Campaigners in Calderdale fear direct line to London could be lost

Railfuture Yorkshire Branch and five local rail user groups, including the Halifax and District Rail Action Group, have written to the Secretary State for Transport calling for Government action to ensure the survival of two vital Yorkshire train services.

These are the Grand Central Service to London from Bradford, Halifax, Brighouse, Mirfield, Pontefract and Doncaster; and the Hull Trains service from Beverley , Hull, Brough, Selby and Doncaster.

Unlike LNER, these are Open Access operators, the result of entrepreneurial initiatives to plug gaps in the franchised services. Unlike the franchised operators, GC and HT have not been given management contracts to run train services until October – a situation which will have to continue into the foreseeable future. Most Grand Central and Hull Trains staff are currently furloughed, and no trains are operating.

Railfuture Yorkshire Chair, Nina Smith said: “These have become vital services to business and leisure travellers in the areas they serve. It would be a damaging blow to the local economies in many areas of Yorkshire if these services are not resumed once the pandemic is over and normal rail travel is safe again.”

Stephen Waring, Chair of HADRAG, the Halifax & District Rail Action Group added: “Just ten years since Grand Central started running four trains daily from Halifax and Brighouse to and from London, the service is suspended during the pandemic.

“The worry is this could become permanent. But these trains are no longer a luxury. We’ve come to see them as part of our essential rail service.”

John Buxton, volunteer ambassador at Brighouse train station, said: “We are very lucky in Brighouse, Halifax and Mirfield to have a train company operating through our towns that shows a real interest in the populations through which their trains travel.

“Grand Central has operated this service for seven plus years and put back a lot of the money it earns.

“We at the Brighouse Arts Festival have benefited by the sponsorship of Grand Central for several years enabling us to book top artists and put our Festival and town on the arts map.

“Grand Central have supported many events in Brighouse since they started the service to London, from advertising to sponsoring film shows.

“Taking stalls on the market and running competitions for free tickets on their services Grand Central, as an open access company, does not get government money to run its trains; it has to pay its own way.

“Yet it has invested in Brighouse station and Mirfield so that passengers can have a little more comfort on their journeys. And, at very competitive prices.”

Councillor Howard Blagbrough (Con, Brighouse) said: “It is a vital service which provides people a direct route to London at a reasonable cost - the loss of any such service would be detrimental, not only to the economy, but tourism. I know for a fact that a large number of people use this service on a weekly basis - clearly we have faced a more challenging period and we will continue to do so as we start to get back to some form of normality - whatever that will be.

“I was only just looking through the magazine produced by Chris Helme ‘Brighouse & District Heritage Newseum’ and noticing that it is 20 years since Brighouse station re-opened. The direct service has had a large impact over the period - so much so, that we now struggle with the parking facilities.

“I do understand that there may be a different way of working in the future, however I still believe there would be a demand for this service. Plans are still continuing to open a station in Elland, and I am therefore confident that this service will not be cancelled

“I would be extremely disappointed if the direct route was cancelled.”