Media centre

Tuesday 1 May 2007

10-YEAR RAIL STRATEGY PUBLISHED

Region & Route:

Rail passengers in and around Greater Manchester are set to benefit from the North West Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) published by Network Rail today. It sets out plans for meeting anticipated passenger and freight growth over the next 10 years and includes:

• more peak capacity
• better links between central Manchester and Liverpool,
• better links between Manchester and central Lancashire
• reducing crowding at congested stations
• improved access to the railway by developing park and ride schemes
• building a third platform at Manchester Airport to improve performance
• improvements east of Manchester for Peak Forest freight trains
• faster maximum speeds for trains in the Edgeley, Hazel Grove and Guide Bridge areas

Network Rail Route Director Peter Strachan said: "This RUS broadly covers the Manchester journey-to-work area. We published a draft in November and invited key sections of the business community and local authorities to tell us what they thought of our proposals. We have listened to what they told us and looked again at some of the calculations to produce something the whole rail industry and everyone involved in it can work towards over the next 10 years." Proposals contained in the RUS are separated into short, medium and long term solutions. Short term covers the period to 2009 and includes:

• more peak capacity between Manchester and Liverpool with additional carriages on trains and longer platforms to accommodate them - particularly on the routes serving Manchester Victoria
• removal of platform 'furniture' and some buildings on platforms 13/14 at Manchester Piccadilly and Salford Crescent to increase space for passengers
• an additional Manchester - Preston (and possibly on to Blackpool) hourly off peak service
• development of park-and-ride interchanges at Guide Bridge and Newton-le-Willows

Medium term covers 2009 to 2014 and will address:

• up to 50 additional vehicles to strengthen peak hour services on routes into Manchester and Liverpool,, together with lengthening platforms where necessary to take 4-carriage trains
• new platforms at Salford Central to allow Victoria - Liverpool services to call there
• relocation of Salford Crescent station to provide extra capacity for Bolton and Calder Valley services, and vastly improved interchange opportunities across central Manchester
• investigation of the electrification of the Manchester Victoria to Liverpool and Huyton to Wigan routes. These studies will be undertaken after the Department for Transport concludes its current consideration on electrification policy later this year
• increased speeds across a number of junctions to the east of Manchester, and within the Glossop/Hadfield triangle, to improve performance

The long term looks beyond 2014 at further expansions of train capacity between Manchester and Liverpool, lengthened platforms, improvements in freight capacity on routes serving Trafford Park, faster maximum speed on the Atherton line and building an interchange facility with Metrolink at Cornbrook or White City. One proposal that Network Rail is not pursuing for the time being is the closure of Ardwick, Denton and Reddish South stations. Having listened to the arguments against closure, Network Rail took into account such things as possible future development in the areas and re-evaluated the situation. However, the stations will be looked at again should they need significant amounts of money spent on them in the future. Speaking about the decision, MP for Denton & Reddish Andrew Gwynne said he was delighted: "This shows that Network Rail has taken on board the views of people in Reddish and Denton. The decision not to close our stations is the first step in our campaign to get a proper service into Manchester Victoria. Network Rail's wise decision has now made this a realistic possibility." "I am now working with the Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Authority to put forward a strong business case for this new service." The North West RUS will now form a key element in decision making by the various organisations that fund the rail industry.