{"id":984,"date":"2021-12-23T22:30:49","date_gmt":"2021-12-23T22:30:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lancashireloominary.co.uk\/index.html\/?p=984"},"modified":"2021-12-27T12:39:09","modified_gmt":"2021-12-27T12:39:09","slug":"weekly-salvo-300","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lancashireloominary.co.uk\/index.html\/weekly-salvo-300","title":{"rendered":"Weekly Salvo 300"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Northern Weekly Salvo<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Incorporating \u00a0Slaithwaite Review of Books, Weekly Notices, Sectional Appendices, Tunnel Gazers\u2019 Gazette etc. <\/em>Descendant of Teddy Ashton\u2019s Northern Weekly <\/em>and Th\u2019Bowtun Loominary<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Published at 109 Harpers Lane Bolton BL1 6HU email: paul.salveson@myphone.coop<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Publications website: www.lancashireloominary.co.uk<\/strong><\/p>\n

No. 300 December 24th<\/sup> \u00a0\u00a0CHRISTMAS SPECIAL\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/strong><\/h5>\n

Salveson\u2019s half-nakedly political digest of railwayness, tripe and secessionist nonsense from Up North. Sometimes weekly, usually not; definitely Northern.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

General gossips of a personal nature<\/strong><\/p>\n

Flippin\u2019 \u2018eck, the 300th<\/sup> Salvo! Not like me to be so consistent, though it\u2019s a while since I was able to produce a weekly version. I\u2019m glad it has kept going, mainly down to people telling me, usually in chance meetings, that they like getting it. So look out for Salvo 301 sometime in January. A very big thanks for the interest and support from everyone, including those who have dared to disagree with the infinite wisdom bestowed on you all, through The Salvo<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Christmas Eve has mixed memories for me. I used to love it as a boy, looking forward to the big day; I think the most memorable present was a Hornby Dublo model of \u2018Duchess of Buccleuch\u2019, 46232, when I was eight. I have less fond memories of Christmas Eve 2008 when Jo and myself were ushered into a hospital room to be given the news that Jo\u2019s cancer had spread and really, that was it. And they had done their best. You\u2019d think we would have had a truly dreadful Christmas, but not so. We walked up to West Nab on Christmas Day and did more local walks before New Year. January was<\/em> dreadful and the end came on a snowy day early in February. But I can look back on over ten years\u2019 of fun and enjoyment.<\/p>\n

A lot more people have experienced death of loved ones in the last couple of years. I\u2019ve been lucky not to have been affected too closely though the loss of Manu Mistry was a very sad blow. So too some good friends in the \u2018railway family\u2019 REPTA like Bryan and Ian who passed away this year. We must not forget them, and the thousands more who have gone before their time, as well as the amazing people in our NHS who have worked long and hard to help get us through this.<\/p>\n

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Sid Calderbank in good voice, accompanied by Julie Proctor on fiddle, at Bolton Station Community Partnerhip’s Christmas Fair last Saturday. Instead of teh rather chilly platform 4 e held the event at Bolton Interchange – thank you TfGM!<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Let\u2019s not get too miserable though \u2013 I\u2019ve just watched the wonderful \u2018Blackburn Sings Christmas\u2019 organised by Gareth Malone, involving the people of Blackburn \u2013 especially its front-line NHS workers. The best show we\u2019re likely to see over Christmas, even including \u2018We Wish You a Mandy Christmas\u2019 which came complete with John Cooper-Clarke.<\/p>\n

A very happy Christmas and New Year to all my long-suffering readers.<\/p>\n

General gossips of a political nature<\/strong><\/p>\n

Politics in 2021 has been pretty bleak, in many ways, at least until very recently. A welcome Christmas present was the Lib Dems\u2019 win in North Shropshire – a clear pointer that people are well and truly fed up with the present administration. It\u2019s also a signal that people have enough common sense to vote tactically. Could the same approach work in a general election, if there isn\u2019t a formal deal between the opposition parties?\u00a0 I\u2019m coming round to the view that if we are going to get a progressive government it\u2019s very much down to what happens in England, with voters using their common sense to select the candidate with most chance of beating the Tory incumbent. I don\u2019t think a formal \u2018pact\u2019 is the right thing to do, but welcome readers\u2019 views on that.<\/p>\n

