None of this is new as it was all first published early last year, but I've just got round to reviewing the various Transport for the North suggestions for the Humber region. Relevant bits for rail on the south bank below.
[quote]New Station Between Habrough and Barnetby
The suggestion that caught my attention the most was the idea of a new station between Habrough and Barnetby, listed under the outcome of "Improve access to International Gateways in the Southern Pennines SDC". That could indicate the new station is meant to serve Immingham Docks, but Habrough does that and Immingham Docks is only an international gateway for freight, or it could be a reference to the Cleethorpes to Manchester Airport TransPennine Express (TPE) service calling at the potential new station. The other option though is that the new station would be sited near Humberside Airport.
Leaving Humberside Airport aside for a minute, there probably is not the need for a new station if it wasn't for the constraints on expanding parking at Barnetby station. Barnetby is ideally sited as a parkway station being close to the A15, A18, A180 and M180; however there is limited room for extra parking and access involves travelling through parts of the residential area of the village and then up a narrow lane to the station. Making more use of Habrough station, which started last month as almost all TPE services now call there, can potentially help if all Immingham area passengers now use Habrough rather than Barnetby, but Habrough is very unlikely to be attractive for potential users from say Brigg or Caistor.
So long term there maybe a need for a new station. Unless a new station is built at Wrawby Junction with a new access road from the A18 which would be very expensive, then there will be a need to look east of Barnetby, or accept that a new station could not serve the Lincoln and Brigg lines. Taking the latter option, which it does not seem is under consideration in any case, where the Wrawby Junction to Scunthorpe line crosses the A18 between Wrawby and Barnetby could be a potential new station location, but the railway is in a cutting here from what I recall, so again a new station would be expensive. Elsham station could be reopened, but road access would not be good from the likes of Caistor.
East of Barnetby the logical location to me would be where the railway crosses the A18, which happens to be in the vicinity of Humberside Airport. Such a location could form a parkway station not only for local villages but even for customers as far away as Louth who could travel on the A16/A18 to access the station. There could also be very limited commuter use for the airport business park and Singleton Birch at Melton Ross. It's not perfect though; the airport terminal would be slightly beyond walking distance, not that the airport would likely generate many rail passengers, and any traffic from the west (e.g. Brigg) would have to travel through Melton Ross village on the A18 to access the site. As such I expect any new station would be a reliever for Barnetby, not a replacement.[/quote]
[quote]Other Rail Possibilities
- An 'additional NPR service' between Cleethorpes, Doncaster and Sheffield. Does that imply the current TPE service between Cleethorpes and Manchester Airport will be part of NPR (hopefully so), hence a second service between Cleethorpes and Sheffield being an additional NPR service?
- Journey time and capacity improvements between Cleethorpes and Doncaster - this is listed under 'before 2027' in the proposed investment programme (table 3)[/quote]
My full blog post including links to the source documents
http://humbertransport.blogspot.com/2020/01/transport-for-north-proposals-for-humber.html
Interesting, thanks very much for that. I will have a full read of your blog and the source document when I am home on the computer.
On the subject of a new station, I tgith the best solution is the least interesting - to find a way to expand car parking at Barnetby. This could be done by taking land currently used by one of the disused goods yatdy, or even buying land from the agricultural haulage company who reside on former railway land.
Extra car parking could also be arranged at Habrough, even if it involves some land purchase.
The downside of a new station would be an increase in journey time and an increase in operating costs.
The one case I could see for a new station would be if demand at Humberside Airport took off, in which case I would agree with your proposed site near the A18 bridge. A bridged travelator link could be built to the terminal, which itself might need to be enlarged.
A second service to Doncaster could quite easily be gained by extending the Scunthorpe stopper. This would be better though if it were retimed such that it provided a more eveble spaced service, rather than the current arrangement of the trains leaving Doncaster 5 minutes apart.
We shall see what form Northern Powerhouse Rail takes, if indeed it happens.
On a similar subject, Transport for the North have produced a new document, focussing on central Manchester but focussing on the impact across the north.
https://transportforthenorth.com/wp-content/uploads/Item-5-Central-Manchester-Report.pdf
The report recognises that punctuality in the north of England, Merseyrail apart, is the worst in the country.
It also recognises that the line to Manchester Airport and the line between Manchester Picadilly - Stockport appear to be able to be classified as 'congested infrastructure'.and that delays from congested areas around Manchester ripple out across the north.
We frequently see TPE trains to Cleethorpes and often, as a direct consequence, Barton Line trains, delayed as a result of this congestion and indirectly by the officially conjested infrastructure in the Castlefield Corridor, on which trains from Liverpool are frequently delayed, causing knock on delays in the Hope Valley.
There are long term proposals to improve capacity in all three areas, however in the short term it may be necessary to temporarily reduce some services around Manchester in order to make the timetable more resillient and thus improve punctuality.