Manchester Victoria - Congestion Problems

[Eric]

Is MCV going to be proverbially stuck with just the six platforms for the considerable future or do Northern/Network Rail (whoever owns the station) have plans in place to increase capacity and can someone tell me which ####hole decided to harvest the platforms in the first place.

 

[Nym]

Combination of BR, MEN Arena and GM Council. And from what I could tell when speaking to them at the Ordstall Cord consultaton, they have no plans whatsoever. Nothing detailed anyway

 

[Eric]

Combination of BR, MEN Arena and GM Council. And from what I could tell when speaking to them at the Ordstall Cord consultaton, they have no plans whatsoever. Nothing detailed anyway

Today my BDI-MCV train was held outside Victoria for ten minutes due to a late MCV-HUD service blocking the platforms (the conductor said) which is only going to get worse IMO with TPE services scheduled to call/terminate at Victoria in the non too distant future.

I was looking today at where you could possibly make room for two extra bay platforms and I think there could be room potentially if you moved the metrolink ever so slightly to the right (facing towards Bury/Rochdale).

Two bay platforms isn't enough IMO with the increased services and those sorry of an excuse for neanderthal gate staff need to learn how to read tickets.

 

[jonesy3001]

They should knocked down the MEN arena and relocate it to another part of the city centre and rebuild Victoria to what it used to be.

 

[185]

MEN Arena is in totally the wrong place. Theres so many other sites in the city that could sensibly accomodate it without losing much land.

Now, I wonder if we can get another 142 to 'do a Lime Street special' and hit a concrete support pillar

 

[WatcherZero]

Bay platforms would be on the other side, where Manchester Exchange used to be.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Bay platforms would be on the other side, where Manchester Exchange used to be.

This is the obvious solution for west facing bay platforms and these are part of the new plan for the area, but it is their situation that still bothers me, due to the the proposed development at Greengate that is a joint project with Ask Developments and National Rail. Have you heard of any firm positioning decision where these bay platforms are likely to be situated, as the "office staff" at the first National Rail "Ordsall Chord" exhibition at MOSI last Friday were unable to provide that answer.
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I was looking today at where you could possibly make room for two extra bay platforms and I think there could be room potentially if you moved the metrolink ever so slightly to the right (facing towards Bury/Rochdale).....Two bay platforms isn't enough IMO with the increased services and those sorry of an excuse for neanderthal gate staff need to learn how to read tickets.

You are referring to the existing east-facing bay platforms 1 and 2 here. I think you need to look at the new plans for Manchester Victoria station that National Rail have in mind, such as the new overall roof (at long last) and the use of the old fish dock where plans are under consideration for the redevelopment of the land used as a car park that runs from the side of the current Metrolink stop.

It is not just the case of relocating the existing Metrolink stop to allow the construction of any further east-facing heavy rail bay platforms and I am not aware of any such plans, as the Ordsall Chord will allow through running for trains arriving from the east side of Manchester Victoria station.

The Metrolink system is said to be trebling in size over the next five years and TfGM have plans to redevelop the existing Manchester Victoria Metrolink stop in order to provide increased platform and operational capacity. Two new Metrolink platforms are proposed in these plans, with additional track to cater for both through and terminal services. Remember the new Second City Crossing will be feeding into Manchester Victoria station. The new development on the Corporation Street side of the station will be two new office buildings that will provide 500,000 sq ft of office space.

 

[Helvellyn]

When the MEN was being built the railways were still seen to be declining, and a lot of Manchester Victoria's traffic had been pushed over to Manchester Piccadilly (TransPennine Express and Intercity services to Glasgow/Edinburgh). So when the MEN was built no redundancy was built in, i.e. provision for say an extra pair of through platforms even if theye weren't in use.

Mind you, what changes? When the Bullring was being rebuilt in Birmingham, an offer was made to Network Rail to provide an addition two-track tunnel into New Street from the South, for future use. Network Rail and the DfT wouldn't pay, so it wasn't provided for. Seems very short-sighted!

 

[bluenoxid]

Is MCV going to be proverbially stuck with just the six platforms for the considerable future or do Northern/Network Rail (whoever owns the station) have plans in place to increase capacity and can someone tell me which ####hole decided to harvest the platforms in the first place.

The question to ask is what is going to happen to the services using the station? At the moment, a lot of capacity is wasted by services terminating at the station and sitting for a virtual eternity. It is also the routing point for all the sickly DMU's trying to get to Newton Heath and climb (struggle) into Newton Heath.

 

[Eric]

This is the obvious solution for west facing bay platforms and these are part of the new plan for the area, but it is their situation that still bothers me, due to the the proposed development at Greengate that is a joint project with Ask Developments and National Rail. Have you heard of any firm positioning decision where these bay platforms are likely to be situated, as the "office staff" at the first National Rail "Ordsall Chord" exhibition at MOSI last Friday were unable to provide that answer.
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You are referring to the existing east-facing bay platforms 1 and 2 here. I think you need to look at the new plans for Manchester Victoria station that National Rail have in mind, such as the new overall roof (at long last) and the use of the old fish dock where plans are under consideration for the redevelopment of the land used as a car park that runs from the side of the current Metrolink stop.

It is not just the case of relocating the existing Metrolink stop to allow the construction of any further east-facing heavy rail bay platforms and I am not aware of any such plans, as the Ordsall Chord will allow through running for trains arriving from the east side of Manchester Victoria station.

The Metrolink system is said to be trebling in size over the next five years and TfGM have plans to redevelop the existing Manchester Victoria Metrolink stop in order to provide increased platform and operational capacity. Two new Metrolink platforms are proposed in these plans, with additional track to cater for both through and terminal services. Remember the new Second City Crossing will be feeding into Manchester Victoria station. The new development on the Corporation Street side of the station will be two new office buildings that will provide 500,000 sq ft of office space.

I must make a confession that the new roof is the number one priority in my eyes as with the inclement weather yesterday it has serious leakage problems.

But the station does need extra bay platforms and I hope there are proposed development plans to at least combat the congestion problems at Victoria.
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The question to ask is what is going to happen to the services using the station? At the moment, a lot of capacity is wasted by services terminating at the station and sitting for a virtual eternity. It is also the routing point for all the sickly DMU's trying to get to Newton Heath and climb (struggle) into Newton Heath.

I agree with the point about the units sat in the bay platforms for a lengthy dwell time, I think the train I arrived in on (had it been on time) would have been sat in platform one for a good thirty six minutes till the next departure to Selbly.

That's more than enough time to go through to Salford and back.

 

[150222]

I must make a confession that the new roof is the number one priority in my eyes as with the inclement weather yesterday it has serious leakage problems.

But the station does need extra bay platforms and I hope there are proposed development plans to at least combat the congestion problems at Victoria.
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I agree with the point about the units sat in the bay platforms for a lengthy dwell time, I think the train I arrived in on (had it been on time) would have been sat in platform one for a good thirty six minutes till the next departure to Selbly.

That's more than enough time to go through to Salford and back.

Actually the selby service is booked to be there for 18 minutes.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

I must make a confession that the new roof is the number one priority in my eyes as with the inclement weather yesterday it has serious leakage problems.

According to the 4pp A5 size National Rail publicity material on Manchester Victoria station, the project for the new station roof is due to commence in Winter 2012/Early 2013 and to be completed in Spring 2014. There was a thread on this forum about this project some months ago. The material envisaged for the roofing glazing is ETFE (Ethylene Tetrafluoroeethylene) used at the Eden Project, which is self-cleaning and is lighter, cheaper and lets more light in than glass.