Cheshire Rover
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Northern timetable plan for May 2018
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The following services will see their improvements deferred:
New hourly Chester – Leeds via Manchester Victoria will not now be introduced
until December
"
That's the internal information released to us on our intranet today
The following services will see their improvements deferred:
New hourly Chester – Leeds via Manchester Victoria will not now be introduced
until December
"
That's the internal information released to us on our intranet today
John Karun
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- 9 Mar 2018
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- 4
Why is the Buxton route getting 2tph but not the Knutsford route
ItsGrimUpNorth
Member
The Tyne Valley Rail Users Group have posted on their Facebook page just now, that the proposed half hourly timetable on the line has been put back until December 2018, as a consequence of delays to electrification projects elsewhere in the country. I assume this is to do with the cascading of units that would be needed for the increase in service?
northwichcat
Veteran Member
That's the same question I'm asking. I don't think those sitting in the Northern planning offices realise how crowded some trains are when deciding how to use resources on strike days or when choosing which changes to postpone. I wonder how many overcrowded counter-peak flow services Northern have on their entire network, given they have a few on the Mid-Cheshire line.
It would have made more sense for 2 x Hazel Grove shuttles per hour and an hourly Buxton service with Buxton services omitting Levenshulme and Heaton Chapel and possibly the peak time extras skipping stations between Stockport and Hazel Grove (to create more space on existing Buxton services for passengers travelling beyond Hazel Grove) and to have gone ahead with the Mid-Cheshire improvements.
323235
Established Member
They had already removed a service terminating at Macclesfield 1745 Monday-Friday a while before they pulled all the timetables and they are contractually required to provide an additional service to Stoke in the evening - so there must have been some difficulties behind the scenes but what remains a mystery.
On the wider issue of postponed Macclesfield line services - we always seem to be less important than all the rest, Saturdays and Sundays are a serious issue for overcrowding and in November and December it was full and standing with people being left behind. It's unlikely to be any better this year and this is a significant blow.
agbrs_Jack
Member
And us that go to Congleton have an awful Sunday service which doesn't seem to be improving anytime soon. (Won't even go into the responses from Northern when I request that they ask XC to call additional trains on strike days)
frodshamfella
Established Member
There's a similar article on the Liverpool Echo website: https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/new-train-service-help-scouse-14441335
Disappointing that the Chester service is postponed, but I guess they had to prioritise the changes which tie in with the TPE recast. Personally I'm looking forward to being able to catch a direct train from South Parkway to Manchester Airport.
Pretty much an airport to airport link.
https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/n...efit-from-kirkstall-forge-service-improvement
As the Harrogate Advertiser picked up on, Kirkstall Forge will gain Mon - Sat services to Bradford and 2tph.
I thought that 2tph to Knutsford was a franchise commitment too, while 2tph to Buxton wasn't.
Not given high profile in the press release I note, but improvements deferred.
Manchester – Preston
Half hourly Preston – Manchester Piccadilly via Bolton service will still be provided, one train an hour running Blackpool North – Manchester Piccadilly and one train an hour Preston – Manchester Airport
Four through Barrow – Manchester Airport and vice versa services will run, along with one Manchester Piccadilly – Windermere and two Windermere – Manchester Piccadilly services
Hourly Preston – Manchester Victoria service will now run between Buckshaw Parkway and Manchester Victoria
Hourly Manchester Airport – Blackpool North via Wigan EMU service
Where do you work that a walk from Oxford Road could be considered 'purgatory'?
Times loaded by the 7th April.
PDF versions of timetables available 7th May.
Printed versions of timetables in stations 1st June.
Presumably, no details will be available before 7th April. I've been asked to extend my working hours from 1st April, so I was hoping to fix the times based on the post 12 May timetables. Ironically, all I've heard is that the changes to times (and even stopping Stations) will be the most comprehensive for at least 7 years.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
The TPE is losing the Wigan stop.
Cheshire Rover
Member
About 30 seconds from Victoria.
So, just crawlers (sorry, ATN Sprinters) between Picc and Wigan then after 12 May. Useful to know.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
A Class 319 fast is to be added to replace it.
Ah! That'll be interesting. I'm told they are deceptively comfortable.
Indeed. Not a patch on the 350s we're losing, but a whole lot better than a 150 or a pacer.
I feel for you, that's a massive pain in the backside.
lyndhurst25
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- 26 Nov 2010
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- 1,589
Any updates as to whether the Cumbrian coast Sunday service will be starting as planned in May 2018?
Ugh, as a regular between Leeds and Warrington that's a bit of a blow, basically a direct service is now lost for 6 months meaning a change at either Manchester Victoria / Piccadilly or Newton-le-Willows (depending on how connections to Warrington BQ work out). I guess once the full set of timetables are loaded I'll be doing some research to find the best temporary set of options until this route comes in December.
This is good news for this station, the generally half hourly service with a few extras in the peaks has been criticised by both passengers and developers of the site (although work seems to have stalled on the housing development side), so this may tempt a few more workers at Kirkstall to use the train as well as possibly tempt a few more drivers off the A65. And using the Bradford services as opposed to the Ilkleys makes more sense from the point of view of a clockface service, although I suspect there might need to be a bit of re-timing going on in the Leeds direction as the Bradford-Leeds is closely followed by a Skipton-Leeds after Shipley.
It's a pity they can't manage a half hourly service to Leeds from Normanton, which has been waiting since before Kirkstall Forge was born.
Normanton isn't in Leeds Council's area though, there has been some considerable pressure applied to get the site a half-hourly service even before the new office block opened let alone a brick laid for the proposed housing. Leeds as we all probably know in West Yorkshire has a bigger voice than other councils. And besides, I though the new Leeds-Wakefield-Knottingley was starting, isn't that going to be the second call albeit with the new going different routes (and to confuse passengers different platforms)?
No, I believe the new Leeds - Knottingley service will be going via Featherstone, not Normanton.
northwichcat
Veteran Member
Surely even when Chester-Leeds starts it's only to be quicker to change than to get the option without changing via Rochdale and Bradford, plus the direct option will only be 1tph when they'll be multiple fast Warrington-Manchester services and multiple fast Manchester-Leeds services.
northwichcat
Veteran Member
2tph to New Mills Newton is a franchise commitment, 2tph to Buxton is not.
Looking at current usage for stations between Woodsmoor and Buxton and for stations between Navigation Road and Greenbank the busiest is Hazel Grove with around 700,000 journeys per annum, the next busiest is Altrincham with around 570,000 rail journeys per annum, followed by Knutsford with around 510,000, then Buxton with 331,000. However, even then Buxton's figure is lower than the combined figure for both stations within the boundary for the town of Northwich (Northwich and Greenbank.) Given there's a DMU shortage Northern's plan makes no sense - Hazel Grove can be served by EMUs while in the unlikely event that there's high demand for Hazel Grove to Buxton then a half-hourly DMU shuttle from Hazel Grove to Buxton might be more appropriate as high demand for Buxton to Hazel Grove would mean low demand for Buxton to Manchester (not that I think that is actually the case.)
Normanton will gain a call on the Huddersfield to Castleford service connecting with the Knottingley to Leeds via Glasshoughton service
Ah, that won't improve things there then.
It will, but as these particular journeys will usually be for leisure rather than business, I'm not necessarily concerned about slightly longer times so having the option of a longer but direct journey (especially when dragging suitcases) is nice to have. And it may even be that I might consider travelling from home in Baildon via Bradford rather than Leeds & picking up the Chester there. Hence I'm looking at all options for the one that feels the easiest.
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