At a meeting of the All Party Light Rail Group in January the current progress on the planning of a tram-train link serving Leeds-Bradford International Airport was outlined with cross party support from local MPs for the proposal. It was said that this is a \u201conce in a lifetime\u201d opportunity for a lasting infrastructure benefit as opposed to many of the short term road solutions already proposed.<\/p>\n
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Greg Mulholland \u2013 the Liberal Democrat MP for Leeds North West \u2013 was on hand to give the update to the APLRG and it followed a working lunch attended by Norman Baker \u2013 Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport \u2013 West Yorkshire MPs and local government representatives\u00a0 to discuss a strategy for progressing the scheme. Also present at the meeting were Alec Shelbrooke MP (Conservative, Elmet and Rothwell) and Gerry
\nSutcliffe (Labour, Bradford South) emphasising the cross party support for the proposal.<\/p>\n
The Leeds City Region Transport Strategy in 2009 contained a proposal for the conversion of the Leeds-Harrogate-York line to tram-train operation, including a link to Leeds-Bradford International Airport. This was followed in 2012 by the Harrogate Line Strategy which proposed overhead electrification of the route with tram-train at either end of the route from the Airport via Horsforth to Leeds and Poppletonto York. A link from the Airport to Bradford via Guiseley is also under consideration.<\/p>\n
After the meeting Alec Shelbrooke commented: \u201cThe APPLRG meeting was invaluable for getting all political parties together as well as the major stakeholders to highlight the united aim we have in securing a TramTrain link to LBIA for the benefit of Leeds, Bradford, West Yorkshire and The North. It is crucial we act quickly and with coordination to achieve this outcome and I look forward to leading this with Gerry Sutcliffe and Greg
\nMulholland in the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
It is currently planned that a trial of tram-train operation in the UK will be undertaken between Rotherham and the Sheffield Supertram network with operation due to\u00a0 commence in 2015. It is likely that if the Leeds-Bradford International Airport tram-train plan is progressed it will be after this has been proved to be a success.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At a meeting of the All Party Light Rail Group in January the current progress on the planning of a tram-train link serving Leeds-Bradford International Airport was outlined with cross party support from local MPs for the proposal. It was … Continue reading