Local leaders vow to fight for landslip funding

A line between Shipley and Ilkley was forced to close in February when cracks appeared in an embankment close to the track at Baildon

Political leaders in West Yorkshire have vowed to fight for additional funding to protect the region’s railways from being disrupted by landslips.

West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s (WYCA) transport committee heard efforts were being made to secure a share of a national £2.8bn funding pot to further reinforce lines.

Some of the region's network has required major repairs due to recent landslips, including the line at Baildon.

Dave Haskins, from WYCA, said more funding was "particularly important for our area".

Network Rail recently said it would spend £60m on improving the rail network in Yorkshire and the North East to prevent disruption from landslips and heavy rain.

Speaking at a meeting on Friday, Mr Haskins, WYCA interim director for transport operations, said: “The rainfall has caused problems, we have seen that manifest itself in terms of the high-profile cases, particularly around the landslide at Baildon.

“Network Rail is increasing money in a national fund of £2.8bn around climate resilience and extreme weather.

“Strategically, we need to make sure we continue to push Network Rail about getting what we need out of that.”

Network Rail said there had been 35 landslips in the north of England in the last year.

It planned to improve the resilience of the lines nationally by recruiting about 400 drainage engineers, training staff to better interpret weather forecasts and installing CCTV at sites with a high risk of flooding, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

“Climate change is the biggest challenge our railway faces,” Network Rail chief executive Andrew Haines said in April.

The railway line between Knottingley and Pontefract Monkhill was shut for seven weeks after a section of embankment collapsed in March.

More than 197ft (60m) of track was removed and replaced as part of repair work between Knottingley and Pontefract Monkhill

The Baildon landslip caused the closure of the route until June.

Committee chair Susan Hinchcliffe said the slip had been "very disruptive for our residents over the last few months".

“This is an increasing problem across the north and perhaps across the country," she said.

"It’s a major issue that we need to be on top of."

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