Warrington Stations

[Bevan Price]

Back on topic, I was under the impression (not that I have had cause to visit the town nor use its transportation network to date) that the bus system in Warrington was rather respectable with a reasonably good frequency. Certainly as has already been pointed out, the Centrelink appears to connect the two stations every twenty minutes.

1. Bus routes heading west out of Warrington have stops about 100/150 yards from Bank Quay station. The road system & congestion would not allow a low cost diversion to let buses run past the station.
2. Many Warrington BC service frequencies have been somewhat reduced in the last year or two, to save money.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

1. Bus routes heading west out of Warrington have stops about 100/150 yards from Bank Quay station. The road system & congestion would not allow a low cost diversion to let buses run past the station.

I can agree with the congestion! Trying to get out of the Slutchers Lane car park at around 18h00 was not funny...it seems a very congested area.
Incidentally, I have had another look at my original journey...had I changed at Oxford Road I could have caught an ATW service to BQ which would have arrived there at roughly the same time as I arrived having walked from Central! That would probably have been easier.

 

[Holly]

Who would fund all the additional bus mileage? Network Warrington would doubtless argue that the existing 20p shuttle bus service is adequate for the number of passengers who use it.

It certainly sounds like it.
Perhaps improvements to signage and display screens is what is needed.

 

[deltic]

Travelled today from London to Manchester via Warrington (saving £30 in the morning peak and normally not much difference in time as 5 min cross platform interchange) - but London train late so had to cross from Bank Quay to Central - did it from alighting Virgin train to entering TPE train in 11 minutes - signposting between the 2 stations could certainly be better

 

[Jamesb1974]

Deleted

 

[185143]

I did the walk between the two and it took 12 hours!

Okay I did stay in the Travelodge in the middle of the walk, but I would not recommend the first part of it to anybody! The second bit past the bus station was slightly better, although eerily foggy when I did it...

that's my home town your talking about! That said, as a local, I have to agree with you entirely! The walk between Bank Quay and Central goes through parts of town I wouldn't go to in the day!

 

[Starmill]

Forgive me if this sounds flippant, but given that you had traveled all the way from Scotland to Warrington, did it not cross your mind to find out how to get from Central to Bank Quay during (or before) the journey back?

Clearly a bit of integrated transport policy is just too much too much expect...

 

[evergreenadam]

Whatever happened to the idea of building a new railway station at Chapelford to serve the new development there?

There seems to be a large population west of Sankey Brook and south of the M52 which could be better served by rail if a new station were built at Sunset Boulevard or on the A574. It might also reduce the need to travel into the town centre to catch a train, avoiding traffic congestion.

 

[edwin_m]

Chapelford is still a live project, although now known as Warrington West. I'm not sure of its exact status but Google finds various stuff.

 

[Rail Ranger]

The new station at Warrington West is due to open in March 2017 at a cost of £12 million.

 

[Arglwydd Golau]

Forgive me if this sounds flippant, but given that you had traveled all the way from Scotland to Warrington, did it not cross your mind to find out how to get from Central to Bank Quay during (or before) the journey back?

Not flippant at all! I was aware that it was a bit of a walk...my questioning really was about the apparent lack of connectivity between two stations in the same town...

 

[Philip C]

https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@53.3...ata=!3m4!1e1!3m2!1sIQlI5Soo4-DKksZF6KQisw!2e0

I never know if these links work, but if the one above doesn't then have a look at Street View on Google Maps and you will find, at the entrance to Bank Park in Sankey Street, an image of glorious ornamental gates with the 18th Century Palladian Town Hall beyond.

I draw attention to this as Sankey Street is on the direct route from Bank Quay Station to Central Station (or vv.). Go up Parker Street from Bank Quay Station, turn right into Sankey Street and then take local advice about the best way around or through the Golden Square Shopping Centre.

Whatever the risk to life and limb, the gates and the vista beyond are remarkable and, for my money, make this one of the most memorable interchanges on offer.

 

[edwin_m]

I draw attention to this as Sankey Street is on the direct route from Bank Quay Station to Central Station (or vv.). Go up Parker Street from Bank Quay Station, turn right into Sankey Street and then take local advice about the best way around or through the Golden Square Shopping Centre.

