Trains in Greater Manchester

Greater Manchester has a rail network of 142 route miles with 98 stations, forming a central hub to the North West rail network. Train services are provided by private operators and run on the national rail network which is owned and managed by Network Rail. The companies running trains in and through Greater Manchester are Arriva Trains Wales, Central Trains, Midland Mainline, Northern Rail, Transpennine Express and Virgin Trains. Network Rail owns and operates Britain’s rail infrastructure. They aim to provide Britain with a safe, reliable and efficient railway fit for the 21st century.

In the North West their business plan and 10 year route utilisation strategy (RUS), published in November 2006, proposes a number of enhancements to the network to help grow the railway and meet the increasing demand from passengers and freight services. [networkrail+RUS].

Activity is taking place on extensions to Manchester Metrolink; Productivity and Congestion studies in connection with the Transport Innovation Fund; and the West Coast 2008 timetable. Considerable effort has been made to ensure that RUS recommendations are consistent with published plans and the latest known position on other activities.

A number of the options are necessarily subject to satisfactory timetable and performance analysis that can only be conducted when the West Coast timetable becomes available, and measures to alleviate peak crowding would need to be re-examined if GMPTE is successful with its C-TIF proposal which includes road congestion charging. The consultation document reference scenario predicted 6 percent total growth over the period 2007 – 2017. A scenario using modified methodology predicts 44 percent growth over period, and this has been used for option appraisal.

  The key drivers of freight demand in the North West over the next 10 – 15 years are coal for electricity generation, aggregates and containerised traffic, with the strongest growth likely to be in containerised traffic.

The study identified generic gaps including :

• passenger demand exceeds service capacity during the peaks on most corridors
• many corridors serve only one side of Manchester city centre but destinations are evenly distributed
• rail is insufficiently integrated with Metrolink
• rail links to airports are insufficient for the market
• regular heavy stone trains cannot be accommodated without use of special operating arrangements
• platforms at Salford Crescent and Manchester Piccadilly (13/14) are congested at times and may restrict forecast growth
• inadequate facilities at some stations, including parking, discourage travel
• much of the rolling stock in the area is not well-suited to its current use.

Peak crowding is already a reality on many of Manchester’s radial routes, and will worsen if no action is taken. A programme of train lengthening with platform extensions on some routes is recommended.  

The island platforms at Salford Crescent and at Piccadilly (platforms 13 and 14) will have some of their platform furniture and buildings removed over the next year to increase circulation space because they are experiencing passenger congestion at a level that will cause performance problems and could cause frequent temporary station closures unless action is taken.

Better links between Liverpool and Manchester: there is a medium value for money case to increase the frequency of fast Liverpool - Manchester services from three to four tph without any other changes, as long as all four services use the same Manchester station.

Metrolink interchange can be improved at Eccles by investment in signage and passenger environment to raise awareness and understanding of the journey opportunities. It is recommended that interchange improvements at Eccles are taken forward immediately, and the resulting use of the interchange monitored.

A programme of train lengthening with platform extensions on some routes is recommended, but the anticipated need to procure new/cascaded rolling stock would take place in the medium term. Investment will be provided for Salford and Victoria including platforms being constructed on the Chat Moss lines at Salford Central allowing services between Liverpool and Victoria to serve Salford.