Tees Valley City deal through to next round

[SRMoore]

There is NO direct train link to Darlington to Hartlepool.

A monorail? In Hartlepool? Really? They are ridiculously expensive and running the length of the 689 would be uneconomical.
the only means of servicing the Emirates Wynyard Hospital would be via a branch line emanating from Norton Station. Still very costly as that stretch isn't as close as you would imagine.

I agree that in an ideal scenario a new rail connection to Wynyard would be great -many see Wynyard becoming a new town- but in the current climate I can't see such a line getting capital funding nor can I see it being funded privately. James Cook is lucky in that the existing line is close by. Kind of like how close Holdsforth Road is to an existing rail route AND main roadways.

[Vincent]

The monorail or an unmanned rail system is a vision which could happen in the next 10 years given the political will.

I understand that there are plans affoot for some sort of rail link at Greatham and a link to Wynyard  and onwards to the Teesside Metro makes sense to me

[stokoe]

also been told in the future horden station is to reopen.

[SRMoore]

As part of the Tees Valley 'Metro' there are plans for a halt at Queens Meadow which is hoped will serve as a park and ride into Hartlepool. There are also calls for Billingham [old] Station and Norton Station to be reopened, both of which would make sense and would not cost a lot to bring into service.
Given the current proposals, pressure for those other two halts and the route of existing services, a branch line from Norton Station would be the most logical and economical. (take a look on Google maps)

Cheapest monorail system I can find in recent times is the Mumbai Monorail which cost an estimated $27.25m per Km. Just to give an idea.

[Vincent]

is that US dollars? seems cheap to me

How much per mile for road and metro rail?

[SRMoore]

Yes, USD. Nottingham's light rail (Tramway) cost approx $14.3m per km. (£9,431,479 per km) which is classed as about average for an electric tram system. Thinking about it, it may actually be cheaper than a full urban system as most of the costs come from relocating existing utilities. Not many utilities between Greatham and Wynyard that would need to be moved.

[Inspector Knacker]

This is the kind of logic  that gave us the interchange. Just who exactly would use it in sufficient numbers to justify it?........People with cars are hardly going to park in some windswept park and ride, when the car they've parked can go all the way for a fraction of the cost and time.

[SRMoore]

I agree. There aren't enough potential users to justify a scratch built mass transit system between Hartlepool & Wynyard. A light rail service using predominantly existing lines is however a more realistic project which has the potential to work well.
Anybody who uses the current Northern Rail service between Hartlepool and Middlesbrough, especially during peak times, can testify that the potential capacity is there for a more regular service. Open a few new halts along the way (Queens Meadow/Greatham, Old Billingham Station, Norton Station, Teesside Park) and you'll quickly encourage more people to use the service.

[steveL]

This is the kind of logic  that gave us the interchange. Just who exactly would use it in sufficient numbers to justify it?........People with cars are hardly going to park in some windswept park and ride, when the car they've parked can go all the way for a fraction of the cost and time.

This would concern me too but at the same time you have to consider that Hartlepool has one of the lowest levels of car ownership in the UK which means that a lot of those people not working are limited to what jobs are available locally. I think when good rail systems are available such as Newcastle, Manchester, London.....people will use them because it's less hassle. That said, we're talking frequency, reliability and availability. 

http://www.hartlepoolpost.co.uk/index.php/46-news/transport/154-going-nowhere-fast

[Stig of the Seaton Dump]

Isn't Wynyard too exclusive to open it up to access from the Gorbals sorry I mean Hartlepool ?

[steveL]

I can't imagine Wynyard becoming a 'new town'.... there'll be ructions at the coffee mornings

[Vincent]

Think 10 years time, the roads will be falling to bits and full of 4x4s running of fuel costing £15 a gallon, the trains the way ahead, it's the only way ahead