Halton curve & news

[merlodlliw]

A colleague attended the 20th anniversary of NCRUG(Nth Cheshire RUG) last evening at Frodsham.

below his comments.

Speakers were Jim Barclay from Merseytravel, Ben Davies from ATW and Julie Warburton from Passenger Focus.

Ben Davies said money had been found from Angel Trains, WAG & ATW to allow for refurbishment of 158 fleet this year.
>
> Club 55 likely to continue into the summer period after Easter.
>
> He had a plan for Chester 4/7 platforms which we didn't get to see. He noted ATW was not being allowed to run trains to London!.


> Jim Barclay hopeful for the Halton Curve project but fearful for the impact of spending cuts. There were already indications from DfT that spending would be reduced by upwards of 30%, so that finding £11m for this simple project would involve input from others. NR would contribute if there was freight potential.
>
> Merseyrail to Chester likely to go every 15 mins from Dec 10. Still looking at options for the Bidston line but costs and funding problematical.


M

 

[tbtc]

Some good news.

Shame that ATW can't refurbish the trains without Assembly help - since the franchise is long enough that they'll see the benefits of what they spend on them today over the next few years

The Chester "doubling" would be a good move, since that's basically a "turn up and go" frequency, so should attract a lot more people who don't like timetables

The Halton curve is the "one train a week" one from Liverpool to Chester on the Runcorn line?

 

[Spagnoletti]

The Halton curve is the "one train a week" one from Liverpool to Chester on the Runcorn line?

yes but the service is Chester->Runcorn IIRC 08:30 Summer Saturday mornings.

 

[merlodlliw]

yes but the service is Chester->Runcorn IIRC 08:30 Summer Saturday mornings.

Correct was , but have you advance on the new timetable,now being proof read

for the printers.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Some good news.

Shame that ATW can't refurbish the trains without Assembly help - since the franchise is long enough that they'll see the benefits of what they spend on them today over the next few years

The Chester "doubling" would be a good move, since that's basically a "turn up and go" frequency, so should attract a lot more people who don't like timetables

The Halton curve is the "one train a week" one from Liverpool to Chester on the Runcorn line?

Agree with you tbtc, but it may change, if yesterdays rumours and todays confirmation about DB come to a positive outcome.15 years and no spend
would have meant goodbye ATW to any hope of another franchise.
As a seasoned traveller of ATW, it only gets worse with the current management.

 

[cymro inside]

Good news for the Halton curve from the freight point of view! there is an application in for the Glan Conwy corner goods sidings at LLandudno Junction to become a loading point for a daily refuse train from there to Folly Lane at Runcorn which could mean Frodsham Jct to Halton Junction seeing a daily freight service in about 18 months time,dunno how the empties would return,down wcml to Winsford and run round at Northwich then clc to Chester or down to Basford Hasll and run round to return via Beeston Castle...

 

[cle]

Is it not bi-directional? I think there is a lot of gain for not too much work on this, and if freight can subsidise, all the better!

North Wales is half Scousers anyway, I would have thought services would be hugely popular!

 

[cymro inside]

no it isnt bi-directional,there are no points in situ for you to gain access to the Chester bound track from the Runcorn direction,when the line was singled in the mid 1990s no provision was made for trains in that direction,sums upward of 10,000,000 quid have been quoted for the reinstatement of pointwork, Merseytravel have a long term aspiration to run Chester to Liverpool via this route with a new station at Beechwood called Runcorn South,i suppose like a lot of things it is on the back burner...freight may take 3 years to come to fruition as planning permission needs to be granted for the waste burner at Folly Lane(not yet built).

 

[Spagnoletti]

I was under the impression that the incinerator planning permission had been approved - can't see why that humoungous new chimney would have gone up otherwise.

 

[cymro inside]

yes sorry i meant permission for the infrastructure at LLan Jct.in addition im told there will be up to five trains a day to Folly Lane from other terminals too though I suppose it will just be the one a day via Frod jn/Halt jn