North Yorkshire Council
13th December 2024
Update on Rail Matters by the
York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority
1.0 PURPOSE OF REPORT
1.1 To provide an update on all rail matters within the Selby and Ainsty ACC
2.0 SUMMARY (Include if report is more than, say, three pages)
2.1 This rail update includes
2.1.1 Selby Station Access for All scheme
2.1.3 Punctuality / Performance
2.1.4 Recent changes
2.1.5 Transpennine Route Upgrade and Transport Works Act Orders
2.1.6 Leeds - Goole Line
3.0 BACKGROUND (MANDATORY)
3.1 The rail services in the Selby and Ainsty Area (not all stations served are listed) are provided by:
Northern Trains:
Bridlington - Hull - Selby - Church Fenton - York (hourly frequency)
Hull - Selby - South Milford - Leeds - Bradford - Halifax (hourly frequency)
York - Church Fenton - Sherburn in Elmet - Sheffield (3 trains each way on weekdays)
York - Church Fenton - Leeds - Bradford - Halifax and on to Preston and Blackpool (hourly frequency)
Goole – Whitley Bridge – Hensall and Leeds (3 trains a day)
Ulleskelf – served by trains to/from York and Leeds/Selby infrequently
Timetables available http://tinyurl.com/32a44f2j
Transpennine Trains:
Hull - Selby - Leeds - Huddersfield - Manchester Piccadilly (hourly frequency – see below)
Timetable available https://tinyurl.com/bdhtewb5
Hull Trains:
Timetable available http://tinyurl.com/4u8yuupc
LNER:
Hull - Selby - Doncaster - Retford - Grantham - London Kings Cross (1 train in each direction daily)
Timetable available https://tinyurl.com/4th6xjar
3.2 In the next timetable starting on 15th December 2024 Transpennine Trains are improving their services from Selby with trains through to Liverpool and with there more modern fleet with the latest passenger features and more capacity. The Transpennine Trains issue of stopping at South Milford has been resolved however there remains an issue with a late evening service.
There are no changes planned to Northern timetables from December 2024.
3.3 South Milford, Sherburn in Elmet, Church Fenton, Ulleskelf, Whitley Bridge, Hensall, Cattal and Hammerton are all operated by Northern Trains with Selby being operated by Transpennine Trains. The “landlord” of the stations and responsible for longer-term projects is Network Rail.
Stations in the future under Government proposals, currently going through Parliament, will become the responsibility of Great British Railways. https://gbrtt.co.uk/
All rail infrastructure is currently the responsibility of Network Rail http://tinyurl.com/5dnvs2e4
4.0 Rail Update
4.1 Selby – Access for All scheme
Network Rail are responsible for the Access for All scheme at the station. The new stairs and bridge were opened on Friday 6th September and the lifts one week later. There have unfortunately been some teething issues with the lifts and there have been regular failures and Transpennine Express have made it clear that this needs to be sorted before Christmas.
4.2 Sherburn in Elmet Station
Work has slowed down on looking at how access to the Business Park can be improved to/from the railway station, though responsibility and maintenance of the paths / steps has been identified within North Yorkshire and Cllr Packham and myself are both chasing for work to be programmed in to resolve the issues.
Transpennine Trains have introduced a successful new train that links Huddersfield, Wakefield, Castleford and York and will be increased to hourly from December 24. We lobbied for this train to stop at Sherburn in Elmet but this has not been possible as there is a need to invest in infrastructure including increasing the length and height of the platforms. On advice from the Department for Transport, Network Rail, Transpennine Trains and Northern YNYCA are looking to do some feasibility work meet with Network Rail having already met with Northern and Transpennine Trains to see how a scheme to raise and extend the platforms can be progressed as a matter of urgency.
4.3 Church Fenton Station
The road entrance to the station car park was re-surfaced by the local housing developer although there are on-going discussions on this matter.
There may still be some opportunities under the Transpennine Route Upgrade for further relatively small improvements at this station.
4.4 Ulleskelf Station
It is hoped that the local community may wish to adopt the station in the future.
