'We're still determined to get 3 fast trains an hour between Sheffield and Manchester' says Rail Minister

The Government is “committed” to raising the number of fast trains between Sheffield and Manchester to three per hour, the Rail Minister has told The Star.

Huw Merriman MP, Minister of State for Rail and HS2, said: “The ambition remains. The challenge for us, and the challenge across the railway, is we have capacity constraints - particularly at Manchester and the Stockport side coming into Manchester, and also at Sheffield Station as well.

“In the meantime, what we’re looking at is making sure that the two trains an hour are more reliable; are not getting held up by freight trains; and also that there is a longer platform and that means longer carriages... it’s about giving passengers a better service for the two trains an hour they have right now.”

Get a bespoke headline round-up, as well as breaking updates, when you sign up to The Star’s free emails

Liberal Democrat councillors in Sheffield have previously voiced concerns that the decision on whether the third train is implemented rests with Manchester and so the additional service may not ever materialise.

Mr Merrimen did not provide a timeline for when a third service would appear when he was asked to by The Star during a visit to the newly refurbished Dore & Totley station on Monday. Instead he said: “It’s all about making choices, so one of the choices made was to deliver a service from Sheffield to Liverpool and that had an impact on the Manchester Airport service for residents [in Sheffield]. We want to see that brought back.”

“The ambition is to get the three trains there. We share that ambition as well. This £150million investment is all about taking us towards that step... We’re really determined, with the Prime Minister’s Network North decision, to make sure that the funding that would have gone onto one particular part of HS2 is spread across the North and the Midlands.”

Dore & Totley station has seen significant changes as part of the Hope Valley line upgrades, including a second platform and better accessibility including lifts for traversing the station bridge. During the Rail Minister’s visit on Monday, April 8, for the official opening, the lifts were out of order and The Star was told they wouldn’t be repaired until Wednesday.

Last October, Rishi Sunak announced the Birmingham to Manchester leg of HS2 would be scrapped and was replaced by Network North which the PM promised would “join up our great towns and cities in the North and the Midlands”.

The Hope Valley Railway upgrade was a £145m investment which involves upgrades and refurbishments to stations like Dore & Totley, the electrification of the Hope Valley line and that crucial third fast train an hour between Sheffield and Manchester.

Network North included better connection between Sheffield and Stocksbridge through the restoration of the Don Valley line and the former Sheffield Victoria station, which closed in 1970.

The commitment was seen as a win by Penistone and Stocksbridge MP, Miriam Cates. The Sheffield Conservative wrote on her website she was “delighted” Mr Sunak had backed her plan to reopen the Don Valley line, adding: “I started campaigning on this subject before I became an MP and have never stopped.”

In Dore on Monday, Mr Merriman said: “I’ve had strong delagation from the MPs who very much support it and it is something we have been able to pledge.

“That project allows us to look at Sheffield Victoria Station to see if we can bring that station back, which would deliver for that particular project, also potentially for the project going to Barrow Hill. That in itself would create more capacity at the Sheffield Midlands Station, which would then allow us to deliver towards that third train per hour on the Hope Valley line.”