Station revitalisation is on track

Mytholmroyd’s new surface car park will protect local area

A car park built by Northern as part of the rail operator’s programme of modernisation will double as a defence to help prevent local flooding.

The West Yorkshire village of Mytholmroyd has been hardhit by flooding in the past five years. It is hoped the new car park at the town’s station will help protect the area. The £3.9m engineering project includes a system designed to capture storm water running down the nearby Calder Valley in a tank that can hold approximately 431,000 litres.

The water is then released from the storage tank at a controlled rate, which means surface water run-off will be slowed down before flowing into the River Calder to help to reduce the risk of flooding.

As well as bolstering the village’s flood defences, the car park will provide 181 spaces for Northern customers, including nine accessible bays and nine wide access bays.

Tony Baxter, regional director at Northern said: “The new car park will deliver significant improvements for our customers using Mytholmroyd station, and we’re proud to have also been able to play a part in preventing future flooding in the area.

“This project is a real testament to partnership work, and we are delighted that the community is now better protected. We know this will bring muchneeded reassurance to local residents and businesses who are sadly familiar with the devastating impact of flooding.”

More than 3,200 tonnes of waste material were removed from the site to complete the project, while 11,200 tonnes of new material were used in the construction of the car park, which opened on 1 February.

The project is part of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Rail Park & Ride Programme, which has been designed to increase station parking and provide people with increased access to train services.

Funded through the West Yorkshire-plus Transport Fund, the park & ride scheme could help reduce congestion, improve local air quality and enhance people’s access to jobs, training and apprenticeship opportunities, as well as leisure activities.

Cllr Tim Swift, deputy chair of West Yorkshire Combined Authority and Leader of Calderdale Council said: “This facility will both help more people to travel by public transport and provide additional flood protection to the people and businesses of Mytholmroyd who have suffered greatly in the past.

“The scheme has seen the creation of further car park spaces, providing further accessibility to the rail network. This is also the first of the park & ride car parks funded by the combined authority to include provisions for future electric charging bays, which further supports our drive to tackle the region’s climate emergency and create a greener, cleaner place for our communities to work and live.”

Mytholmroyd car park

Northern invests £650,000 in car parks

Train company Northern’s ongoing work to transform rail travel in the North has seen £650,000 worth of improvements made at car parks across its network. The rail operator has laid more than 12,035m2 of asphalt as part of Northern’s ‘A Better Way to Go’ campaign.

The £650,000 parking project was funded by Network Rail. Station car parks have been given a facelift at: Windermere; Hyde North; Reddish North; Newton for Hyde; Disley; Dent; Styal, Castleton; Grange-over-Sands; and Meadowhall

Northern has also re-lined the car parks to create safe walking routes and 353 parking spaces, including accessible bays.

Mark Powles, customer and commercial director at Northern, said: “Our priority is always to make sure stations are safe, accessible and welcoming places for our customers. We are transforming our network to give customers better journeys and the improvements at our car parks will ensure those journeys begin and end in a more pleasant environment.

“We’ve made great strides with enhancements, large and small, across our entire network and car parks are just one part of it. Our new ‘A Better Way to Go’ campaign demonstrates the hard work that has taken place as we continue to transform rail travel in the north and I’d like to thank everyone who has been involved in making such a positive impact for the north.”

Matt Rice, route director for Network Rail’s North and East route, said: “For many passengers, the station car park is the beginning of their rail experience. The improvements will make these gateways to the railway much more welcoming, and we’re delighted to have worked alongside our partners at Northern to deliver these upgrades.”

The Better Way to Go campaign, which will deliver improvements at stations, on trains and online, will include: •a mobility scooter policy •roll-out of more bodycam units for station staff •improved CCTV •car park refurbishments •platform extensions.

NORTHERN

Dent’s car park

Northern has launched an online tool to allow people to find out about improvements made at their local station.

www.northernrailway.co.uk/better

Greater Anglia triples parking as part of restoration works

Parking at a historic Norfolk rail station is being expanded by train operator Greater Anglia.

Attleborough station will see its parking capacity triple under a £500,000 project that will create 86 spaces including five accessible parking spaces. The expanded car park will feature new LED lighting and CCTV.

There will also be designated parking for five motorcycles, 20 cycles and provision for four electric car charging bays when required in the future.

The scheme was originally expected to be completed by the end of last year, but work paused in the autumn awaiting the outcome of a planning amendment.

In the meantime, Greater Anglia is proceeding with the removal of the two ancillary buildings, as well as some tree stumps and vegetation and the excavation of the new car park area and wall boundary.

The company hopes that the project will be completed by the summer. The work will be phased to keep as many parking spaces as possible available for key workers and people making essential journeys by train.

Greater Anglia also hopes to attract a new tenant for the restored station building.

Simone Bailey, Greater Anglia’s asset management director, said: “We’re very pleased to be almost tripling the number of parking spaces at Attleborough from 30 to 86 so that, once we start to recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, we will have the capacity to encourage more sustainable journeys to the area, helping to reduce the pollution and congestion caused by cars.

“We support green transport initiatives across our region, which is why we’re creating additional cycle parking spaces and the provision for four electric car parking spaces.”

Attleborough is well-placed to enable people travel to either Cambridge or Norwich. Rail passengers can now also travel from Attleborough to Stansted Airport without the need to change trains, making it a more attractive option for air passengers.

