Liverpool - Wigan Line evening gaps in service

[Urban-Savage]

On a day trip to lakes yesterday and after missing a train at Windermere a journey home to Prescot suddenly became very long due to the ridiculously long gap in stopping services on the Wigan - liverpool line between 1900-2100.

is there any reason for this, I know the evening service is historically few and far between but the long gap in services seems poor for a major commuting line and for the Saturday evening leisure market.

More frustrating is the fact that the Blackpool semi fast simply sails through these stations making only easy way of getting back to Prescot without a long wait being go into liverpool and get stopper out again or hop off at St Helens and get the 89 bus..

On another note… any danger of ever getting the two trains an hour back on this route too

 

[AntoniC]

On a day trip to lakes yesterday and after missing a train at Windermere a journey home to Prescot suddenly became very long due to the ridiculously long gap in stopping services on the Wigan - liverpool line between 1900-2100.

is there any reason for this, I know the evening service is historically few and far between but the long gap in services seems poor for a major commuting line and for the Saturday evening leisure market.

More frustrating is the fact that the Blackpool semi fast simply sails through these stations making only easy way of getting back to Prescot without a long wait being go into liverpool and get stopper out again or hop off at St Helens and get the 89 bus..

On another note… any danger of ever getting the two trains an hour back on this route too

I feel your pain.
Yesterday I was on a £10 Northern Rover bash when the 16.47 Barrow to Wigan train was cancelled and so had to get the 17:19 to Lancaster then pay for a TPE ticket to Preston so I could get home to Southport via Bolton.
All my other trains ran on the day.

 

[splashoutradio]

As a regular user of the line, often having to make use of 5 minute connections between the Blackpool - Liverpool Express and the Wigan - Liverpool stopper, delays and cancellations combined with the long evening gap have caused issues for me on numerous occasions. As the trains are becoming noticeably crowded at times, a more frequent service would be bennificial.

 

[47827]

In the bad olden days, in fact not that many years ago at all stops were added at certain times of day to plug any gaps of over an hour between stoppers. Most of the late evening Preston and Blackpool services were traditionally all stations for exactly that reason. Handy for journeys such as Preston to Broad Green saving bus fares or missing the last bus in the days when I used the route regularly.

 

[frodshamfella]

Isn't this a great example of what is wrong with rail in the north, and where the "levelling up " money could make a real difference.

 

[splashoutradio]

Details (and copies) of the proposed December 2022 timetables are being discussed in this thread. It looks like the second Wigan - Liverpool stopper is penciled to return by the end of 2022. Whether it returns before then is another thing.

 

[Urban-Savage]

Northern really need to get a grip of this - travelling back from Liverpool City Centre last night was a downright dangerous experience - train rammed solid, no covid safety possible and people unable to easily get off the service for the local stops leaving Lime St
To add insult to injury - it was a 3 car train as well. Cant really see why they fail to realise its approaching Christmas, life has returned to near normal and people are either commuting or socialising. Christmas markets in Liverpool also opened too - dread to think what its going to be like in / out of Manchester too.

 

[yorkie]

Northern really need to get a grip of this - travelling back from Liverpool City Centre last night was a downright dangerous experience - train rammed solid, no covid safety possible and people unable to easily get off the service for the local stops leaving Lime St
To add insult to injury - it was a 3 car train as well. Cant really see why they fail to realise its approaching Christmas, life has returned to near normal and people are either commuting or socialising. Christmas markets in Liverpool also opened too - dread to think what its going to be like in / out of Manchester too.

There are no Covid safety measures required; it is up to each individual to choose whether or not to get vaccinated and if anyone doesn't feel that is enough they have the option to wear an effective FFP2/3 mask if they wish to do so. If anyone wishes to debate this further, it would need to be debated in the Covid section, rather than in any UK Railway Discussion thread.

 

[childwallblues]

Back to your mask matey.