Manchester Victoria resurgent

[Snapper]

Here's an article & pictures describing progress on the rebuilding of Manchester Victoria;

"On Friday I popped over to Manchester for a catch up with a few friends and chance to sample some of Manchester’s most atmospheric pubs. A bonus to this foray across the Pennines was the chance to check out progress on the refurbishment of Manchester Victoria station & Northern hub electrification work.

The ‘march of the masts ‘has progressed Eastwards from the station with the first concrete mast bases & uprights appearing past Cheetham Hill road bridge"..

- you can read the rest & see the pictures here:

https://paulbigland.wordpress.com/2015/03/29/manchester-victoria-resurgent/

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Amazing, I used to visit Victoria every two weeks in the 1970s and then again mid 1980s. Amazing changes over the years.

 

[yorksrob]

Nice to see the inside of the building is receiving the care and attention it deserves as well as the outside.

 

[Snapper]

Indeed 'yorksrob' -the interior is receiving a lot of care too. When the station is finished it really will be quite a transformation.

 

[davetheguard]

Indeed 'yorksrob' -the interior is receiving a lot of care too. When the station is finished it really will be quite a transformation.

Was there any sort of briefing given about planned use of the refurbished interiors; and how many will see public access?

I must admit Manchester Victoria is not a station I know that well, having probably only travelled to, or through it, about a dozen times. However, I've seen enough over the years to know that it was extremely run down, with a lot of water leaking through the old roof.

The work being done at the moment, and well illustrated in your pictures, look magnificent; a superb mixture of refurbishment and new construction.

Perhaps some time in the future we'll be able to improve it even more by demolishing the "Birmingham New Street - style" monstrosity over the top of the through platforms?

I can dream, can't I?

 

[D6975]

Lots of nice pics there, but didn't see one of this, unless I missed it somewhere..
Nice to see things like this preserved.

 

[snowball]

Lots of pictures of Victoria on the relevant Skyscrapercity thread:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=498239&page=264

 

[Starmill]

I particularly like the lighting installation that has gone up to disguise the scar from where the old roof used to connect to the side of the building. When it's all shiny and nice, it will also remind us how far it has come! Not long now, everyone

 

[euryalus]

It is certainly goods news that Manchester Victoria is undergoing refurbishment. The low point surely came during the 1990s when the station was severely rationalised as part of a so-called "city centre improvement scheme" which was carried out at a time when Manchester was hoping to be chosen as the venue for the 2000 Olympic Games. It seems to me that the station was sacrificed in the name of "sport" - why else should they have reduced the number of platforms and buried the north side of the station under concrete?

 

[snowball]

From the 1960s to the 1990s there was mass rationalisation across the country, most of it in places that were not trying to get the Olympics.

It was thought at the time Piccadilly and Oxford Road could handle most of the traffic. The Windsor Link had enabled many trains that previously used Victoria to avoid it.

 

[jimm]

It is certainly goods news that Manchester Victoria is undergoing refurbishment. The low point surely came during the 1990s when the station was severely rationalised as part of a so-called "city centre improvement scheme" which was carried out at a time when Manchester was hoping to be chosen as the venue for the 2000 Olympic Games. It seems to me that the station was sacrificed in the name of "sport" - why else should they have reduced the number of platforms and buried the north side of the station under concrete?

snowball has pretty much explained it, but we also could try it was a crumbling, rotting dump of a place.

 

[ianhr]

Converting the Bury line to tramway was the start of a rapid spiral of decline around 1990. The electric suburban trains were always busy but now most of these passengers travelled on to the city centre and soon after this long distance mainline trains were diverted via Oxford Road too.

Now of course the Piccadilly-Oxford Road-Castlefield line is seriously congested because it is carrying far more traffic than it was ever designed for and the 'rationalisation' of Victoria looks short sighted.

 

[Darren R]

Converting the Bury line to tramway was the start of a rapid spiral of decline around 1990. The electric suburban trains were always busy but now most of these passengers travelled on to the city centre and soon after this long distance mainline trains were diverted via Oxford Road too.