Last year, Greater Anglia restored the station building following a grant from the Railway Heritage Trust. The station house was previously used as a veterinary practice, but fell into disrepair and it was eventually deemed unsafe because of roof leaks that threatened to bring down the ceilings. In 2013, the building had to be closed.

Greater Anglia began renovating the building in 2018, with the help of a £110,000 grant from the Railway Heritage Trust. The train operator also invested £177,000 on the scheme.

The work saw the interior of the building stripped back, UPVC windows replaced with timber sash windows, new doors fitted, redecoration in the building’s original heritage colours and extensive repairs to the roofs to restore the building to its former glory.

GREATER ANGLIA

Attleborough station

Transport for Greater Manchester expands parking across network

Parking at a rail station in the Greater Manchester area will be expanded in a bid to make park & ride a more attractive option.

Walkden is one of the principal stations that lie on the Manchester to Southport line.

A proposal by Transport for Greater Manchester to provide the station with 100 extra parking spaces, four motorcycle bays and cycle storage was approved by Salford City Council on 28 January.

Located off Chestnut Avenue, a short walk from the station, the new car park will also provide electric vehicle charging points. It will feature security lighting and CCTV, landscaping and boundary fencing. Work is set to start over the summer.

The car park is designed to meet a need to encourage public transport use and provide an alternative to the car identified in the Greater Manchester Mayor’s Congestion Deal.

Cllr Mark Aldred, chair of the Greater Manchester transport committee, said: “Making public transport more accessible and appealing is vital if we’re serious about reducing congestion on our roads, which is why park & ride schemes like this one are so important.

“By getting people out of their vehicles and onto public transport – even if it’s only for part of their journey – we can help alleviate traffic congestion and reduce harmful emissions that are damaging the quality of our air.

“Over the next 12 months, thanks to this scheme, the recently opened park and ride site on the Trafford Park Line and extensions to Radcliffe and Whitefield that are due to get underway in the summer, we’ll have delivered more than 700 extra park & ride spaces to key transport hubs.”

Salford City Mayor Paul Dennett said: “It is great news for local people that the park & ride scheme in Walkden has taken a significant step forward with the approval of planning permission. This is a project that myself and local ward members have long campaigned for and we are so pleased it is continuing to move forwards.

“The car park will reduce onstreet parking in the local neighbourhood, which will be a great relief to local residents. It will also help to support extra rail users and improve accessibility to local destinations including the RHS Bridgewater when it officially opens.”

The scheme is the latest in a series of planned park & ride expansions across the region. Development of park & ride is seen as a way of helping deliver Greater Manchester’s Our Network vision of an integrated public transport system.

A 360-space park & ride site was completed at Parkway on the Trafford Park Line in November 2020. Plans to increase Metrolink park & ride provision at Radcliffe and Whitefield by 234 spaces were approved by Bury Council’s Planning Committee in November 2020.

A separate planning application, to provide 250 temporary park & ride spaces on land to the rear of Spring Lane School, has also been submitted to the planning committee and will be considered at a future meeting. Should permission be granted, a temporary car park will be built before the closure of either site to minimise disruption.

Further park & ride projects across the region are currently being considered.

Two new Scottish stations planned

Network Rail has submitted planning applications for two new railway stations in Scotland.

An application has been submitted to Scottish Borders Council’s planning team for a new station at Reston. Network Rail proposes building a two-platform station served by initially 70 car parking spaces with sufficient land purchased for a further 40 bays. There will also be a new access road, fully accessible lifts and a platform connecting footbridge.

A planning application has also been presented to East Lothian Council for a new railway station in East Linton. The proposal is for a two-platform station that can accommodate six carriage trains, with step-free access via a footbridge with lifts and parking for 126 cars.

Alex Hynes, managing director of Scotland’s Railway, said: “We are working hard to improve rail links for communities across Scotland and these stations will help open up opportunities for new passengers on our network.” Calderdale Council is working with the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to transform Halifax rail station. The station design proposals, developed in partnership with contractor Mott MacDonald, include: •a new two-storey station building •improved drop-off facilities, car parking and taxi pick-up areas •a new footbridge to improve access to the station •improved customer waiting and refreshment areas •walking and cycling facilities and a new foot and cycle link connecting the station to the eastern side of the railway and the Hebble Trail •links to the A629 Phase 2 project, which includes the regeneration of the area between station and The Piece Hall – better connecting the station to the rest of Halifax town centre •the preservation and incorporation of the station’s heritage features. pandemic, it served more than 1.9 million rail journeys each year. However, the current station has limited facilities and poor accessibility.

More than £30m from the Combined Authority’s West Yorkshire Plus Transport Fund and the Transforming Cities Fund is to be invested into a new station.

The public was invited to comment on the designs between 18 January and 14 February.

Cllr Jane Scullion, Calderdale Council’s cabinet member for regeneration and strategy, said: “Having a modern, fit-for-purpose train station is important for business, jobs and tourism. It will play a key role in our recovery from COVID-19 and the wider regeneration of Calderdale. The plans for the station include an impressive mix of new and heritage features.”

Cllr Kim Groves, chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority Transport Committee, said: “We are pleased to be working with Calderdale Council on this important scheme, which will enable more people to travel by train, bike and on foot, while transforming the gateway to Halifax.”

Halifax station plans unveiled