1996 - Transpennine High Speed
An older Class 31, now preserved, was the mainstay motive power for Regional Railways for years.
Without including Intercity's "Cross-Country" route from South West England & South Wales directly to the north, Britain's regional cities have always been linked by a patchwork of trains, often offering unattractive timings, poor frequencies and uncomfortable rolling stock. This was the state of play for much of the cross-Pennine inter-urban routes in the 1980s; locomotive hauled trains (steam hauled until the late 1960s!), often with ancient carriages, criss-crossed northern England and north Wales, with the corresponding lack of reliability. The incoming new boss of Regional Railways was determined to change that; whilst many of the city-focussed rail networks had been migrated to locally run networks (Newcastle (*1), Manchester (*2), Liverpool (*3), Birmingham (*4), Cardiff (*5) and Glasgow (*6)), and the removal of some routes for Pullman to use, this left a core network linking together many large towns and cities across the north, and indeed much of Great Britain. Scotrail had now inherited almost all of Regional Railways' operations in Scotland, and was increasingly acting as a full subidiary of Regional rather then a branding, and duly in 1993 Scotrail became the 4th direct passenger sector of British Rail. The successes Scotrail had had over the years, despite an unfriendly geographic mandate outside the Central Belt, led to further calls, and in 1995 Regional Railways was split in two; "Transpennine" would handle Regional's operations in the north (North Wales, North-West, Yorkshire & North-East), with the rest of Regional continuing to handle existing operations south of that, although inevitably several lines involved cross-border operations which were assigned to one or other. This clear capture included the cross-Pennine operations; previously those services had been unreliable, unclear who should be operating them, and unclear whether they should really be in charge of them (*7).
By 1985, an hourly Manchester-Leeds service was operating, rotating between a Newcastle-Liverpool and Scarborough-North Wales service, although the latter was largely empty east of York and west of Chester. Finally in 1986, a clear and concise "Cross-Pennine" service was created, emerging from a Regional Railways meeting in Huddersfield (*7). A clear Liverpool-Manchester-Leeds-York network was clear and unopposed, but extension to Newcastle was stymied by Intercity who were in works to extend Pullman services to Tyneside and wished to operate their own "Regio" service from Liverpool to Tyneside - and hopefully in to Scotland in future. Unmet demand from Hull would be included however, and North Wales as part of the core route would be dropped due to a simple lack of demand. The freight sectors, duly helped out, by switching cross-Pennine freight from the faster Standedge Line to the Calder Valley Lines, which were easier-graded anyhow - and thereby justifying British Rail's decision to retain the Calder Valley Route after a major fire inside a tunnel which was bad enough to turn the brick lining to glass (*14). The real benefit in 1988 was the authorisation for a fleet of new multiple units, closely copying Scotrail's new DEMU bi-mode multiple units (*8). Seats were again a mixture of airline-style and around-table styles, but still 2 x 2 across the train, with large panoramic windows to look out at the scenery though. Other upgrades included power-operated plug doors, full air conditioning and the capability for refreshment trolley services.
The new 3 coach DEMU trains operated by Transpennine, still sporting a quasi Regional Railways livery. Repainting was not a priority for such a BR sector.
The result by 1990 was a new world; a clear every-30-minutes service between Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds and York, with services then continuing to a range of destinations to replace older stock on the branch lines; Hull, Scarborough, Whitby and Middlesbrough. North Wales services now terminated at either Manchester Piccadilly (nowadays via Manchester Airport (*9) or Birkenhead (*10), and Intercity eventually relented and withdrew opposition to a service to Newcastle. By 1994, passenger numbers had risen by just over 80%, and ticket revenues by 160%. The massive increases clearly demonstrated the unmet demand, and almost immediately branches of local government (passenger transport authorities in the cities as well as the county councils) began backing further works to improve connections across northern England. In part, it was the backing of local government which spurred the creation of the "Transpennine" sector, squarely aimed at the northern England market and able to act in greater alignment with the market and local political requirements. A cross-group study in to electrification of the route, following the finish of the Great Western project was quoted at £55 million (only £112 million today!), and placed further pressure on more upgrades.
