Rail campaigner Brian Dunsby has said his pleas to reinstate the cancelled 6.07am train from Harrogate to Leeds have been ignored by publicly-owned rail operator Northern.
The Stray Ferret reported last month that the weekday service — the first of the day — will be axed from May 15. Some evening services will also be cut.
Mr Dunsby, of Harrogate Line Supporters Group, branded the move ‘disgraceful’ and called for a rethink. He said the service is vital for commuters and voiced his concern that losing it will damage Harrogate’s business community.
Since the decision, he said he’s been lobbying Northern as well as Transport for the North and local Conservative MP Andrew Jones, but he’s been left disappointed.
He said:
“There’s been no progress at all. It’s quite unjustifiable. We can’t understand why they are cancelling them. It’s very unsatisfactory.”
Northern blamed lower passenger numbers, issues with rolling stock and staffing problems for the cuts, which has seen a raft of services across Yorkshire withdrawn.
Read more:
- Northern to continue with Harrogate train cuts despite pressure from MP
- Early morning train from Harrogate to Leeds cancelled
Northern will put on a bus to replace the lost early train service from Harrogate to Leeds, but it could be December at the earliest until Northern will look at reintroducing the rail service. Mr Dunsby said this was “not good enough”.
He added:
“That’s eight months away. People need this train for business trips.”
Tony Baxter, regional director at Northern, said:
Bus replacement on Harrogate trains to Leeds on Sunday“Customers are at the heart of everything we do, and the new timetables are designed to deliver high levels of reliability.
“We’ve made decisions about our timetables based on the levels of resource we have available and prioritising the routes with the highest customer demand, and which support the region’s economic growth.”
Rail passengers on the Harrogate to Leeds line will have to use a bus replacement service on Sunday.
Network Rail has announced work to install new overhead line equipment and signals will cause disruption after the last train on Saturday and continue throughout Sunday.
Normal service will resume on Monday, which is a bank holiday.
It means trains will terminate at Horsforth, and replacement buses will operate between there and Leeds station all day on Sunday.
Trains from Harrogate to York will run as normal.
The replacement buses will pick up and drop off passengers on New Station Street, in front of Leeds station.
Passengers are advised to plan ahead and check their journey with National Rail enquiries.
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