Leader: Rail link from Brighouse to London

May 5 2010 Huddersfield Daily Examiner

IT’S certainly good news that a direct rail link between Brighouse and London will reopen later this month.

The link was closed 41 years ago and it’s a classic case of what goes around comes around. In this case, it’s train wheels.

It shows what a bad decision it was all those years ago to axe so many rail services.

Many will have no doubt forgotten that Huddersfield had a direct link to the capital right up until 1978.

Every Government has for years been saying there is a need for an integrated public transport system to get people out of cars and back on buses and trains.

But how integrated is it all? How many people must daily face the frustration of being stuck at a station for an hour or more after their train was late in and their connecting service had left on time?

And then there is the cost issue. A return train fare to London from Brighouse starts at £67 – that’s £134 for a couple and goodness knows how much for a family.

Suddenly paying around £40 to £50 in fuel for the 200-mile round trip to London and putting up with delays on the motorways doesn’t seem such a bad proposition.

People will only leave their cars in the garage if there is a reliable, cost-effective alternative.

Direct trains from Brighouse are a start – but only that.

A lot more needs to be done to woo people out of their vehicles.