Indeed so, but I usually take a route that involves Bridge Street. It's usually evening and I haven't had anything to eat and the McDonalds is about the only place I've found open on any of the possible routes.

 

[steve a]

The new station at Warrington West is due to open in March 2017 at a cost of £12 million.

Will that mean the closure of Sankey?

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Lots of expense for very little gain. Established businesses uprooted for no good reason. Waste of time and money.

Umm - i I've understood this thread correctly, it would be *one* business relocated, surely? I agree that it would be a lot of expense, but I find it hard to see how it would be 'very little gain'. The improvement in connectivity and new journey opportunities created from allowing direct interchange between the WCML and the Liverpool-Warrington-Manchester line would appear to be considerable.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Will that mean the closure of Sankey?

Apparently Sankey will be reduced to peak hours only.

 

[steve a]

Apparently Sankey will be reduced to peak hours only.

Hmm. It looks like I'll be driving to work after the new station opens. Sankey to Stockport via the M56 is a lot quicker than the train, when long waiting times at Warrington Central or Oxford road are taken into account.

 

[47271]

I hadn't noticed this thread before but, as a regular evening traveller between Scotland and Liverpool, I'm often inconvenienced by the unhelpful lack of interchange facilities at Warrington.

The underlying cause of my problem is actually poorly timed connections at Wigan, some of which may have been created by the recent electrification disruption, I'm sure I used to be able to more easily change there before. So, for example, my routeing off the 1840 from Glasgow Central is forced via Warrington between 2120 and 2149. There are certainly no buses at that time so if it's wet or the train from Scotland is late then it's a taxi or nothing. To be honest I can't be bothered wandering around Warrington at that time of night even if it's dry.

So the setup in Warrington is a real problem even for long distance passengers.

Direct TPE services from Scotland to Liverpool may help with this, but I'm not taking it for granted that these will be frequent enough to be useful.

Just sorting out the connections at Wigan would be a start.

 

[bitmadmax]

After 150 years the decision of the Cheshire Lines Committee not to build their Warrington station where their line crossed the London & North Western Railway near Bank Quay is still irritating passengers!

Depends at which point - there used to be a direct/freight line which avoided central and would have crossed near to the sheds on folly lane.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

The underlying cause of my problem is actually poorly timed connections at Wigan, some of which may have been created by the recent electrification disruption, I'm sure I used to be able to more easily change there before. So, for example, my routeing off the 1840 from Glasgow Central is forced via Warrington between 2120 and 2149. There are certainly no buses at that time so if it's wet or the train from Scotland is late then it's a taxi or nothing. To be honest I can't be bothered wandering around Warrington at that time of night even if it's dry.

Yes you have an unpalatable wait at Preston (42m) or Wigan (54m) for the next stopper to Liverpool.
An ATW connection at Warrington to Earlestown (and then NT to Liverpool) leaves at exactly the time the Glasgow gets in!
I expect these late trains were bustituted during the electrification phase (ie most of the last 2 years), but should be regular runners now.
They are likely to go electric later this year but the times look the same.
One of the features of our railways is the way evening connections just don't work as frequencies and stopping patterns are reduced.
I've also used the 1840 Glasgow-Warrington, fingers crossed for the 6m connection to Chester.

 

[47271]

Yes you have an unpalatable wait at Preston (42m) or Wigan (54m) for the next stopper to Liverpool.
An ATW connection at Warrington to Earlestown (and then NT to Liverpool) leaves at exactly the time the Glasgow gets in!
I expect these late trains were bustituted during the electrification phase (ie most of the last 2 years), but should be regular runners now.
They are likely to go electric later this year but the times look the same.
One of the features of our railways is the way evening connections just don't work as frequencies and stopping patterns are reduced.
I've also used the 1840 Glasgow-Warrington, fingers crossed for the 6m connection to Chester.

Hmm, I think that I might have a go about the Wigan evening connections nonsense. They've spent all that money on the Northern Electrics and I'm using taxis and Northern all stations Pacers to get from Glasgow to Liverpool...