Shipley Traincare Centre[note 1] is a planned motive power depot in Shipley, West Yorkshire. The facility will be immediately south of Shipley railway station on the west side of the Airedale line branch to Bradford Forster Square on a site bisected by the bridge that carries Valley Road over the railway.[2][3]
 | |
 | |
| Location | |
|---|---|
| Location | Shipley, West Yorkshire, England |
| Coordinates | 53°49′49″N 1°46′32″W / 53.8304°N 1.7755°W |
| OS grid | SE 148371 |
| Characteristics | |
| Owner | Network Rail |
| Operator | Northern Trains |
| Type | EMU |
When completed the depot will comprise five sidings for storage of units, north of the Valley Road bridge, with a four-road maintenance shed south of the bridge.[4]
History edit
The site was originally opened in 1846 as Shipley good yard and stone sidings.[4][5] From the 1970s onwards, the site was in railway use as a loading point for scrap metal from the Crossley Evans scrapyard which occupied most of the former goods yard, though general goods forwarded and received at the site finished in September 1980.[6][7][8] Crossley Evans vacated the site in 2023 and clearance work on the site started towards the end of 2023.[9]
The decision to build a depot on the site was prompted by the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU), which in the late 2020s,[note 2] will be working on the section of the TRU between Leeds and York. These works will restrict access to the railway depot at Neville Hill east of Leeds, and so Northern developed a contingency plan for storage and maintenance of its electric multiple unit fleet that works the Airedale and Wharfedale railway lines.[7] Even so, when the TRU is complete, the depot at Shipley will remain open to service the EMU fleet.[11] This is partly due to space constraints at Neville Hill; the DMU and EMU shed only has space for seven EMU units at any one time.[12]
The plans were confirmed by rail minister, Huw Merriman, on 14 March 2024, who announced £100 million worth of government funding for the depot.[13][14] Plans lodged with Bradford Council in October 2023 detailed the site as having a four-road shed, staff facilities, and office, storage space and a site for controlling train movements, with storage space for 40 trains.[11] The headshunt to the south of the site will be capable of handling eight-carriage trains.[10] Cleaning of the interior and exterior of railway vehicles is envisaged (including a carriage wash section), and the site will have the ability to deal with controlled emission toilets (CET).[15]
The depot will be operated by Northern Trains and will be used for the storage and maintenance of the operator's EMU stock, currently allocated to Neville Hill TMD.[16] Classes Class 331 and Class 333 will be serviced at the depot, and these provide the services on the Airedale and Wharfedale lines.[10]
Notes edit
References edit
- ^ "Further plans unveiled to improve rail journeys in the North". GOV.UK. 14 March 2024. Retrieved 20 March 2024.
- ^ "Transpennine Route Upgrade - Shipley Electric Multiple Units (EMU) Depot Scheme" (PDF). Network Rail. 3 October 2023. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
- ^ Pritchard, Robert (April 2024). "TRU programme gathers pace". Today's Railways. Vol. 266. Sheffield: Platform 5. p. 33. ISSN 1475-9713.
- ^ a b Bickerdyke, Paul (April 2024). "New depot for Shipley". The Railway Magazine. p. 18.
- ^ Bairstow, Martin (2004). Railways through Airedale & Wharfedale. Farsley: Bairstow. p. 33. ISBN 1-871944-28-7.
- ^ "Northern depot coming to Shipley scrap site". Rail Magazine. No. 1003. Peterborough: Bauer Media. 21 February 2024. p. 9. ISSN 0953-4563.
- ^ a b "Major Upgrade Promises Rail Investment for Shipley". Network Rail Media Centre. 14 March 2024. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
- ^ Gough, John (1989). The Midland Railway: a chronology. Leicester: Railway and Canal Historical Society. p. 167. ISBN 0901461121.
- ^ Bendall, Simon (March 2024). "Shunters and Industrials". Rail Express. No. 334. Horncastle: Mortons Media. p. 21. ISSN 1362-234X.
- ^ a b c "Shipley depot plan for Northern EMUs". Modern Railways. Vol. 81, no. 906. Stamford: Key Publishing. March 2024. p. 87. ISSN 0026-8356.
- ^ a b Young, Chris (14 March 2024). "New £100 million train depot to be built - bringing 100 jobs to Bradford district". Bradford Telegraph and Argus. Retrieved 21 March 2024.
- ^ Pickering, Graeme (May 2024). "Neville Hill; 125 years old and still evolving". The Railway Magazine. Vol. 170, no. 1, 478. Horncastle: Mortons Media. p. 48. ISSN 0033-8923.
- ^ Mitchinson, James, ed. (15 March 2024). "New rail depot set to create 100 skilled jobs". The Yorkshire Post. p. 6. ISSN 0963-1496.
- ^ Crampton, Rosie (14 March 2024). "DfT unveils plans to improve rail journeys in the North". RailBusinessDaily. Retrieved 14 March 2024.
- ^ Pickering, Graeme (March 2024). "New EMU depot proposed at Shipley". The Railway Magazine. Vol. 170, no. 1, 476. Horncastle: Mortons Media. p. 11. ISSN 0033-8923.
- ^ "New Traincare depot to be built in West Yorkshire". RailAdvent. 14 March 2024. Retrieved 14 March 2024.