Cue the demands for even larger batteries being fitted to 777s to enable the Wirral Ramblers get to Ribblehead for their annual walk without changing trains.
Very few do change trains at some mid-way station like Ormskirk. Most people from Burscough will just drive to Ormskirk and, something many people conveniently seem to forget, there are already direct service between Preston and Liverpool so neither travelling via Ormskirk nor changing trains are required. The same applies to Headbolt Lane. Nobody is going to travel between Wigan and Liverpool via Kirkby when there are 3 direct tph.
Of course international express trains cross borders. And no-one is suggesting that passengers for London, Manchester and so on from Liverpool should change at the regional boundary. Local (as opposed to express or inter-regional) trains are a different matter. Merseyrail is a 'local service for local people' (couldn't resist the quote, but no xenophobia intended). Metro trains aren't designed for long journeys and Merseyrail, as a more or less self-contained system, would become unmanageable if it had much through running with the national network. There is scope for some expansion but the emphasis should be on infill; large swathes of the city region are not covered by any form of rail, let alone Merseyrail.
Next they will be wanting a toilet to go with those batteries.Cue the demands for even larger batteries being fitted to 777s to enable the Wirral Ramblers get to Ribblehead for their annual walk without changing trains.
Cue the demands for even larger batteries being fitted to 777s to enable the Wirral Ramblers get to Ribblehead for their annual walk without changing trains.
That's true, but the areas that need Merseyrail where it is not available now, its all built up, with little or no prospect of that happening. Of course if you were in London it would all be possible, but cant see Merseyrail reaching Gateacre for example ( as it was intended) and many other areas with no rail. Besides the was meant to be about where can Merseyrail extend to . The lines mentioned all have track now.
They used to because they all had through services.
Liverpool to Southport or Chester is getting close to the limit for no loos
Sorry ??!Cue the demands for even larger batteries being fitted to 777s to enable the Wirral Ramblers get to Ribblehead for their annual walk without changing trains.
Agreed, this is all too common with buses too but with rail, Merseyrail is one of the oddest examples I've ever seen of an administrative boundary getting in the literal way of the tracks. Even London Overground doesn't do it!
Yes, they might as well. Just spend £5 million on a footbridge and lifts at Headbolt Lane and £20 or £30 million on 2 or 3 additional 777s. It's only money and might as well is a perfect justification for wasting it.
I agree.
Even if we assume NPR is unaffordable and will not be built, does that mean the CLC service needs to be retained?
As @frodshamfella points out, there is now very little liklihood of Gateacre being served by Merseyrail again. The track has long been lifted, the station demolished and the trackbed is now a popular and well used section of the Trans-Pennine Trail.
Gateacre could be connected from Hunt's Cross by a relatively cheap short non-electrified single line extension, served by class 777 BEMUs. It is a densely populated suburb within Merseyside, whose current bus services to Liverpool city centre are slow and suboptimal. There would be room to preserve a footpath/cycle path alongside the reopened line, as the original formation was double track.
The purpose is to eliminate the useless service between Ellesmere Port and Helsby, replace it with something that is worth using, bringing operational simplification at very limited cost (one extra 777, but you no longer need whatever Northern is currently using, so the net increase is less than 1 unit), giving the intermediate stations a direct link to Merseyside (not just Liverpool), giving Ellesmere port better connections towards the East (as better service to Helsby would enable connections).
Its a crying shame that Merseyrail didn't reach Gateacre years back. If it could be done now, and I dont know the area well enough, I'd say do for sure. That whole area Gateacre, Woolton , Childwall, is densely populated , with only buses to the city and a lot of traffic. It would enable people to change at South Parkway easily too for onward connections.
I find it very odd too how Merseyrail just ends at stations when there is a more useful destination not much further on, stopping at an administrations boundary seems something frkm a different age. At least they extended from Hooton, and look how that has done. Again before it was a funny DMU service. People are put off using rail, when changing is involved.
My previous post referred to most (not all) of the proposed extensions outwith Merseyside. I agree that extending Merseyrail from Headbolt Lane to Wigan Wallgate would probably be worthwhile.
A mate of mine owns the farm behind the station and did mention that many years ago someone from from Network Rail had been to see him regarding land for car parking. We are taking many years ago now. Of course if the price is right........
I would certainly be possible to four track to Hale and put Northern Trains on the northern pair and Merseyrail on the Southern pair.
Absolutely. Friends of mine live at Rainford. They currently go to St Helens to take a train to Liverpool. Using Rainford Station is deemed by them too unreliable. Was a lost opportunity only going to Headbolt Lane.
I can't see any insuperable obstacle to extending to Gateacre or even further. Unlike in many other cases, the trackbed has not been built over (apart from the signal box which admittedly would be a pain, though possible, to relocate). A single track line would be easily compatible with the present cycle path. Hunts Cross/ west Halewood is a fairly densely populated suburb.
Yes i understand that, but these days perhaps authorities ought to be working together a bit more for the greater good. The LU Met continues to Amersham and Chesham and the Central to Epping ( and Ongar at one point) all way out of the London area. A Gateacre extensions would be a very useful addition. Is anywhere else possible on the the north end of that loop line , or all built over now ?
