1 Introduction

The East Riding of Yorkshire Council appointed Carl Bro on 1^st March 2004 to carry out a feasibility study into the re-opening of the Beverley to York railway line, thereby creating a direct rail link between Hull and York. This work forms part of the development of an integrated Transport Strategy as outlined in the East Riding of Yorkshire Council (ERYC) Local Transport Plan.

The existing Beverley to York Railway line was closed in 1965 and since then there has been a significant change in travel patterns. People now travel further to work, and there is a demand from society to live in areas further away from their work in the city. In addition, there are also more leisure and tourism demands in the area, which require good transport links.

2 The Study Area

The study area extends from Hull in the east, through to York in the west. It follows the existing railway line between Hull and Beverley, and broadly runs along the A1079 corridor between Beverley and York.

The major communities within the route corridor are Hull, Cottingham, Beverley, Market Weighton, Pocklington, Stamford Bridge and York.

3 Passenger Demand

For the reinstatement of any railway line to be viable there needs to be clear markets that are served by the route.

The markets served by the Beverley to York railway prior to its closure still exist, and may well have increased in size as local populations and car ownership have increased, and work patterns changed. New markets will also be available, and the re-opening of a route is likely to create its own new markets, especially if accompanied by the development of the communities served by the new line.

In general the larger the population of a place, the larger the market. Major centres such as Hull, York and Leeds generate a great deal of travel for work, business, education, tourism and leisure, and surveys have shown that the communities along the route provide the origins and destinations for much of this travel.

4 Freight

The increased carriage of freight by rail is a key priority of government policy. However, the study has found that there is little demand for rail freight usage, either as a through route or from locations along the route, and hence, currently there is no case for the Beverley to York rail route to be built for the regular carriage of rail freight traffic.

5 Infrastructure Requirements

For the Beverley to York railway reinstatement there are two broad options, - single track with suitably located passing places or double track throughout.

The balance between single track and double track revolves around initial capital cost and reliable future operation, and is driven by the service frequency.

The key issue is to define the frequency of train services at which single track becomes unacceptable in terms of operations reliability, and the point at which the additional cost of the provision of the extra track to create a double line against the provision of a single line with loops is outweighed by the provision of increased service reliability.

6 Service Frequency

A report produced by Corus Rail sets out the anticipated running times for three types of current rolling stock, via a number of route options.

In all cases it appears difficult to achieve the optimum journey time of 50 minutes, which would be required to enable one set of rolling stock to achieve a round trip in two hours. Consequently, the initial assumption must be that three units would be required to operate an hourly frequency service, and five units for a half-hourly frequency service.

The analysis has suggested that a single track is not likely to be viable due to the constraints it would create in train planning, and the unreliability that would result to this service and other services especially in the Yorkshire area and between Beverley and Hull. Consequently, it is proposed that the route be designed and costed as a double track railway.

7 Trip Rate Forecasts

Detailed analysis has been carried out using two forecasting methods to try to establish likely generation of travel for three potential station sites at Market Weighton, Pocklington and Stamford Bridge, together with an assessment of the new Beverley to York journeys.

The estimated annual 2004 passenger figures are a total of 395,000 journeys per annum for 1 train per hour, 584,000 journeys per annum for 2 trains per hour and 622,000 journeys per annum for 2 trains per hour with one extended to/from Leeds. A sensitivity analysis suggests that these figures may vary by up to 30%.

The initial estimate shows that the half-hourly frequency service would carry more passengers, but at a higher cost. However, for the service to compete with the alternative of using a car, then the convenience of a half-hourly frequency service is vital, and this has been used as a base for the economic benefit calculations.

8 Route Options

The study has considered railway routes between Hull and York. The Hull to Beverley line exists as part of the Hull to Scarborough line, and no alternatives have been examined along this section of the route.

Between Beverley and York, the existing former alignment is considered as the base case, and alternatives have been examined where development since its closure in the 1960’s, or environmental issues, dictate that alternative routes need to be considered.

