A Tram-Train Between Skipton And Colne
Skipton station is a station at the western end of the electrified lines to and through Leeds. There are several plans for the future, involving direct trains to London and more frequent services to and from Leeds. There is also an aspiration of the Embsay and Bolton Abbey Railway to extend into Skipton.
Colne station is at the eastern end of the partly single-track East Lancashire Line, with services all the way to Blackpool South station via Burnley, Blackburn and Preston.
The two stations used to be connected until 1970, when it was closed, despite not being recommended for such by Beeching.
An organisation called Skipton-East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership is pressing for the line to be reopened. This map shows the rail lines in the area.
Skipton To Colne
Reopening this just under twelve miles length of track could bring a lot of benefits.
Most of the trackbed hasn’t been built on, but look at this Google Map of Colne station.
Colne Station
Note how the dual-carriageway, A6068 and a football pitch have been built, where any link from Colne would probably go.
So there would be a need for an expensive bridge. But as the line to Colne is only single-track, I suspect that the bridge could get away with one track, providing there was a passing loop at Colne station.
Having seen tram-trains in Germany, I know what the Germans would do and that is run tram-trains from the Blackpool tramway across Lancashire as trains and then over a tramway to Skipton. The advantage would be simpler infrastructure and lower costs.
The Tram-Train At Karlsruhe Station
The picture shows one of Karlsruhe tram-trains at the Hauptbahnhof. The tram-train is essentially the same as those that will be trialled between Sheffield and Rotherham in the near future.
The advantages of tram-trains would be simpler infrastructure and lower costs. Once the Calder Valley Line is electrified between Preston and Burnley Manchester Road station, a tram-train could start at either Leeds or Bradford Forster Square stations, go via Keighley, Skipton and Colne and then reach Blackburn and Preston, after joining an electrified Calder Valley Line at Rose Grove. From Skipton to Rose Grove, the line could be single track with passing loops and the electrification would be 750 VDC, like all trams in the UK. But of course, Skipton to Leeds and the Calder Valley would be to the main line standard of 25 kVAC.
An Outwardly Normal Class 379 Train
But we have our own British solution in the shape of the IPEMU. The picture shows the prototype, which I rode as a paying passenger in early 2015.
These trains have batteries or some other form of energy storage, which is charged whilst running on electrified lines.
An IPEMU could charge its batteries at Skipton and Preston and use batteries on any line without electrification in between.
The advantage would be no wires and possibly only a single track across the Pennines.
But if it is decided to create a link between Skipton and Colne, the railway technology developments of the last few years, could make the link more affordable and much less of an intrusion into some of our most beautiful countryside.
The Anonymous Widower 
Very interesting, I was also passing through Colne station recently!
Comment by Little Miss Traveller | June 2, 2016 |
I’ve added a bit more detail and a picture.
Comment by AnonW | June 2, 2016 |