Things seemed to take a back step however in 1995, as Intercity finally flexed it's muscles. Intercity, including Pullman, marketed itself as the "Backbone of Britain", and had far more financial resources to play with as well as the prestige in Westminster following the successes of the Pullman service. Intercity's published plan for extending Pullman north would also see Pullman take a share of cross-Pennine services, with the Standedge Route being "Pullmanified" - modernised and electrified at 25kV AC for Pullman services. The fledgling Transpennine sector disagreed and argued, but knew it was going to be fighting a losing battle - the best it could do was negotiate for the best outcome it could get. The line would use existing Pullman tracks in Manchester and Leeds, but the tracks in between were to be modernised, resignalled with British Rail BBS, and electrified with 25kV AC overhead power - the "Pullman Standard". Pullman's desire for fast intercity services across the north was apparent, but in this came Transpennine's demands, and the result would transform rail transport across Lancashire and Yorkshire.
Huddersfield lay on the primary route between Manchester and Leeds, but clearly was bereft of investment at the time.
They argued for the retention of stations at Stalybridge (connection with Manchester Metro), Huddersfield, Dewsbury and Morley - all important towns, and were granted the first three; Morley was to be served via a continuing "Leeds New Line via Cleckheaton and Heckmondwike (*11). The viaduct tracks east of Leeds would need to be quadrupled anyway to make space for Pullman services to operate east, and a new Pullman Line from Leeds to Church Fenton where it would join with the northern stub of the London-originating Pullman Line, would need to be built - alongside an extended M1 motorway in one area. Transpennine's demands here were not enormous either; a new bridge across the River Aire near Woodlesford to join the existing BR tracks near Neville Hill. This would allow access to Leeds from the east from Wakefield and Castleford areas, and allow trains to continue on without terminating towards Harrogate and the north-east (*12) - reducing platform requirements at Leeds. The method of joining train services together to form longer routes was employed wholesale in Leeds to great success; much of the Yorkshire services which terminated at Leeds would later run through Leeds, forming a "Yorkshire Crossrail" of sorts.
The major concession Transpennine argued for, and eventually received in part due to EU funding for the poorer East Yorkshire area, was the full electrification "east of York" (with the standard 1.5kV DC standard). The direct Transpennine service to Newcastle would be lost, replaced by the Pullman service, but the remaining routes would be operated by a new high speed commuter service across the Pullman Cross-Pennine-North (*13) Route, and branching out east of York. At Church Fenton, both routes (from south and west) would combine and divide out again - one set of tracks on to the legacy network in to York (for Transpennine), and one set of tracks heading directly north towards Newcastle (for Pullman). Service could then be operated by a new fleet of trains, copied from Network South East's new Class 395 high speed commuter train, able to operate on both 25kV AC and 1.5kV DC overhead systems. The existing DEMU units would then be cascaded down to other services; the Southern Cross-Pennine route between Sheffield and Manchester or Derby and Manchester could then be linked with the more urban and electrified routes in the north-west, forming new direct journeys across Manchester.
Leeds Central Station
Leeds New station was a merger between the previous Wellington station and a new cross-city line.
Leeds Central railway station is the larger of the two railway stations serving central Leeds, and the primary station for British Rail. The smaller station, Leeds Piccadilly, is in use by the private rail operator "Northern", who operate services to Bradford, Skipton, Blackburn and Preston, and lies a few hundred meters west. The station has 9 through platforms (4 for legacy tracks, and 5 Pullman tracks), along with 4 further terminus platforms for trains from the west (*15). Following the Second World War, the station had been heavily bombed and needed reconstruction, with British Rail taking the time to rebuild the main station complex. A close escape with a proposed above-station building was avoided in the 1960s (a time when many other stations received similar treatment), after large criticism of the plan which would have blocked much sunlight from City Square. Nevertheless, the station continued evolving; the later 1960s saw further work on approach trackwork, platforms and signalling. By this point, well over 500 trains were using Leeds (Central, then solely called Leeds station, as the adjacent Leeds "Piccadilly" station was at that point worked as a parcels depot), and by the 1980s the station was struggling after Pullman services had begun and isolated 3 platforms to the southern side of the station.
