Have your say on Sheffield to Leeds train services

23rd November 2016

Sheffield Chamber has been campaigning for a long time for better rail services between Sheffield and Leeds.

The present express services taking around 40 minutes operate once an hour and are operated by Cross Country Trains (-XCT). They are generally part of a Plymouth to Edinburgh route comprised of 4 and 5 coach -Voyager trains and are therefore completely unsuitable for an inter-urban flow like Sheffield to Leeds and so are often overcrowded with passengers having to stand for the whole journey. A new hourly Northern Rail express service will begin in 2019 using new trains, so that will mean we have 2 fast trains per hour. This is still way below what the fast service between two major cities should be. Compare Glasgow and Edinburgh which have 4 fast trains per hour. XCT have recently negotiated a franchise extension with the government and Sheffield Chamber was consulted as part of that process by both parties. There is a recognition that Sheffield to Leeds trains are overcrowded and some proposals have now been tabled which would take effect from December 2017, if approved. We told the Department for Transport at a meeting that XCT had high capacity trains which they did not use (it was not entirely clear why but the cost of operation was thought to be a factor). They seemed genuinely surprised and it is great to see therefore that the new proposals include bringing those trains into daily service. They are 457 seat HST trains (better known as Inter City 125's). They are nearly 40 years old but passengers still compliment them for comfort and space. They were excellently refurbished by XCT only fairly recently. The Voyager trains only have 200 or 262 seats (depending on whether they are 4 or 5 coach trains). So what changes are being proposed to the service? Southbound there are the following main changes: The 07.05 from Leeds due Sheffield at 07.53 becomes a 457 seat train (it was 262 seats) The 08.11 from Leeds due Sheffield at 08.52 becomes a 457 seat train (it was 200 seats). The 16.11 from Leeds due Sheffield at 16.51 was a 400 seat train and becomes 262 but The 16.40 from Leeds due Sheffield at 17.21 will now start from Leeds (rather than further north in Newcastle) and so will have 200 empty seats for passengers boarding at Leeds. The 17.11 and 18.11 remain 5 coach trains as now. Northbound there are the following changes: The 07.09 from Sheffield due Leeds at 07.50 will drop from 462 seats to 262 seats. A new 07.50 from Sheffield due Leeds at 08.35 with 200 seats will run. The 08.22 from Sheffield due Leeds at 09.01 had 400 seats and will now have 262 seats. In the evening, there is a new 15.50 from Sheffield due Leeds 16.31 with 200 seats. The 16.21 from Sheffield due Leeds at 17.04 then drops from 400 seats to 262 seats. The 17.21 from Sheffield due Leeds at 18.02 will continue to have 457 seats The 18.21 from Sheffield due Leeds at 19.03 increases from 262 to 457 seats. So, what can we draw from this? XCT say that they are -providing an extra Leeds to Sheffield fast service in the morning and evening peaks offering additional seating capacity and alternative travel options to customers. We say to XCT -you have not materially increased the number of seats in the evening peak from Leeds to Sheffield and in the morning peak from Sheffield to Leeds. Overall you have failed to provide the promised extra capacity and your message that you are providing 1300 extra seats may be factually correct but some are not at peak times and overcrowding will therefore persist. It is time that the Department for Transport and XCT started taking Sheffield to Leeds services seriously and to provide meaningful increases in capacity. XCT cannot readily obtain any extra trains but they can focus their resources on the core route linking Bristol, Birmingham, Sheffield, Leeds and Newcastle. How can they do that? By cutting the routes at their extremities to free up trains. Routes such as Edinburgh to Glasgow where there are a number of alternative operators, and Plymouth to Penzance. If you are a user of the XCT train service from Sheffield to Leeds (and equally the Sheffield to Birmingham route), you would consider using rail if the trains were not so overcrowded or you just feel strongly that Sheffield is getting a raw deal (again), then please make your feelings known via the consultation exercise presently underway. It closes on 2nd January 2017. The best way is via this link: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/xc2017consultation Other ways are by e-mail to consultation@crosscountrytrains.co.uk or by post to: CrossCountry Future Timetable Consultation, Freepost RRXU-HUEC-GLLY, 5th Floor, Cannon House, 18 Priory Queensway, Birmingham B4 6BS We hope there is still time to influence the Department for Transport and XCT's thinking on this issue. Peter Kennan is Chair Sheffield Chamber of Commerce & Industry Transport Forum and a Partner at Hawsons Chartered Accountants