A new alignment to avoid housing has been identified north of Beverley, and alternative options have been examined for routes north of Market Weighton and to the south at Pocklington to avoid significant development. At Stamford Bridge, routes north and south of the town were drawn up, whilst a further southern route option linking into the former Derwent Valley Light Rail route, which would enter York from the east was investigated. An alternative route linking to the York Scarborough line at Haxby north of the former alignment through Huntington, which has been built on, was also identified.

At this stage a preliminary assessment of the alternative routes has been carried out. The object of identifying route options has been to provide broad-brush scheme estimates, and to identify a route, that can be developed to acceptable railway standards, and which have acceptable planning impacts. It should be noted, that the route assessment has been carried out on the basis that, in accordance with Her Majesty’s Rail Inspectorate (HMRI) recommendations, the infrastructure design should allow for grade separation of all new road crossings along the route

9 Stations

Based upon passenger demand forecasting, it is proposed that new stations be provided only at main towns/villages along the route - Market Weighton, Pocklington and Stamford Bridge. Stations exist at Hull, Cottingham, Beverley and York, and it is not proposed to change any of these.

It should be noted that the City of York Council has recently had a transportation study carried out, and has identified the need for a new station in Haxby. The station would be sited on the existing York to Scarborough line north of the proposed junction with the proposed Beverley to York northern York alignment.

The three new stations would be built with two platform faces, one for each direction, be fully compliant with the prevailing Disability Discrimination Act requirements, and would have customer information systems, high quality lighting and real time CCTV coverage. Car parks and cycle parking facilities would be provided at all three sites to develop the Park and Ride opportunities.

10 Environmental Analysis

An environmental appraisal of key constraints has been undertaken to provide guidance on the evaluation of options. The potential environmental issues have been appraised through a combination of desktop study and fieldwork.

10.1 Planning

From the initial examination of the proposals, it is considered that although the re-opening of the railway would comply with some planning policies, it would be in opposition to others.

There is significant development proposed on the route of the former Derwent Valley Light Railway in Osbaldwick and around Foss Islands, hence a route through this area is likely to generate objections from City of York Council.

10.2 Landscape and Visual

Potentially significant adverse impacts may be anticipated where new cuttings, embankments and bridge structures are required (or need to be reconstructed), and therefore unless other environmental factors dictate, on-line widening along the existing route corridor is likely to be preferred to the introduction of new man-made features in an otherwise open rural landscape. However, where development has occurred on the former route since its closure, off-line route options at these locations would avoid direct impact on property, and therefore offer more opportunities to improve the fabric of the landscape.

At Market Weighton, there is a case to be made for looking favourably at the former alignment into the town, although properties would be lost and the level crossing would remain. The northern option with the railway in cutting would also result in some property loss, but due to the topography of the area, this option should minimise impacts, and hence is preferred.

At Stamford Bridge there is very little difference between the northern and southern options, but there is a marginal preference for the northern route.

In landscape terms none of the three options into York emerges as a clear favourite. However, the northern route appears to offer the most acceptable solution in purely visual terms and opportunities to mitigate any impacts, as it does not pass through the middle of residential development.

10.3 Archaeology and Cultural Heritage

This initial assessment indicates that a new line following the original route as much as possible would cause least damage to the known archaeological resource. However, both the proposed off-line and on line sections will pass through areas of high archaeological importance, and it should therefore be expected that important, and in many cases, undiscovered archaeological resources will remain in these areas.

10.4 Ecology and Nature Conservation

The disused railway line, and adjacent land which will be impacted upon by the proposal, supports a number of international, national and local nature conservation sites. These include the Kiplingcotes Chalk Pit on the Hudson Way near Market Weighton, and a Special Area of Conservation on the River Derwent at Stamford Bridge, being of considerable ecological interest.

Some of these habitats cannot be re-created elsewhere and are of international importance. The resultant negative impacts upon such sites are likely to be of concern to statutory bodies, voluntary organisations and non-governmental organisations, and proposed mitigation measures will need to be agreed at an early stage in scheme development.