Are we close to finding the missing link?

Understandably, this powerful economic and social argument forms the central pillar of the 15-year-old campaign run by Skipton East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership (SELRAP), and its bid to rebuild the 11½-mile line lifted in 1970. To illustrate the dire state of current travel along the corridor, in 2007 the campaign group even ran two charters between Skipton and Colne via existing routes, demonstrating that the 100-mile return trip takes almost five hours to complete with three reversals.

SELRAP’s second argument is the line’s strategic worth, by adding a fourth possible trans-Pennine route between the West Coast Main Line and Leeds, complementing the existing routes via Diggle, Calder Valley and Copy Pit.

Chaired by David Walsh, its membership has climbed to almost 500 individuals and more than 50 affiliated groups and local businesses, as momentum continues to build and the appetite for improved options by rail steadily grows. Importantly, it also claims to have the written support of 120 MPs, 49 MEPs and more than 500 councils. 

SELRAP now hopes to gain the attention of Rail North, which is busily updating its existing Long Term Rail Strategy ahead of its expected merger with Transport for the North in 2017, at which time it will also gain devolved powers from the Department for Transport.

Social and economic cohesion aside, the need for a new east-west link in the region has arguably never been so great, especially for freight. Available paths on existing routes are likely to be squeezed if forecasts for a 70% increase in tonnage using the Port of Liverpool by 2030 are proved right, following the recent completion of a £350 million investment in its deep water container handling terminal. Freight traffic will also need somewhere to go if other Rail North projects go ahead as planned to upgrade both the Diggle and Calder Valley routes.   

Skipton-Colne could prove attractive to freight for a number of other reasons. It would have the lowest ruling gradient of all the trans-Pennine routes, and could potentially offer a more direct route for established flows such as the three to four biomass trains operated each day by GB Railfreight between Liverpool and Drax power station. 

Each train carries up to 1,650 tonnes of fuel for the UK’s largest generator of renewable energy, but currently runs on a circuitous 99-mile route via Northwich, Stockport and Wakefield. Running via Colne would shorten the journey, although further enhancements would need to be made to increase capacity at Farington Junction near Preston on the West Coast Main Line, and to open up new paths on the congested routes into northwest Leeds. The single-track East Lancashire Line already serving Colne would also need significantly upgrading, to enable hourly paths in each direction and to reduce conflicts with any extra passenger services expected to use the new route.

Bolstering SELRAP’s case is the technical ease with which a re-opening could be achieved. The trackbed between Colne and Skipton is largely intact and mostly used as a footpath, indicating the absence of encroachment from surrounding development. 

While a couple of bridges and at least one level crossing would need reinstating, the main engineering difficulties are at either end of the route - where the line would need to pass beneath Vivary Way in Colne, and negotiate the Skipton bypass which now intersects part of the formation’s northern reaches. 

A report commissioned by SELRAP from consulting engineer Arup in 2013 estimated a base cost for a single-track rebuild of £38m, and £72m for double-track. Publicly it concedes that a realistic figure would be closer to £100m for the single-track option, given the need to factor in other infrastructure required to enhance the existing portion of the line from Colne to Garrow Junction, to build an appropriate number of passing loops, and to make the route a suitable option for freight. This figure does not include electrification, which would in any case be dependent on future decisions being made to energise the Calder Valley route to the south.

The Arup report concluded that the project could modestly expect to achieve a benefit:cost ratio (BCR) of 1.52, based on passenger numbers rising from 414,000 to 620,000 within ten years of opening. It also assumed the opening of intermediate stations at Earby and Craven Parkway, and a half-hourly service delivered by extending Leeds-Skipton services to Rose Grove, where a bay platform would need to be built.