We are on the Rail Map

As part of the Northern Powerhouse initiative (no sniggering at the back there) the railways in the north of England were given a fresh coat of looking-at and some were designated Northern Connect routes - to link the northern cities by higher speed trains running on 100 mph tracks - all part of the greater HS2 (I SAID no sniggering at the back).

Maps were published showing the situation come the revolution but lo-and-behold the existing high speed line linking the cities of Leeds and Carlisle was not so designated.   Indeed it was missing entirely:

 

click to enlarge and to expose the enormity of this scandalous omission

The coloured lines are Northern Connect intercity routes.   The Leeds-Carlisle line via Settle is just not part of the script!!!   

We are quite used to this actually.   When the route was under threat of closure it was quietly dropped from national railway maps.   To include it did not assist closure as its route is starkly obvious as an Anglo-Scottish line - the very reason it was built.

Anyway, we e-mailed our displeasure to the railway industry through our usual channels - only to be ignored entirely.   No responses whatever.   The Friends of the S&C are not the sort of people to let things like this drop so we went to the tops of the two organisations most involved - Rail North and Northern Rail (if this sniggering at the back continues you will ALL be on detention).

Rail North Chairman Sir Richard Leese had the courtesy to answer our e-mail and promised to kick arse, as it were, and did.   Northern Rail MD Alex Hynes responded instantly to a mere Tweet and acted within the day.   In next to no time the map was amended:

and Leeds and Carlisle are once again connected.  See what I mean about 'obvious'.   NOT a line to be ignored.