St Helens Central - St Helens Junction Link Line

[Y961 XBU]

On 05/08/15 The Green Party started a Campaign to re-open the said Line, At the time of posting this the Petition has been live almost 12 hours and attracted over 70 names, This line seems to be at the heart of their Railway Ideas for St Helens.

https://www.change.org/p/merseytrav...ween-st-helens-central-and-st-helens-junction

I also notice theres been a Feed about this from 2013 that i am about to read through:

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=88384

 

[Camden]

Unachievable, imo, when you consider the services and what it would mean for other places. Where would it go to/from and with how many people on board, while thousands of people from far bigger places wonder where their trains have gone!

More realistic seems an aim for a higher frequency and clockface interval on the line through St Helens Central, and making Huyton a proper interchange station. Takes only 10 minutes to get there, where you should be able to interchange for all of the trains heading through St Helens Junction.

Or if there really is a demand, how about a bus shuttle running between Junction and Central every ten minutes, provided it could be funded.

 

[Y961 XBU]

In less than 24 Hours the Petition has gained over 100 Names, There is Demand there for the Line to open as it could increase the amount of Passenger Services in the area and deal with the overcrowding problem, Plus it could be a useful diversion route aswell

 

[The Planner]

Not going to happen, at the risk of repeating myself from the other threads, the St Helens re-signalling takes out any scope of the line coming back. Also, what proven un-released demand is there, from where and to? what reports have been published, who is behind it in terms of councils etc?? What credible diversionary routes does it provide, bearing in mind it will have to be wired from the start?

If the thread was "St Helens Council provide £50K for reopening report" then I expect more people would take it seriously.

 

[Camden]

In less than 24 Hours the Petition has gained over 100 Names, There is Demand there for the Line to open as it could increase the amount of Passenger Services in the area and deal with the overcrowding problem, Plus it could be a useful diversion route aswell

100 people signing a local petition doesn't equate to rail demand, there would need to be a study to determine the likely demand. You might get a study if 10,000 people signed the petition, as it would indicate something of a genuine desire to make it happen and thus plenty of people who might make use of it. Ultimately everyone in every town would love for various things to be improved but there has to be a case for it, and I would be very surprised if this got 10,000 signatures.

There are a lot of "coulds" in your statement, but in reality without a concrete proposal demonstrating viable service patterns none of those things are possible to say.

Looking at the existing lines and services, it's hard to see how it could be worth doing or useful, or integrated with existing services without meaning something negative for someone somewhere else (who will number more than those who live in St Helens), or sacrificing the ability to run lines into the major cities at more even and frequent intervals, which I'd argue would be of far more benefit to a small outlying town on the edge of Liverpool.

 

[DJH1971]

On 05/08/15 The Green Party started a Campaign to re-open the said Line, At the time of posting this the Petition has been live almost 12 hours and attracted over 70 names, This line seems to be at the heart of their Railway Ideas for St Helens.

https://www.change.org/p/merseytrav...ween-st-helens-central-and-st-helens-junction

I also notice theres been a Feed about this from 2013 that i am about to read through:

http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=88384

I have just added my signature.

 

[Gathursty]

I'm from Wigan and I don't see the point in this...


... unless you can link the Pilkington site with an extra chord just south of St Helens Central (I have no idea if Pilkington have any rail freight.) and you continue the line upto Ormskirk via Skelmersdale.

If it's just between the two St Helens stations, then isn't there a regular bus service that does this anyway (going to Burtonwood?)

 

[8A Rail]

I'm from Wigan and I don't see the point in this...

... unless you can link the Pilkington site with an extra chord just south of St Helens Central (I have no idea if Pilkington have any rail freight.) and you continue the line upto Ormskirk via Skelmersdale.

If it's just between the two St Helens stations, then isn't there a regular bus service that does this anyway (going to Burtonwood?)

Currrently there is no freight (oil trains) to Pilkingtons and has not been for a while too. However, it could restart again sometime in the future as and when the economics are right.

As for the link between the two stations, yes nice to have on the wish list but in reality it not going to happen. Money on such a project could be better spend elsewhere but again given recent Government / Network Rail annoucements about exisiting planned projects then it is at the very bottom of the list.

 

[Bevan Price]

I'm from Wigan and I don't see the point in this...


... unless you can link the Pilkington site with an extra chord just south of St Helens Central (I have no idea if Pilkington have any rail freight.) and you continue the line upto Ormskirk via Skelmersdale.

If it's just between the two St Helens stations, then isn't there a regular bus service that does this anyway (going to Burtonwood?)

Arriva bus 35/35A, St. Helens Junction - St. Helens - Eccleston Gillars Green. Every 15 minutes at daytime only - no service in evenings, or on Sundays & Bank Holidays.

Not a lot of demand for a shuttle service between the two stations. As I commented in the earlier thread, it would only make sense to reopen if there was an all-day service between St. Helens Central & Manchester (or beyond). BR wrecked passenger demand in the 1970s by omitting St. Helens Junction stops by some of the most popular trains.