Now of course the Piccadilly-Oxford Road-Castlefield line is seriously congested because it is carrying far more traffic than it was ever designed for and the 'rationalisation' of Victoria looks short sighted.

The Manchester to Bury line closed to mainline trains on 17th August 1991; the longer distance trains had been diverted away from Victoria by that time.

Yes, with hindsight the rationalisation of Victoria went too far. That said, it's easy to forget how quiet a station Victoria had become by the early 1990s. By the summer of 1992 Victoria had 2tph to Wigan Wallgate, 1tph to Bolton, 1tph to Blackburn, 2tph via the Oldham Loop, 2 Calder Valley services per hour and an hourly to Wakefield Westgate via Huddersfield. Everything else had gone to Piccadilly.

It wasn't just the trains that deserted Victoria - so did passengers. The decline of Victoria followed the general economic decline of the area surrounding it. Now the area dubbed the Northern and Cathedral Quarters is resurgent, but back then it was a very different story.

 

[Dunc108]

But what a turn around in the last few years since the slim pickings of the early 1990s. It now has 4 trains p/h to Wigan, one of these extended to Southport, the other to Kirkby, the other 2 via Bolton. Hourly Blackpool services came back in 2008 to be joined by North Trans-Pennine services in 2014. There's now 4 trains p/h to Leeds - 3 via Bradford and the new TPE via Huddersfield - thats double the frequency of the early 1990s. Lets not also forget the Clitheroe services and 2 trains p/h to Liverpool via Chat Moss and the Huddersfield stoppers. Visiting it a few weeks ago it looked the busiest I've seen it in years, once again seeing scores of trains per day. I think the only original services Vic is missing are the Scottish & North Wales services. Opening the Ordsall Chord will make it busier yet still...

Clearly as ambitious as the Windsor Link was, it was only going to be able to accommodate/deliver so much, particularly with the resurgence of rail travel when circumstances changed.

Lets not also forget the electrification of Victoria is a historic event in itself, because there was a time it was under threat of closure in the 1970s and anything approaching the magnitide of what the station is witnessing now was nothing short of a pipedream!

 

[Starmill]

There's now 4 trains p/h to Leeds - 3 via Bradford and the new TPE via Huddersfield -

One of those actually goes via Dewsbury - not great in that it only runs daytimes and not at all on Sundays!

 

[ianhr]

But what a turn around in the last few years since the slim pickings of the early 1990s. It now has 4 trains p/h to Wigan, one of these extended to Southport, the other to Kirkby, the other 2 via Bolton. Hourly Blackpool services came back in 2008 to be joined by North Trans-Pennine services in 2014. There's now 4 trains p/h to Leeds - 3 via Bradford and the new TPE via Huddersfield - thats double the frequency of the early 1990s. Lets not also forget the Clitheroe services and 2 trains p/h to Liverpool via Chat Moss and the Huddersfield stoppers. Visiting it a few weeks ago it looked the busiest I've seen it in years, once again seeing scores of trains per day. I think the only original services Vic is missing are the Scottish & North Wales services. Opening the Ordsall Chord will make it busier yet still...

Clearly as ambitious as the Windsor Link was, it was only going to be able to accommodate/deliver so much, particularly with the resurgence of rail travel when circumstances changed.

Lets not also forget the electrification of Victoria is a historic event in itself, because there was a time it was under threat of closure in the 1970s and anything approaching the magnitide of what the station is witnessing now was nothing short of a pipedream!

If the Ordsall chord is completed then Victoria will again become the preferred Manchester station for most Trans-Pennine journeys to Huddersfield, Leeds, York and beyond. I cannot see many people wanting to sit on the train for probably at least another 15-20 minutes with endless signal checks while it circumnavigates the city centre to reach Piccadilly, unless of course they are going to the Airport.

There is also apparently a proposal for a Leeds-Halifax-Rochdale-Man Vic-Chester train which, given good connections, would usefully reinstate access to North Wales from North Manchester and the Pennines.

 

[po8crg]

It will depend on where you live and whether you want a connection. If you're travelling from, say, Hazel Grove to Leeds, then you'll just change at Piccadilly.