Earlier today, Andrew attended a meeting at Goole Leisure Centre as part of the joint campaign for improved rail services on the Goole to Leeds line.
Andrew reports, "Cllr Caroline Fox and I met with Transport for the North, Northern Rail, The East Riding of Yorkshire Council and a representative of the Lower Aire Valley Rail Action Group (LAVRAG). Upgrades to the services are being considered as part of the Service Option Fund, which the Government helped create. There are about 17 projects being considered, of which ours is one.
"The aim of this fund is to improve services on routes that were not improved as part of the recent re-franchising agreements. Of the 17 projects, probably 6 or so will make it to the final stages. The successful projects would then roll-out from the end of 2020 onwards.
"For the Goole to Leeds line, the proposal will consider introducing an hourly service along the route. This would connect not just Goole but also Rawcliffe and Snaith to places in West Yorkshire such as Castleford (Xscape).
"To move this forward we agreed a number of options, including a renewed joint push by the East Riding and the West Yorkshire Councils. The recent announcement of up to 800 new houses in Goole and 700 new jobs by Siemens helps to improve the business case for the upgrades.
"The Rail Action Group and I have also offered to undertake some surveying of the local area to gather useful data which can help the case. This needs to be more than just asking residents if they want the service, it has to be demonstrable evidence which is why we are going to spend a little time working to get the survey options right. We will keep residents updated.
"I also took the opportunity to raise the recent strike action with Northern Rail which has led to the suspension of the Saturday services through Goole. Sadly, the rail union is still refusing to go to arbitration which is a shame as the only way this dispute will be sorted is by people talking to each other! Northern Rail assure me they are training more managers and are looking at how Saturday evening services can be returned to Goole asap. I have pushed them on this repeatedly."
Notes - The meeting was attended by Andrew, Cllr Caroline Fox (ward cllr Snaith Rawcliffe Airmyn and the Marshlands), Hugh Chaplain from Transport for the North, Mark Jessop - Principal Transport Policy Officer at ERYC, Pete Myers - Interim Head of Trains and Stations (East Region) Northern Railway and Sorin Castravete Chairman LAVRAG (Lower Aire Valley Rail Action Group ).
