IT HAS been reported recently that the tram-train experiment on the Sheffield to Pennistone line has been axed in favour of an extension of the Sheffield tram system into Rotherham.

This could be bad news for Harrogate as tram-trains on the Harrogate-York/Leeds route have long been the ambition of the West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive, and this decision brings that ambition closer to fruition.

WYPTE chairman Ryk Downes is reportedly pleased that the revised plan which will test the "very essence of tram trains’ advantage, which is the integration and transfer between heavy and light rail using an all-electric vehicle.”

The PTE is hoping that its scheme to link Leeds-Harrogate and York with a tram-train service could now be brought forward, and Mr Downes hopes the new programme will allow this.

This could be a disaster for Harrogate's transport system as the route would be converted to light-rail use only, with there being at present no heavy rail traffic using the route except the current units, and the one direct London Kings Cross service (when it runs), but that could soon be eliminated for convenience. There is also no freight traffic using the route.

Harrogate would be left with nothing but buses on rails between York and Leeds, calling at Harrogate.

No more Scarborough Spa Express, no more charter and special trains to and from the town. And definitely no more direct services to London. Far too heavy!

When First Group publicised its plans for direct services to/from Harrogate and Kings Cross, WYPTE "welcomed" the idea "as long as it did not interfere with its future plans for the line." Now we all know what these plans are. No doubt this influenced the Department for Transport's decision also.

A recent announcement bears testimony to this view. This stated that the old name of GNER and a new name GNWR, headed by former Grand Central director Ian Yeowart intended to submit plans for direct services from London Kings Cross and Euston to towns in Lancashire and most large towns around Leeds and York, with one notable exception Harrogate!

With Grand Central's plans for extra services to towns in North Yorkshire from London, this puts Harrogate well and truly in the wilderness.

When converted to light rail the trams would eventually not enter York or Leeds stations, thus eliminating the bottle-neck approach to Leeds station and the running of the Harrogate to York trains along the East Coast Main Line between Skelton Junction and York station, which has frustrated the Operating Department for many years.

The trams would eventually run off the Harrogate line presumably at Armley in Leeds, and Skelton or Poppleton at York onto road running and specialy-built halts, away from the town centres.

Eventually it would become part of a York/Leeds tram system, thus relieving those two city's traffic problems to a certain extent.