Travelling Manchester - Leeds for work

[Changingplace]

I live in Manchester & I’ve been offered a new job that’s hybrid with two days a week working from an office in Leeds, walkable from the train station - does anyone else do this journey regularly?

I’ve been looking at the train schedules and looks like there’s a few quicker ones that take under an hour, I guess I could drive but I’m guessing parking might be a pain.

I don’t mind driving really, just would rather spend an hour on a train where I could be more productive than in the car.

The train costs are ok because I’d be getting a payrise & it’d be worth it financially.

Does anyone else do this? Is it a nightmare? Are the trains ok/rubbish/to be avoided at all costs? Does anyone drive that route very regularly and prefer that option?

News m'lud!

There is light at the end of the tunnel (literally in the case of Huddersfield!). I don't know why I didn't connect this but my husband has been talking about it for a year as they are using his works car park.

Huddersfield station is going to close down temporarily and they are currently building an interim one outside the ringroad on Alder Street so they can expand Huddersfield station - his understanding is that it's to make it big enough to accommodate two more lines because they are returning the transpennine line to four lines from the current two - although probably not through the tunnel.

There is a big crane there this weekend putting in the new bridge for the two new lines. These two lines will be electrified apparently between Manchester and Leeds. This surely must improve journeys across the Pennines?

He is delighted I am suddenly interested in the detail of this 😂

Its not going to help in the short term though travelling from Leeds to Manchester
https://huddersfieldhub.co.uk/huddersfield-railway-station-to-be-closed-at-weekends-in-september-and-october-as-part-of-transpennine-route-upgrade/

Good news in the longer term that it’s being upgraded though, thanks for this info :)

If you are going Manchester to Leeds you also have the option of Northern trains via Hebden Bridge, which IME are more reliable and cheaper than TPE through Huddersfield - but a bit slower.

We currently live on the west side of the Pennines in Greater Manchester and if I'd realised just how bad the public transport is from west to east now I would never have made the move. Family is on the right, I mean east, side of the hills. It's so bad I will be taking refresher driving lessons and getting a car after Christmas (can't do it sooner for various reasons). And I hate driving.

Avanti west coast and Transpennine Express are pretty much the worst train companies in England if not the UK when it comes to being unreliable and frequently cancelled. I'd personally think very carefully unless you can drive that journey, get a lift, or go the night before and maybe stay over. Maybe buy or hire a camper van??

There is a reason why the local accent/dialect in Rishworth/Outlane/Barkisland on the Yorkshire side is completely different to that of Little borough/Saddleworth etc on the Lancashire side - those Pennine moorlands are bleak, high and grim - and have always been a barrier to human interaction and travel. I lived in Huddersfield as a child and we only ever went west once a year to see the Blackpool illuminations even though that coast was much nearer than the east coast.

The M62 was a pig of a motorway to build over the Pennines - I knew a civil engineer who worked on it - it is a marvellous feat of engineering but not a drive I would want to do on a daily basis in the winter but gloriously scenic on a nice summer day!

I take this train two or three days a week. It's a pain, but doable, don't worry.

Interesting. The trains that go through our village terminate at Huddesrfield.

I'm joining in the chorus of TPE being the worst train service we have. Getting across the Pennines, whether it is from West Yorkshire or South Yorkshire is ridiculously horrific right now. Distance-wise it isn't far, but the train service is extremely poor and the roads are massive car parks.

DD used to come home from the North East using TPE, but now she gets a train to Wakefield and I have to go and pick her up.

It is probably cheaper and better for your mental health to stay over in Leeds.

Get the only two days a week in-office bit in writing, in your contract or don't take the job. If it isn't in your contract it will inevitably turn into three, then four days.

Where in Manchester are you? I did it for two years and drove most of the time as the trains were incredibly unreliable. I used the Woodhead pass/M1 to go there and the M62 back which I always found to be the quieter option (tho inevitably sometimes it was a nightmare).

I've been commuting between Manchester and Leeds for about 16 years.

TPE has got horrendous with delays and cancellations. Filling in 'Delay Repay' forms is now pretty much part of my commute.

The only things that make it do-able for me are that I never go in more than 2-3 days a week, and I don't work a 9-5 job so can usually avoid the busiest times. Saying that I do often return from Leeds at around 4:30pm and it can be almost scarily busy on Platform 16 in Leeds. I am also fortunate that my job means I only do the commuting during the term time (university academic), so I do have quite long stretches eg over the summer where I can WFH.

I typically take the tram from south Manchester to Victoria and pick up the train there. As a PP said, there's also the option of taking the Northern stopping service from Victoria. It's a long journey (though scenic), and if you settle in with your laptop it's fine. At least the Northern services are more reliable, and are much cheaper, so if I can fit it in time-wise I sometimes opt for this. I try to avoid Manchester Piccadilly as much as possible.

Ooh this is good news, thanks for sharing. Let's hope with this and trying to get the reduced services running properly things improve a bit on that line.

Good point. I'm just outside Huddersfield. Similarly, if we're going to the coast, we always go east rather than wear, even though Blackpool is about 20 miles nearer than Cleethorpes.

I definitely wouldn’t plan to drive

rail service is doable but frustrating. If a fraction of the HS2 money had been given to improve this route, a whole swathe of the north would have been opened up. It’s beyond annoying