Huddersfield.guide | Huddersfield guide - information, travel, places to go, things to do

Cancellation chaos hits new timetables December 18, 2019

A new five-coach Transpennine Expess Nova 3 train bound for Scarborough and a new Northern Class 195 three-car diesel, both built by CAF of Spain, at HuddersfieldRail travellers from Huddersfield have faced cancellation chaos over the first few days of new rail timetables. Dozens of journeys have not run, particularly on TransPennine Express and some Northern services.

Both companies are still without their full fleets of new trains.

TransPennine Express had already issued a temporary amended timetable cancelling some of its new Liverpool to Edinburgh journeys and a couple of evening Newcastle trains but then cancelled many more journeys to several destinations. Hourly commuter stopping trains between Huddersfield and Leeds were also cancelled as a blocked line at a depot on Tuesday added to train availability problems.

A Nova 3 train is pushed by its diesel locomotiveHitachi-built Nova 1 trains The new timetables introduced on Sunday (December 15) should see more of the long-awaited Nova 1 and Nova 3 trains which have started to appear on TransPennine Express (TPE) services over the last couple of months, but there has been a delay in the delivery of some of these trains for which staff also have to be trained.

The new timetables from Sunday were to see TransPennine Express services extended to provide a new hourly direct rail service between Liverpool via Huddersfield to the Scottish capital Edinburgh.

But many of these Liverpool to Edinburgh journeys are being cancelled under an amended timetable until January 5.

Going further: Yorkshire seaside town RedcarCapital destination: Edinburgh in ScotlandAnother new direct destination is the Yorkshire seaside and racecourse town of Redcar. It gets an hourly direct service from Huddersfield as the TransPennine Express service previously running to Middlesbrough is extended to Redcar Central.

The TransPennine Express Edinburgh service will be operated by its Nova 1 trains, built by Japanese company Hitachi, which has been importing trains from Japan and Italy as production at its UK facility at Newton Aycliffe, County Durham was already at full capacity.

The Nova 3 trains are sets of five carriages with a streamlined end built by CAF, of Spain, and are hauled or pushed by smartly-painted Class 68 diesel locomotives, which also originate from Spain. The locomotives are a type that have been used for both freight and passenger services in the UK for the past five years.

The new timetables improve connection times between hourly Trans-Pennine Express Manchester - Huddersfield and Huddersfield - Leeds stopping trains and these service increase to half-hourly at the morning and evening peak. Passengers heading for Dewsbury will find that in addition to the stopping service, trains calling there will now generally be Newcastle-bound and Redcar Central-bound trains.

Times of Northern services have also changed and this will affect the pattern of where to change if heading for upper Calder Valley stations, including Sowerby Bridge, Mytholmroyd, Hebden Bridge and Todmorden.

For fuller details see our Rail travel page.

Also in Huddersfield.guide

New Places to visit Villages