In some places the \u2018main opposition\u2019 will be Labour, in others Lib Dem. That implies -and seems to have been the case in North Shropshire – that one of the main opposition parties gets an easy run, with minimal campaigning by the other opposition parties, without a formal arrangement.<\/p>\n

The Lib Dems shouldn\u2019t run away with the idea that they are now in second place against the Tories, in England; they aren\u2019t. Labour still is, though the Lib Dems should be well placed to make gains in more rural seats and parts of the South where Labour doesn\u2019t stand a chance. That\u2019s difficult for the Greens where realistically the best they could<\/p>\n

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Will the red flag wave over Blackstone Edge in 2022?<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

hope for is retaining the excellent Caroline Lucas. The better they do the more likely they are to split the progressive vote and let the Tory in. It\u2019s an old dilemma, but they need to recognise that the only chance they have of getting seats is to have a Labour Government supported by the Lib Dems and SNP and Plaid Cymru, bringing in proportional representation. For now, the Greens\u2019 best hope is to build up their support in local elections, where they can offer something distinctive and relevant. The same goes for the emerging regionalist parties in the North. A long haul.<\/p>\n

The Integrated Rail Plan:\u00a0 A Considered View<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Rail Reform Group has published what it rightly terms \u2018a considered view\u2019 of the much-criticised Integrated Rail Plan. The full version of the paper has a link below – but to give you a taster, here is an excerpt….<\/p>\n

The background to the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP) is that the country is still going through a pandemic that has ravaged its finances and changed the market for travel to the extent that rail has lost as much as 50% of its commuting business. Despite this, the Government is still prepared to invest \u00a396bn in rail infrastructure for the North and Midlands. This is a massive vote of confidence in both rail and the economies of the North and Midlands. That should be a cause for celebration, not cries of betrayal, which for the most part seem to be politically motivated.<\/em><\/p>\n

The IRP was intended to identify how HS2, Northern Powerhouse Rail and Midlands Rail Hub would dovetail together for a network of high speed routes, exploring the scope for shared use of new infrastructure and setting out an overarching\u00a0delivery schedule in order to deliver maximum benefits quicker and to<\/em><\/p>\n

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Integrated Rail Plan – but we need a plan for all of the North including towns like Accrington<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

provide a realistic workbank for the supply industry. It was not meant to be a total blueprint for the Midlands and North. This means that proposals such as the Leamside Line are considered to be City Region schemes with alternative funding streams. This may be why no mention was made of Manchester\u2019s Castlefield Corridor, for which there are ongoing workstreams. Incidentally, it does appear that IRP would take two paths off this corridor in each direction; a Liverpool-Manchester Airport semi-fast and a Redcar-Manchester Airport based on the current timetable.<\/em><\/p>\n

A lot of the criticism is that ‘only’ upgraded lines and not new build is to be provided. Do passengers really care whether the line is new or upgraded if the trains are fast, frequent, comfortable and, of course, on time? An electrified, resignalled and improved Transpennine and Midland Main Lines (MML) is precisely the investment that has been called for over many years.\u00a0 Whilst \u2018upgrading\u2019 implies disruption to services on the existing lines, the industry has improved its management of the required blockades. New Build implies less disruption to existing services, but there will be wider community impacts. If one regards Ditton Junction to Marsden as a new railway, this would then be a similar mileage to the proposed Manchester \u2013 Leeds via Bradford route.<\/em><\/p>\n

Until IRP there were two schemes; the Transpennine Rail Upgrade (TRU), which seemed something of a patchwork of smaller schemes, but are at least already in delivery or under development. This included Manchester-Victoria-Stalybridge electrification, Huddersfield-Ravensthorpe quadrupling and electrification and Colton Junction \u2013 Church Fenton electrification. Then there was the showcase new build NPR line linking Manchester to Leeds via Bradford. Both these projects seemed to involve a degree of duplication, that would inevitably push NPR into the distant future while short and medium terms investment focussed on a series of TRU schemes. What we get now is a combination of the two, with the intention of more benefits being delivered sooner.<\/em><\/p>\n

