Speeding through…… The Peaks & Dales Rail Linkbtckstorage.blob.core.windows.net/site1344/MEMRAP... · Professor David Simon, Professor of Development Geography at Royal Holloway,

Speeding through……

The Peaks & Dales Rail Link……to a lower carbon future

Manchester & East Midlands Rail Action PartnershipStephen Chaytow - 23rd May 2019

Peaks & Dales Rail Link

Hope Valley Line

1

© MEMRAP 2019 2

Background to the 2018 ConsortiumPrivate money for a private re-opening as a private siding

• Peak Rail proposes 25mph heritage plus community rail (light railway

order)

• Expanding quarries need new freight paths to grow, they wish to invest

• Approach focused on lowering of build costs, new, shorter freight route

• Major benefits for Hope Valley, South Yorkshire, Matlock branch users

• Behind secrecy of quarry driven NDAs….

• Perceived limited benefit for East Midlands and inter-regional users

• Led to MEMRAP formation in January 2019

© MEMRAP 2019 3

The Peaks and Dales Rail Link ProjectThe case for FULL “Day 1” re-instatement

• Conference focus is “Midlands Pure” – flavoured with this dash of “MEMRAP Inter-Regional”

• “Full re-instatement” benefits rail users in 3 regions - East Midlands, North West, South Yorkshire

• But, who owns The Peaks and Dales route? TfN or Midlands Connect? TfEM as umbrella? Peak District National Park Authority as quiet custodian

• MEMRAP’s thought leadership and vision document caused TfN to seek:

• A Strategic Outline Business Case

• Evidence for Open Connectivity options

© MEMRAP 2019 4

What’s the Problem? Capacity!

Hope Valley – “Achilles Heel of the TfN Strategy”

Classic

Victorian

construction

TfN - March 2019

© MEMRAP 2019 5

Peak Forest & Buxton Quarries – A National Resource forLimestone, Aggregates, Cement via Hope Valley, mostly to the South

Building HS2Sizewell CEDF aims to build a new power

station with two UK-EPR reactors

located on land next to the

current Sizewell B station in

Suffolk.

Other projects starting in 2019:

1. Lower Thames Crossing

2. A1(M) J6-8 Smart Motorway3. Barking Riverside rail development4. Channel Tunnel Interconnector5. Gatwick Airport Pier 6 Extension

© MEMRAP 2019 6

Changing Fortunes of “The Peaks and Dales Rail Link””MEMRAP now seeks the return of rail between Matlock/Rowsley and Buxton/Chinley”

• Inter-regional

• Local

• Quarry outputs

1902 2030 ?201820041968

New Millers Dale Station

Opened

Decline, BeechingClosure by

Barbara Castle &Serpell

Scott – Wilson feasibility

rejection bySRA

1. Hope Valley full !2. Studies show open

connectivity now an option

3. Peak Rail & Tarmac led consortium focused on

private re-opening

Strategic Inter-regional

LinkRestored

Open Connectivity

Consortium

Heritage / community

© MEMRAP 2019 7

A Latter Day Sleeping Beauty ?

The Peaks and Dales Rail Link

Note: All Derby/Leicester to Manchester journeys take much longer by road or rail

than at the “peak” of the last rail era

© MEMRAP 2019 8MEMRAP

Heritage rail

Passenger ormixed used line To re-instate

Freight onlyFast from Nottingham Via Sheffield

A

Slow, via Hope Valley

Buxton Branch

Slow trains: Sheffield via Hope Valley Freight Missing 12 mile link Peak Rail

Monsal Trail

Peak National Park Boundaries

Liverpool & North West

Toton &Nottingham

Hope Valley to Sheffield &

Erewash ValleyChesterfield

& Sheffield

Manchester Airport

Burton & Birmingham

Branch to Hindlow, Brierlow quarries

(freight only)

DuffieldBelperAmbergateCromfordMatlock

Darley DaleRowsley

BakewellLongstoneMillersDale

Buxton

Chapel-en-le-Frith

New MillsNewtown

Chinley

MarpleNew Mills

CentralRomiley

HazelGrove

Stockport

A

ManchesterPiccadilly

Derby

LoughboroughEast Midlands

Parkway

Leicester

Matlock Branch – to Main Line Main Line

LondonSt Pancras

Selected stations and quarries only. Simplified, not to scale.

