentary Light Rail Group, like Metro and Leeds City Council in 2007, believes variations of TramTrain is the answer.”