Leeds station concourse was previously used as a car park (*16) before being brought back to life as an enlarged station complex in the 1990s rebuild.
By the 1990s, the station capacity was exceeded daily, and was clearly in need of a thorough modernisation project, which duly toiled away to produce designs, but the new high speed project aimed at pushing high speed trains through Leeds as opposed to terminating at it, forced the project through. The project would see additional approach works, making sure Pullman tracks were fully isolated, and providing 5 Pullman platforms on the south side - 3 for Pullman services themselves (one terminating platform for London services, and two through platforms for high speed Transpennine services between Lancashire and further north). 4 further platforms for British Rail "legacy" services were provided, for east-west through services, whilst a further 4 terminating platforms are providing on the north-west side. In order to achieve this, station platforms and tracks were gradually closed, making use of temporary platforms to the west of the station (called "Leeds Whitehall"), then realigned and rebuilt, to squeeze in 9 through platforms on the site, with each stage reopened and services moved across in order to close the next stage. The station concourse would be completely remodelled, with the historical north concourse brought back in to passenger use (from being a car park) for shops and cafes.
A large and extremely wide overbridge now runs over the full width of the station, with coffee shops and "quick snack" shops situated on it. A small open-air Pullman lounge for eligible Pullman passengers sits above the Pullman platforms, but is aided by a larger Pullman lounge in the main station area. Track renewals, point work and signalling was again renewed, with control over much of the area eventually handed over to a new "Leeds Signalling Centre" to the west of the station next to the River Aire. Pedestrian access from the south side, on Neville Street, was provided where much of the Yorkshire-based financial companies were based, with much of the station covered by a large platform roof.
----------------------
(*1) 1973 - Tyneside Metro
(*2) 1982 - Manchester Metro pt2
(*3) Yet to be discussed in detail, but suffice to say Merseyrail is on it's way in the 1990s
(*4) As briefly mentioned last chapter, a West Midlands network is underway in 1990s
(*5) 1992 - Wales
(*6) 1967 - Strathclyde
(*7) OTL snippets for you.
(*8) Copying for economic reasons, but also similarly to OTL when the first Class 158s when to Scotrail, with the second batch to the north.
(*9) This TL version of the Manchester Airport link being a through route, from Manchester to the Airport and on towards Knutsford and destinations beyond.
(*10) Birkenhead Woodside still going strong.
(*11) Mothballed line, not used since 1970s, but here to come back in to operation.
(*12) Harrogate-Ripon-Northallerton also still operating...
(*13) Cross-Pennine-North, as opposed to Cross-Pennine-South Pullman route (Sheffield-Manchester via Woodhead Route)
(*14) True story.
(*15) Should just about fit in core area, with viaduct widening needed on platform ends and approach tracks from both sides. From the east side, a second viaduct to carry Pullman double track would be required; it'd have to be on the south side of the existing viaduct due to historic protected buildings on the north side.
(*16) Never realised that it was a car park myself, until I was researching this chapter.
So here, the Transpennine main line between Manchester and Leeds is being electrified; a large part of the business case is for Pullman to be able to operate across the Pennines which will in turn create a better business case for extending the Pullman tracks further north. Liverpool - Manchester - Ashton is already electrified as part of the existing Pullman route. Some EU funding for the less affluent East Yorkshire parts of the route, because building a train which accepts 25kV AC, 1.5kV DC and diesel power is pushing the technical limits for the time.