Loughborough Design Undergraduate, interviewed on train to St Pancras – May 2019

Just 1 of the 5 million linked by this line

“I live in Manchester and rail journey times (2 changes) to

Loughborough of well over 4 hours are totally unacceptable. So, I drive

in two and a half hours instead”

“Peaks & Dales” Schematic

© MEMRAP 2019 9

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More Peaks & Dales Evidence

20 years of Passenger Growth

2016/7 % growth 2015/6 % growth Source: ORR data

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In the East Midlands (EM):

• Over last 15+ years:

• MML grew 130% but

• Hope Valley > 200%

• EM over next 10 years:

• 10% population growth

• 30% usage increase

• 400,000 new EM homes planned

• Better rail links to aid academic and entrepreneurial collaboration

• EM is a region of strong economic growth

• To increase prospects for EM further, this key NW links justifies attention and action

© MEMRAP 2019 10

“The Peaks and Dales Rail Link” Quotes

• "For regeneration of Metropolitan Manchester and the East Midlands Region, a catchment exceeding 5 million people, the Derby to Manchester rail route via Matlock represents a crucial missing link in this country's integrated national rail infrastructure“

Professor David Simon, Professor of Development Geography at Royal Holloway, University of London and Director of Mistra Urban Futures, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg

• “By delivering a new trans-Pennine rail route, a combination of private investment and heritage rail volunteers will create additional rail network capacity, increasing the potential for modal shift towards zero carbon transport and helping to slow climate change.”

Chris Page, Chair of the National Board of Directors at Railfuture

• The Peaks and Dales Rail Link offers greater potential than Borders Rail, re-instated in 2015. Planners should learn from the errors made when bringing that rail line back.

© MEMRAP 2019 11

Reduced Future Flying Time – NOT Reduced Leisure HoursBringing Local, Community and Heritage Rail to the Fore

Question: Which national park is within

75 minutes journey for millions of people?

© MEMRAP 2019 12

• Peak District National Park Authority as trackbed custodians:

• Welcome the Cycletrain as an alternative to car use

• Seek with MEMRAP a sustainable and permanent route for the Monsal Trail

• Electric cars arrive late, slow and expensively:

• Fossil fuel emissions remain high, aggravating climate damage

• The shift to public transport, as in Peaks and Dales, will mitigate

• Derby University emissions study shows 150,000 kg CO2 saved:

• Every time 38 trains switches from Hope Valley to Peaks & Dales or

• When 100 annual commuters switch to train (Leicester to Manchester)

Peak District National Park

Cycletrain Mockup Source: The Scotsman

© MEMRAP 2019 13

Open Connectivity & Cycletrain

From:Leicester, Derby, East Midlands

To: Manchester, North West and Manchester Airport

Route: DIRECT, via THE DERBYSHIRE DALES RAIL LINK

Journey time: Derby to Manchester under 75 minutes

Number of Passenger Journeys:SUBSTANTIAL – plus major shift from private car usage

SUBSTANTIAL INTER-REGIONAL

ECONOMIC, ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFIT

Summary of Passenger Benefits:1. Cycletrain, rambling, tourists2. Commuting and business travel3. Community and heritage rail

MEMRAP East Midlands Regeneration

Benefits

© MEMRAP 2019 14

14

From:Leicester, Derby, East Midlands

To: Manchester, North West and Manchester Airport

Route: DIRECT, via THE DERBYSHIRE DALES RAIL LINK

Journey time: Derby to Manchester under 75 minutes

Number of Passenger Journeys:SUBSTANTIAL – plus major shift from private car usage

SUBSTANTIAL INTER-REGIONAL ECONOMIC, ENVIRONMENTAL BENEFIT

Summary of Passenger Benefits:1. Cycletrain, rambling, tourists2. Commuting and business travel3. Community and heritage rail

MEMRAP

Benefits

East Midlands Regeneration

Open Connectivity & Cycletrain

East Midlands Regeneration

Consortium Benefits

From: Peak Forest and Buxton Quarries

To: South of England Construction Project Sites

Route: DIRECT, via THE DERBYSHIRE DALES RAIL LINK

Journey: Fully loaded, southbound and empties return northbound

Tonnage carried:Up to 5m tonnes annually

Additional Benefits:1. Hope Valley paths to transform

passenger services2. Matlock branch offers increased

frequency3. Community and heritage rail –

local services

MEMRAP East Midlands Regeneration

© MEMRAP 2019 15

Next Steps – The Sleeping Beauty Stirs?

The Peaks and Dales Rail Link

1. Continue lobbying

and awareness

programme

2. Fund and complete

Strategic Outline

Business Case

3. RIDING SUNBEAMS

to evaluate a zero

carbon pilot, 2020

4. Lobby for inclusion

in Midlands Connect

Strategy Refresh,

2020/1

5. QUESTIONS!!http://www.railusergroups.net/MEMRAP/index.htm

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