Is this about reinstating running lines at Bolton station?
Is the Salford Cescent scheme still just slightly lengthening, crowd measures and 'beautifying' the platform - singular - and not building any new platform capacity in?
Why put the through lines back in at Bolton, everything stops there...
What Bolton needs is Platform 5 putting back in, passive provision for metrolink on the Northbound island to terminate at the south (keep tracks far enough appart), the car park that is lost being moved to where the furnature store has shut down, replaced by a multi storey with a small charge for season ticket holders and rail users and a large charge otherwise, the passenger footbridge extending to this, with a satellite ticket office and TVMs, as well as a Manchester Road pedestrian entrance installed in an attempt to take some pressure off the main ticket hall, approach layout changed to that from Lostock you can access platforms 1, 3, and 4, to Lostock from 3, 4 and 5, and to/from Blackburn from 1, 3 and 4. Removing conflicts from the southern approaches, asside from use of Platform 2, this can be put into near disuse by putting a reversing siding / platform in at Horwich Parkway for stoppers to terminate at. The current car park becomes a service yard accessed by authorised vehicles only from Orlando Bridge (barriers / gates) with service lift access into the current ticket hall, for skips, deliveries, rail access vehicles etc. There is turning space under the ticket hall even with Platform 5 in.
Metrolink provision would be in place to allow the re-opening of the line toward Bury as metrolink and new street running lines out to Atherton, Leigh and Leigh Parkway (taking over pretty much the 582 route) and a line to Trafford Park / Trafford Centre starting off the idea of a circular rail route around Manchester, this should be combined with bringing Metrolink into ATOC, or setting up a zonal ticketing system similar to TfL in the TfGM area.
Salford Crescent needs a relocating further north, a massive circulation area and a minimum of three island platforms. Since the Atherton line is looking like migrating up to 3tph from 2tph, this would need one island platform of it's own, the Bolton line could survive with just two, but it might be better having another pair in case we see a massive service level increase on the line after it gets raped down by TPE and NT cutting services. The junction would be located pretty much where the current station is at the old station site, with the circulation area accessed from the current overbridge taking up the air rights over the land to the North of Windsor Bridge Jcn.
It could be worth building in provision for additional platforms on the Atherton line should this jump to 4 or 5tph if the DfT and TfGM see sense and put the line back into Leigh that way round.
And to add to all of this, Ordsall Lane needs grade seperating
And:
Oxford Road Rebuild and Metrolink intergration
OR:
Central (Midland) Re-opening for CLC, Windsor Link and Chat Moss terminating services, taking pressure off Oxford Road, reducing services through there to 2tph CLC, 2tph Windsor Bridge, 2tph Chat Moss & 4tph Orsdall Cord.
OR:
Exhange campus platforms at an extended Victoria Station for Chat Moss services approaching from Ordsall Lane, making use of the grade seperation and four tracking from Ordsall Lane to Deal Street, and extensive reversing sidings provided for Windsor Bridge services to either run through Platforms 5 and 6 onto Rochdale / Stalybridge or terminate into central reversing sidings on the appropriate running lines.
The latter seems the cheapest and most likely as it involves the least amount of civils. It's a given that Ordsall Lane needs grade seperating, the only issue I can see is any further growth on the CLC will still saturate Oxford Road station at 6tph CLC, 4tph Ordsall Cord and 2tph each Chat Moss and Windsor Link, would saturate Oxford Road at 14tph passenger services. In an ideal world I would conduct both the exchange campus platforms at Victoria and a re-build of Oxford Road to put in two 185m platforms (1 and 4) and two 92m platforms (2 and 3) with conflict free movments, and have some new viaduct from Deansgate Locks (Metrolink) to the former site of Platforms 5 and 6, re-built of course, to house the Tram Train services for the Mid Cheshire Line and any additional Metrolink services over and above the 20tph per route currently planned for Manchester City Centre.
If one where re-building the likes of Manchester Central, it could include platforms for both terminating services from Metrolink that would not fir into the city, services from the CLC so that can move to a 6tph pattern, and with some clever viaducting, terminating services from the Chat Moss line and Windsor Link, but the two former would require a great deal of civils and involve closing the ex centre. It would also not provide any additional cross Manchester capacity, so personally I'd favour...:
Grade Seperation of Ordsall Lane Chat Moss - Victoria carried over the junction, four track to Deal St Junction with the Cord lines taking the northernmost tracks, southern tracks going into terminating bay platforms on the Exchange campus, used to terminate Chat Moss Services, through services from the Cord and Chat Moss (6tph, 4tph Cord, 2tph Liverpool) will use Platforms 3 and 4 at Victoria, possibly with the addition of some Windsor Bridge services (up to 10tph).
Re-build of Oxford Road to take 8 car trains and metrolink as described above.
And...
Piccadilly through platforms built with central reversing sidings beteen the US and DS lines out toward Slade Lane, services may terminate then at either Oxford Road in 2/3 or at Piccadilly by running into reversing sidings. Work on viaduct widening out to Longsight to begin now ready for HS2 to run onto the Baring St Industrial Area (TBD).