4.5 South Milford, Whitley Bridge and Hensall Stations – no changes have been made recently.
4.6 Cattal and Hammerton - the Maltkiln development and how this will work with the railway station and line in the future is being regularly discussed with the rail industry.
4.7 Train Performance and Punctuality
Details of the number of trains cancelled and of trains arriving within 5 minutes of the advertised time for routes in the Selby and Ainsty area are shown as Appendix A.
The Harrogate Line operated by Northern is performing at the same or slightly higher levels based on the previous year and though cancellations are high they are not as high as many routes across the North more on this later.
In the Selby area the performance has again remained at similar levels to last year, whilst there is room for improvement. Hull Trains performance is very much impacted by many issues experienced on the East Coast Main Line.
Across the network, many factors have meant that rail punctuality continues to be poor with a high level of cancellations. Weather and particularly flooding and landslips have caused many issues in the latter part of the year and sadly especially on the East Coast Main Line trespass and infrastructure issues have been far too common. Industrial action and action short of a strike (not working overtime, not working rest days) have also taken their toll especially with Transpennine though this has been improving month on month. The issues of Sunday not be part of the working week, has not impacted greatly in the East, however there has been an impact at Church Fenton where trains especially on Sundays start in the North West. Northern have reported relatively high levels of sickness (especially long-term) recently as another reason for a rise in cancellations and this is being addressed.
4.8 In May 2024 – a new Mayor (David Skaif) was elected and the new York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority was formally established. This takes over many of the responsibilities for transport and rail is now the responsibility of the Mayor however, work on rail for North Yorkshire Council and City of York continues.
In July 2025 – a new Government was elected and there has been announcement regarding delays or cancellation of some projects. We are now waiting for guidance on future rail investment in a future statement.
4.9 Transpennine Route Upgrade and Transport Works Acts Orders (TWAO’s)
The Transpennine Route Upgrade, http://tinyurl.com/29eu4ejd or TRU, is a transformative, multi-billion pound (a further £3.9billion of funding was recently announced by Government) railway programme that will better connect passengers in the North between Manchester, Huddersfield, Leeds and York.
The new bridge at Barkston Ash on the London Road was installed successfully over the May Spring Bank Holiday.
Where there is significant work Network Rail have a planning process they can use to give them greater powers these are known as Transport Works Acts Orders (TWAO’s) a “brief” guide is via this link http://tinyurl.com/34wzyz68. Network Rail have applied for two TWAO’s within North Yorkshire and these are:
Church Fenton level crossing reduction order http://tinyurl.com/3mn32ant is in place and work is starting on site in September 2024.
4.10 Goole – Hensall - Whitley Bridge – Pontefract – Leeds line. Working with East Riding of Yorkshire Council, Wakefield District Council and West Yorkshire Combine Authority a partnership has developed to build the case for an improvement in frequency on the route. Initial work on a business case has not been favourable on cost grounds but more work is likely and it has been agreed that further work will be done to strengthen the case.
4.11 Freight
– Drax is a major freight operator and work continues with them to understand their future requirements.
– Gascoigne Wood – the recent successful planning application includes plans for rail freight reception sidings
– Former Kellingley Colliery site – includes freight facilities as part of their planning application and discussions are on-going.
– The previous Government set an ambitious target to grow rail freight by at least 75% by 2050.
5.0 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS
5.1 None this is an update
6.0 LEGAL IMPLICATIONS
6.1 None this is an update
7.0 EQUALITIES IMPLICATIONS
7.1 None this is an update
8.0 CLIMATE CHANGE IMPLICATIONS
8.1 None this is an update
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9.0 |
RECOMMENDATION(S) (MANDATORY)
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9.1 It is recommended that members note the contents of this report.
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APPENDICES:
Appendix A – Train Performance by route in Selby Area for July 2023 – August 2024
Graham North - Rail Strategy and Performance Officer – York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority
Note: Members are invited to contact the author in advance of the meeting with any detailed queries or questions.
Appendix A