Commentators refer to a Warrington to Marsden new high-speed line but have missed the point that what is being delivered is a new fast electrified main line between Liverpool and Manchester.\u00a0 The IRP should have majored on this. The Ditton Junction – Warrington Bank Quay Low Level line, now virtually disused since Fiddlers Ferry power station closed, will be rebuilt as a high-speed electrified line that reaches to within ten miles of Liverpool. That remaining ten miles is a four-track railway with spare capacity, except for a short section at Wavertree Junction, and all of this will doubtless be modernised to fulfil its new NPR role. This new main line from Liverpool and Warrington will be linked by new build to HS2 thus giving them direct HS2 services to Birmingham and London as well as NPR services to Manchester and Leeds. Provision for the new junction from HS2 to the Liverpool direction is already in development under HS2 phase 2b and the route into Manchester (mostly tunnel from the Airport) is already specified. This is precisely the synergy that IRP was intended to deliver.<\/em><\/p>\n

https:\/\/railreformgroup.org.uk\/the-integrated-rail-plan-a-considered-response<\/em><\/p>\n

Building on Success: future directions for Community Rail<\/strong><\/p>\n

After many iterations and debate, I\u2019ve produced a \u2018final\u2019 version of my paper Building on Success; Future directions for Community Rail<\/em>. A link to the full version is below but the Preface gives a flavour and context:<\/p>\n

This paper is aimed at a range of people active in the rail and transport industry as well as in the wider public sector \u2013 local government, combined authorities \u2013 and the \u2018third sector\u2019. I\u2019m grateful to many friends and colleagues for their input to the paper, though I bear prime responsibility for what\u2019s in it. The Rail Reform Group has kindly agreed to host the paper on its website and the same caveat applies.<\/em><\/p>\n

I was involved in setting up the movement that became \u2018Community Rail\u2019 in the early 1990s, through a report called New Futures for Rural Rail. We launched it<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"
Knaresborough has benefited from the work of its ‘station friends’ group<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

at the National Railway Museum in 1992. This paper is my own personal revision of \u2018New Futures\u2019, throwing up ideas and suggestions for Community Rail that can go forward over the next ten years.<\/em><\/p>\n

Back in the 1990s, local railways were struggling and the main priority was to build use of what was there. We\u2019ve moved on from that and part of Community Rail\u2019s role is to politely not accept what we\u2019re given but keep pressing, with well-reasoned arguments, why rail needs to grow. That requires further electrification, improved capacity to allow more services, better quality stations and new ones, as well as line re-openings where there\u2019s a case and good links to the re-fashioned HS2 projects. Getting better access to and from stations by bus, bike and foot are as important as the train service itself.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"Today, with over 70 community rail partnerships and hundreds of station groups, \u2018community rail\u2019 is no longer a purely \u2018rural\u2019 initiative, it includes inner urban areas as much as rural branch lines. And it isn\u2019t just about the hardware of the railway; it\u2019s active across a wide range of activities which back then we\u2019d have thought way beyond the scope of what railways should be about. Mental health, loneliness, hate crime, addressing climate change, and lots more, often using art to get people involved and create stations as places that are a delight to use, not places to endure while you wait for your train. Mad optimism? No, it\u2019s already there at some local stations \u2013 Smethwick Rolfe Street, Moorthorpe, Kent\u2019s Bank, Burntisland, Beccles, Hindley, Yatton, Heaton Chapel, Betws-y-Coed, Llandovery and dozens more. <\/em><\/p>\n

What they add up to is making rail more people-friendly and encouraging people to use the train and value their local station as a community hub. That feeds back into the really big one of the Climate Emergency.\u00a0 Who was it who once said \u2018Think Global \u2013 Act Local\u2019?<\/em><\/p>\n

I see this paper as very much \u2018work in progress\u2019 and welcome feedback. It represents a small contribution to the process of growing Community Rail \u2013 a healthy and vibrant movement which began with no resources and a lot of scepticism, in the kitchen of a terraced house in Huddersfield thirty years ago. Thanks to all who have contributed to its creation<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Building on success: future directions for Community Rail<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n