Ilkley Town Council has written to Bradford District Council and West Yorkshire Combined Authority, urging them to support tram-trains as a key element in future planning of Bradford’s public transport infrastructure.
The letters follow a presentation to the Council by internationally-recognised public transport expert, Professor Richard Knowles of Salford University, now resident in Bingley.
Professor Knowles’ proposal is that the tram-trains would be paid for as part of national and local government plans on how to invest the money released from the cancellation of the northern leg of HS2.
Tram-trains can run on road tramlines and on the national road network, and this means that they could run from Ilkley station to the centre of Bradford, connecting Ilkley directly either to Bradford Interchange, or to the proposed new Bradford Station that will replace Bradford Interchange.
This would also allow much easier connections to other towns and cities such as Halifax, Hebden Bridge, Todmorden, Manchester and Blackpool.
The lower weight and staffing needs of tram-trains also means they could run with greater frequency. They have been successfully introduced in Sheffield and in cities on continental Europe.