Not sure how you could get closer to the town centre than the Glenburn site. It use to be the location of two high schools and the pupils had no problem spending their dinner break hanging around the concourse shopping centre.
I can't comment on the commercial aspects but the transport benefits are beyond doubt I'd of thought.
The study considers five options, options outside Glenburn and South Thorn are penalised in their calculations for potentially attracting retail custom away from the town centre.
B1: Bus service from Headbolt Lane (4bph)
R1: Glenburn Town Centre (2tph to Liverpool, 1tph to Wigan)
R2: Glenburn single track line, reduced operating hours (2tph to Liverpool, 1tph to Wigan)
R3: M58 Junction 4 (2tph to Liverpool, no Wigan service to Skelmersdale, approaches Skelmersdale from the west and so doesnt serve Rainford)
R4: South Thorn Island roundabout Town Centre (2tph to Liverpool, 1tph to Wigan)
R5: Upgrade Upholland station and extend Merseyrail service to it from Headbolt Lane
R3 is dismissed at sifting stage for low public support and opposition from land owners.
All options have double track from Headbolt Lane to Rainford and a single track 25kv electrified line from Rainford to Skelmersdale and a mirror single track unelectrified line from Skelmersdale to Upholland, no crossover. The costings exclude the purchase of 4 Stadler Bi-modes to operate the line but suggest possible savings from battery rather than 25kv traction.
All options except R3 include a refurbishment of Rainford Station
All options include upgrading the line between Upholland and Wigan.
Forecast additional passengers for Rainford and Skelmersdale stations by 2040
B1: 350,000
R1 & R2: 1.33m
R3: 440,000
R4: 1.03m
R5: 450,000
Construction cost:
R1: £487m
R2: £415m
R3: £294m
R4: £377m
R5: £128m
Annual infrastructure running costs very similar, around £2.2m per year and 400k cheaper for R3.
Operating BCR (Farebox revenue minus operating costs):
B1: 1.42
R1: 0.45
R2: 0.53
R3: 0.18
R4: 0.42
R5: 0.32
Wider Economic Impacts factored in: Access to jobs markets in Manchester, Liverpool and Wigan. Access to higher paid jobs in those places, inward investment into Skelmersdale, access to HS2 services at Wigan, increase in land values. Including factoring in other WEI and the margin of error the BCR for option R1 remains between 0.3 to 0.7 (they dont calculate it for the other options). Throwing the kitchen sink at option R1 including introducing some of the value engineering of other options, building more houses near the station, increasing the frequency to the minimum GM provision of 2tph, using battery power rather than electrification, factoring the revenue of journeys from the station to elsewhere in Skelmersdale (i.e. increased bus and taxi journeys) they think they could get the BCR for option 1 (their preferred option as they are constantly bigging it up and dissing the others) to 0.81. They recommend further study options R1, R4 and B1.
If I take their WEI calculation and factor it into the other option costs before value engineering as a rough comparison (and I think they dont do this in the report as it reflects unfavourbly on option R1) I make the BCR of R2: 0.74 and R4: 0.89 but they also require much smaller capital outlay.
www.rosiecooper.net
The parking area at Upholland Station - all of it by Mwmbwls, on Flickr
Equally challenging exit on the west bound platform at Uphollanf by Mwmbwls, on Flickr
Upholland Tunnel West Portal by Mwmbwls, on Flickr
