I think with the reduction in commuter numbers, there might well be a justification for a reduction in frequencies to match current demands, particularly where a baseline half hourly service can be maintained anyway. Removing a service completely is a bit different
What'd be an acceptable alternative?
Two units run the service hourly from Huddersfield to Castleford?
One unit does so on a bi-hourly pattern?
One unit tries to provide an hourly Huddersfield - Wakefield service and gets back in time to fit an hourly pattern (ignoring the Castleford end)?
Is there any compromise that you've be happy with? Or is anything short of an hourly Huddersfield - Castleford service going to fall short in your eyes?
Because, as I see it, pre-Covid, there were six trains an hour from Huddersfield to Leeds and seven or eight trains an hour from Leeds to Wakefield (and two per hour from Leeds to Castleford) - so plenty of opportunities to get between Huddersfield and Wakefield/ Castleford each hour - in fact, given how slow the line through Kirkgate was, it was often faster to change in Leeds between the frequent services than wait for the hourly Sprinter to provide a direct service trundling through Healey Mills.
There are no
major intermediate stops on the Huddersfield - Wakefield line, so nowhere has lost its (entire) service as a result of this cut - the available units/ crews have been prioritised on busier services
Whilst I appreciate that's annoying if you live near one of the intermediate stations (e.g. Normanton), it seems sensible to focus Covid withdrawals on routes that can be axed without leaving any large places without any train service - people can still travel from Huddersfield to Wakefield/ Castleford with frequent connections at Leeds.
Any other cuts would leave some places without any service whatsoever or create awkward gaps in the timetable that would make it less attractive for passengers (e.g. you now have to remember that every third diagram on your service has been cut, creating significant gaps and a disincentive to travel)
It's a bit like the bad old days of Northern Spirit, when a decision was taken to abandon the Leeds - Castleford axis and put people on replacement buses for months on end (saving a colleague of mine a fortune at the time, as the bus drivers never checked tickets), rather than leaving them with a token service and other places with reductions too
this is the privatised railway.
John Majors railways act is still at large.
The problem is that up here, we generally had lousy frequencies and capacity to begin with, yet the DfT in London will still probably want its pound of flesh from the regional railway.
You wanted a "nationalised" railway... what did you think was going to realistically happen?
Look at how the Government of the past eleven years has treated public services and tell me that you're in any way surprised that they are looking to save money from loss making endeavours?
This is nothing to do with John Major - this is the predictable result of nationalising trains during a Government who are looking to save money
As I've said... be careful what you wish for.