Helsby to Ellesmere Port Line

[73001]

A lot of the customers travel a considerable distance, even from North of the Mersey and towards Manchester. The convenience of the car and its seemingly low cost will be hard to compete with from anywhere other than along the rail line. As I've said, I don't doubt that a rail line would be good and would be used, it just wouldn't reduce the number of cars that turn up at Cheshire Oaks every day.

 

[142Pilot]

I agree.

I live 3 towns down from Cheshire oaks and I wouldn't get the train to it. The car wins, as carting a load of shopping around by train isn't my idea of fun.

Geographically the best route would be to follow the canal - under the motorway - but God knows the cost that it would incur.

File with crayolafest.

 

[jamesst]

I agree.

I live 3 towns down from Cheshire oaks and I wouldn't get the train to it. The car wins, as carting a load of shopping around by train isn't my idea of fun.

Geographically the best route would be to follow the canal - under the motorway - but God knows the cost that it would incur.

File with crayolafest.

Yeah it's never going to happen. I know the m53 is in line to be converted to a smart motorway which may make a start on solving the continual traffic problems Cheshire Oaks always has

 

[frodshamfella]

Does anything look cheap these days?

I won’t argue against someone who’s been involved with the traffic management at CO, I can only speak for myself, but it’s 10 minutes from my house and the last time I went there was over 2 years ago. I don’t go there because of the traffic, if it had a railway station I would go back. I can’t be the only one with this attitude. I appreciate there are people that will actually drive from one part to the other to avoid walking anywhere, but at the moment, a train isn’t an option so there’s no real way of knowing if it’ll be successful or not. I think if enough people get behind the idea, it could gain some momentum.

I also don't go for the very same reason too much traffic. There is also Ince and Elton Station which has quite a bit of housing which would benefit from a regular rail service.

 

[Old Yard Dog]

An extension to Cheshire Oaks was discussed when I was on the Ellesmere Port Public Transport Liaison Committee (which was disbanded when the town council was subsumed into Cheshire West and Chester). Three excuses were given for why the scheme could not go ahead;

1. The curve from the mainline to the proposed alignment would be too tight.
2. It would require an extra unit as shoppers would want to see a train parked up at Cheshire Oaks at all time.
3. Merseytravel would not support any scheme which extracted shoppers from Liverpool to another county.

Excuse 1 seems nonsense as the 507s and 508s seem to have few problems with the Liverpool loop - and there is land to the north of the line which could be used to widen any curve
Excuse 2 beggars belief
Excuse 3 isn't an excuse - it is the real reason the extension never happened

 

[Ianigsy]

An extension to Cheshire Oaks was discussed when I was on the Ellesmere Port Public Transport Liaison Committee (which was disbanded when the town council was subsumed into Cheshire West and Chester). Three excuses were given for why the scheme could not go ahead;

1. The curve from the mainline to the proposed alignment would be too tight.
2. It would require an extra unit as shoppers would want to see a train parked up at Cheshire Oaks at all time.
3. Merseytravel would not support any scheme which extracted shoppers from Liverpool to another county.

Excuse 1 seems nonsense as the 507s and 508s seem to have few problems with the Liverpool loop - and there is land to the north of the line which could be used to widen any curve
Excuse 2 beggars belief
Excuse 3 isn't an excuse - it is the real reason the extension never happened

Agreed- there are tighter curves on the New Brighton and West Kirby lines. And while Merseytravel quite rightly want to encourage people to use public transport to shop in Liverpool city centre, it's becoming clear that Liverpool One is sucking the life out of the surrounding towns- Birkenhead has very few full price national chain stores these days.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Agreed- there are tighter curves on the New Brighton and West Kirby lines. And while Merseytravel quite rightly want to encourage people to use public transport to shop in Liverpool city centre, it's becoming clear that Liverpool One is sucking the life out of the surrounding towns- Birkenhead has very few full price national chain stores these days.

And yet Liverpool One is a city-centre development - so it isn't really anything people hate about the likes of the Trafford Centre.

As for the curves, they do cause issues in the Liverpool Loop with rail and wheel wear, though I'm guessing the 777s will be designed for tight curve radius so this will go away.