While waiting the other afternoon for my train at
Stoke-on-Trent – a station that might have been designed for Hampton Court and
then re-purposed to Staffordshire – I was astonished when a Virgin train (ex
Manchester Piccadilly) came rumbling in, next stop Euston in a mere 1 hour 28
minutes. Non-stop from the Potteries to the capital, wow, I never expected that
! However, predictably enough, though sadly enough, it was followed not long
afterwards by my train (perhaps it should be renamed a “train-lite”), a tinny
little East Midlands Trains one-car diesel that came limping in on its
snailpaced cross-country route from Crewe to Derby, packed and cramped, knees not
so much under chin as sideways across aisle. “The North Staffordshire Line”, as
it’s marketed and glamourised (“Where Stations are part of the Community”).
Railway-wise, this is not the most well-endowed part of the
world and, as the thermometer nudges 30, now is the summer of our Midlands
Disconnect. Later on there was a delayed connection at Derby attributed firstly
to there being another train in front (not a man with a red flag, then?), and
secondly to a points failure. Who knows? Who cares? Come back Reggie Perrin, all
is forgiven. Average speed, Stoke to Nottingham, 25 mph.
As regards improvements to our railways, points failure isn’t
usually a problem; many good and valid points are made by many people on many
occasions in many parts of the country. There’s no failure of points, no
shortage of them. The difficulty is getting anyone to act upon them.
In the 60s the infamous Dr Beeching’s main legacy to the north
and east Midlands was the destruction of the Great Central (splendidly engineered
: Marylebone – Rugby – Leicester – Nottingham – Sheffield – Manchester, in fact
HS2 by any other name). The subsequent losses of the Nottingham to Melton Mowbray
route, and of the northern chord through Chaddesden, east of Derby (both routes
now built upon) were also critically unhelpful. Much of the damage, though,
could still be rectified with a little gumption and imagination, and not all
that much money.
Today, there are many pressure groups and societies eager to
reverse the mistakes of the Beeching era, yet nothing much ever seems to happen,
at least in these polar wildernesses way beyond the arctic far side of the
political event-horizon called the M25. Witterings extend for decades and then die.
Shortage of money is the usual excuse; there’s no shortage of money, it’s
merely in the wrong place (London). And as with points, there’s no shortage of
ideas.
Several proposals - including some of those listed below – are
generally deemed to be plausible, yet are at best scheduled to take decades to
implement – in other words, no one wants to take responsibility for them. Kicking
the can down the track, as this dismal May-era terminology has it. Among ideas (mostly
well-known ones, plus my own observations) for the north and east Midlands,
which would involve relatively little infrastructure work, and could
theoretically be completed very quickly, would seem to be the following:
1) The freight line between Trent Junction and Willington
could be opened for passenger traffic, for selected trains not calling (and
having to reverse) at Derby, thus speeding journey times between Nottingham and
Birmingham.
2) HS2 – good idea in principle, lousy in specifics, obscene
in terms of cost – if built at all should call at East Midlands Parkway, allowing
trains from London (having shaved a couple of minutes or so off current Midland
main line times) to proceed directly to Nottingham or Derby, without all the faff and time-wasting of having to connect to another mode of transport at Toton (tram with
15 intermediate stops to Nottingham, or slow train going back in the reverse
direction). Toton HS2 hub is a thoroughly daft idea - as anyone who isn’t a
craven politician or someone with a vested interest can spot immediately by looking at
a map. It’s in the wrong place, and too far north. Or why not an HS2 station
beneath East Midlands Airport? Is it because there's no joined up transport
policy trying to integrate air and rail travel, a vision able to glimpse beyond
environmentally catastrophic proposals to cover most of what used to be
Middlesex with extensions to Heathrow?
3) There are proposals to re-connect the Derwent Valley line
from Matlock, through Bakewell, towards Manchester. This proposal conflicts
with walkers and cyclists who use the magnificent Monsal Trail, with its
viaducts and tunnels. With respect, there are many places where one can walk or
cycle; this well-engineered line is simply too valuable to be used in this way.
The rail proposals should proceed. A direct line from Derby and points south and east to Manchester and the north-west.
4) The spur through the south tunnel at Dore should be
reinstated, allowing trains from the major East Midlands cities (Nottingham,
Derby, Leicester) to reach Manchester and Liverpool directly, along the Hope
Valley line, without the tedious detour and reverse at Sheffield. That’s
presumably why the spur was built in the first place.
5) The Derby-Crewe line should be served by proper long
distance trains (preferably ones with knee space) which could connect, at the
eastern end, to Nottingham (and hence Newark and Lincoln, Grantham and
Skegness) and at the western end, to Liverpool and Liverpool Airport,
Manchester and Manchester Airport, Chester and North Wales. Much like things
used to be.
6) Midland Line electrification should continue northwards,
beyond the present ludicrous intention to stop at Market Harborough. “Just say
no” to bimodal nonsense and The Fat Controller. He of the domed and shiny
cranium; hopefully he’ll soon be history.
7) Proper trains should run between Leicester, Nuneaton and
Coventry. In the north, routes could extend to Nottingham, Derby, Sheffield and
beyond, and in the south, to Leamington Spa, Banbury, Oxford, Reading and points
south and west. This would relieve pressure on Birmingham New Street and
provide easier access from the East Midlands to Birmingham Airport. A “Midlands
Connect” that can’t provide decent connections to the region’s major airport
and to one of its largest cities is a joke.
