Engineering Works 'Bolton - Clitheroe'

[Inox]

Hi

Anybody got any idea what the issue is between Bolton and Clitheroe? Just been on the disruptions page and it says good service. By 'good' they mean replacement buses.

I was on the inverted tardis of a 142 last night on the 17.00 from Manc to Clitheroe and we got cancelled after half hour of waiting in Bolton to signal failure in the Darwen area. Cable theft or other?

Feel a bit bad for Northern Rail over the last few weeks...north of manchester hasn't been kind to them.

cheers!
Dave.

 

[high camera]

I have just travelled from Clitheroe to Bolton via Blackburn and Darwen (By road) and to say the least it was a bit slow. Snow fall was very heavy overnight with drifting so maybe its a snowfall issue ?

 

[lancastrian]

The biggest problem with the Bolton to Blackburn section of the Manchester to Clitheroe service, is that all the penny pinching done by singling so much of the Bolton to Blackburn line. Apart from a dynamic loop from south of Hall i'th Wood to Bromley Cross, and the loop at Darwen, the rest of the line is single.

It only take a problem anywhere on the single line sections to completely block the line. I accept that it is unlikely, although necessary in my mind that the line will ever be re-doubled. Another problem to doing that is the replacement bridge at King William between Bromley Cross and Turton was only done as a single line. Once more short-sightedness strikes.

What is need to improve the service reliability is very simple.

1. Double the line from Blackburn to Darwen.
2. Put a second dynamic loop from Turton through to Entwistle.
3. Reopen the station at Turton.

As the dynamic loop starts at Turton, some trains may have to wait for trains in the other direction, so having a station for Turton would take a lot of the cars off the road between there and Bromley Cross, plus that would be a big benefit for those living near Bromley Cross, as the car park is so small that the parking overflows to the surrounding area.

The other big benefit would be pupils from the Turton Area could catch the train to Bromley Cross as Turton High School is just over the road from Bromley Cross.

 

[boing_uk]

Of course, one would have to bridge the M65. Kinda makes doubling the other bridges seem small-fry...

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

There is also the matter of the Sough tunnel to consider and the reason why it is only now single-track. Have any ground stability tests been carried out in recent years on the land in the areas of both the north and the south tunnel portals ?

 

[175001]

Hi Dave.

Your 1700 was cancelled due to heavy snowfall that blocked the movement of points at Darwen. I was working the 1709 Clitheroe-Rochdale and we were terminated at Blackburn due to the problem. All was fixed around 7pm only for same points to fail around 8.30pm which suspended services for the rest of the evening.

It's not been a good few weeks for the network North of Manchester!

 

[lancastrian]

There is also the matter of the Sough tunnel to consider and the reason why it is only now single-track. Have any ground stability tests been carried out in recent years on the land in the areas of both the north and the south tunnel portals ?

I have not heard anything about those works, which is why I suggested the second dynamic loop from Turton to Entwistle. It might be better to extend the loop closer to the south portal of Sough Tunnel.

Concerning the M65 bridge, to be honest I had missed that. But again it being single just proves how short sighted those responsible are about these matters. The answer to that is simple, and that is to extend the loop at Darwen northward to the bridge and southwards towards the Sough Tunnel.

OR the best option would be to replace both the M65 bridge and the one at King William as double track bridges, just leaving the Sough Tunnel as single track.

Does anyone else know what is happening over the Sough Tunnel?