An article in the Sheffield Telegraph comments that the extra capacity could allow an hourly service on Mondays to Fridays as well as on Saturdays for local trains.

This is very good news, coming on top of our success last December with the introduction of the extra train in the evening rush hour.

More information and comment will be put on our website as soon as possible.

Read the Government’s announcement

Or the Telegraph article

Lawrence Room Memorial Hall Hathersage
8 pm Wednesday January 25th 2012

AGENDA

1.Welcome and Introductions
2. Reports on Developments over the last 12 months
3. Key issues for 2012:

* Timetable bids for December 2012
* Preparing for New Franchises 2014
* Lobbying for Infrastructure and Service Quality Improvements
* Local Station Improvements
* Improving our business case and database
* Programme of speakers

4. Elections of committee members

5.AOB

The first passengers for the 18:14

Banjos in the rain at Grindleford

Hathersage celebrates

Please be sure to double check the times of your trains and, with some trains expected to be lengthened, there may be platform changes as well, especially likely for the 19:14 from Sheffield.

To mark the occasion HVRUG will be co-ordinating a hearty welcome to the west-bound Sheffield train when it arrives at Sheffield at 1804 and then a send off at 1814 with music, refreshments and speeches at Sheffield Station and hopefully an on-board band.  Local stations at Hathersage and Grindleford along the Hope Valley will be welcoming both the earlier incoming service from Manchester and the new return train with mulled wine and mince pies, so we do hope that you can come and join the celebrations, somewhere along the line. Please let your friends and neighbours know about the new service and encourage them to use it.

Celebration Timings at Sheffield
The Sheffield Station party: music, refreshments and just a couple of short speeches
17.30-18.10 Platform 2C Sheffield Station (but check in case the longer trains need another platform)
1804 Welcoming the new 1645 from Manchester
18.14 Waving off the new train and also hopefully an on-board band between Sheffield and the Hope Valley

Mince Pies and Mulled Wine in the Hope Valley

Hathersage 17.42 (Sheffield bound) and 18.32 (Manchester bound service)
Grindleford 17.46 (Sheffield bound) and 18.28 (Manchester bound)

What Next? Come to the AGM and help us decide on 25th January 2012
Now we know we can make change happen, we are planning our next set of priorities for the Group.  We still have to get the 1814 to stop at Bamford and clearly a high priority will be the morning commuter service.  In the long-term only infrastructure investment can help clear the log-jam that builds up on our Valley rail lines.  So please put the date in your diary and do come and be part of the discussions at our next AGM, 8pm the Lawrence Room, Hathersage Memorial Hall (opposite the car park), January 25th.  5minutes walk from the station.

We will be giving it a fantastic send-off, with music, champagne and speeches at Sheffield , an on-board band, and additional celebrations at stations along the Hope Valley, where HVRUG members will be serving mince pies and mulled wine to passengers.

Please note the date and come and be part of the celebrations. More information to follow….

Its been a long haul. Timetable changes on a line such as this one, with multiple passenger train operators, considerable freight use and poor infrastructure which leads to pinch points and restricts the ability to allow faster trains to pass slower ones, are notoriously difficult to implement. In fact we have been told many times that it was impossible.

But on December 12th, the physical reality of the new 18.14 service will show that it was indeed possible. What it took was a lot of different people putting in their time and expertise, engaging with everyone who could possibly make a difference and not taking no for an answer.

We are deeply indebted to the late Peter Fox, who utilised his unrivalled knowledge of the industry and the passenger and freight timetables to show that actually an 18.14 service could be run without requiring additional rolling stock, when most of the rail related organisations were telling us it was impossible.

The 18.14 would not be running if it wasn’t for the effort that our members put into liaising with the freight operators and those who contract them and their wonderful openness and flexibility in working with us, Northern Rail and Network Rail, to find a way of overcoming the ‘pathing conflicts’  that had prevented the success of previous efforts to implement the new service.

And of course, the new train would not be running without Northern Rail who have been engaging with us positively and now value the highly professional approach HVRUG has brought to its campaigning.

“They make us look that bit harder to see what can be achieved, “said Mark Barker, Northern’s stakeholder manager.    “They successfully lobbied Lafarge and the freight operators to get changes to a freight train path, permitting more stopping passenger trains. That’s real lateral thinking and everyone was a winner.”

Class 142 Pacer

A BBC news story this morning reporting the rail regulators concerns over the maintenance of Class 142 Pacers as used extensively by Northern Rail and on the Hope Valley line.

Long-term safety fears over Yorkshire’s Pacer trains

Assumed source material for the story:

ORR Rail Safety Report July 2011

Questionnaire delivery by Emily Argent

Emily has just helped her mother Jenni deliver 420 questionnaires in the Parish of Hope with Aston. The Hope Valley Rail Users Group are asking all residents of the Hope Valley how much more they would use their railway if an hourly timetable could be obtained, part of the ongoing campaign for better train services. Parish Clerk Jenni said , “I feel trains are such an important asset to the Valley and Emily really did enjoy delivering the surveys”.

Emily was rewarded for her efforts by HVRUG with a new picturebook by favourite author Julia Donaldson to add to her existing collection of nine.

The 17:48 Manchester Piccadilly to Sheffield (extended from Chinley) and 19:14 Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly return is intended to be formed of 2 x Class 142 units, giving 222 seats instead of the current 111. This service will no longer be able to use Platform 2c at Sheffield and we expect it will use Platform 8 instead, potentially giving a much better connection from the Cleethorpes-Manchester Airport service that leaves Sheffield at 19:11.