• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Northern timetable plan for May 2018

Status
Not open for further replies.

pemma

Veteran Member
Joined
23 Jan 2009
Messages
31,474
Location
Knutsford
I find myself in a similar position - I'm in Stalybridge and therefore lose all services to Oxford Road which were immensely convenient for me, especially if I go to friends' houses in Fallowfield or Victoria Park after work. Got to go to Victoria now instead as I often travel with a bike (saves taking the bus), which will be no good on TPE as I seldom know when I'll be travelling.

So in short because you find the TPE compulsory cycle reservations unsuitable for your needs you wouldn't use TPE to Oxford Rd even if they still ran it.

Don't forget they'll be 17:38 and 18:38 Northern services from Stalybridge to Piccadilly and that some trains (including the last train to Stalybridge) will serve Salford Central, which is a bit closer to Fallowfield than Victoria.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

BurtonM

Member
Joined
3 Feb 2014
Messages
823
Location
Manchester
Frankly, yes. Northern run trains with dedicated cycle spaces that can be used ad-hoc, at the same frequency as TPE - 2 per hour.
So why should I mess about with cycle reservations?
 

Lemmy99uk

Member
Joined
5 May 2015
Messages
459
Frankly, yes. Northern run trains with dedicated cycle spaces that can be used ad-hoc, at the same frequency as TPE - 2 per hour.
So why should I mess about with cycle reservations?

Except the cycle space on Northern is not guaranteed. It is first come, first served and subject to availability. I have seen many cyclist refused travel due to crowding.
 

Starmill

Veteran Member
Fares Advisor
Joined
18 May 2012
Messages
23,224
Location
Bolton
Frankly, yes. Northern run trains with dedicated cycle spaces that can be used ad-hoc, at the same frequency as TPE - 2 per hour.
So why should I mess about with cycle reservations?
You've been told at least 3 times now that they can be made a few minutes before the train departs. If you're not happy with that and choose to use a different train then of course that is your right, but why come here to complain about that different train not going where you want? TransPennine trains all have dedicated cycle spaces. Most Northern trains do, but not all. Maybe you should make a new thread to discuss cycle reservations?
 

BurtonM

Member
Joined
3 Feb 2014
Messages
823
Location
Manchester
I wouldn't call a space shared with tip-up seats dedicated cycle storage, and aren't reservations first come first serve? That's by the by.
I don't travel on peak flows very often at all so I've never had to be refused travel, and Northern services to Stalybridge from Manchester in the new timetable will be terminating at Stalybridge. These services are always pretty quiet off peak IME.

I don't have anything more to say.
 

CaptainHaddock

Established Member
Joined
10 Feb 2011
Messages
2,206
I wouldn't call a space shared with tip-up seats dedicated cycle storage, and aren't reservations first come first serve? That's by the by.
I don't travel on peak flows very often at all so I've never had to be refused travel, and Northern services to Stalybridge from Manchester in the new timetable will be terminating at Stalybridge. These services are always pretty quiet off peak IME.

I don't have anything more to say.

I agree with you - TPE's cycle space provision is very poor and there always seems to be people sitting in the tip up seats in the cycle space, even when there are other seats available. It also tends to get filled up with luggage on services to and from Manchester Airport. Making cycle reservations compulsory, even on quieter off-peak services, is going to lead to an awful lot of needless confrontations with jobsworth guards and is a poorly-thought-out idea.
 

Mathew S

Established Member
Joined
7 Aug 2017
Messages
2,167
I agree with you - TPE's cycle space provision is very poor and there always seems to be people sitting in the tip up seats in the cycle space, even when there are other seats available. It also tends to get filled up with luggage on services to and from Manchester Airport. Making cycle reservations compulsory, even on quieter off-peak services, is going to lead to an awful lot of needless confrontations with jobsworth guards and is a poorly-thought-out idea.
Conversely, I've been on crowded (is there any other kind?) TPE services when people without bike reservations have tried to board anyway, and the guard has been reluctant to stop them. Only when other passengers and I pointed out that there just wasn't room, there were three of them, and that they hadn't bothered to make reservations, did the guard tell them they had to make reservations for a later train(s).
I'm all for encouraging cycling, but when TPEs trains are as crowded as they are, cycle reservations are the only way to do it safely and without causing inconvenience to other passengers.
 

Bantamzen

Established Member
Joined
4 Dec 2013
Messages
9,668
Location
Baildon, West Yorkshire
I wouldn't call a space shared with tip-up seats dedicated cycle storage, and aren't reservations first come first serve? That's by the by.
I don't travel on peak flows very often at all so I've never had to be refused travel, and Northern services to Stalybridge from Manchester in the new timetable will be terminating at Stalybridge. These services are always pretty quiet off peak IME.

I don't have anything more to say.

Frankly as things stand, TPE's priorty is to provide space for passengers so when only 3 car versions were authorised for order cycle storage was way down that priority list. And with the exception of a handful of paths, most TPEs are still only 3 car until at least the new stock comes into service. Sorry but there it is, you do have the option of using Northern services as said if it is too much of an inconvience for you to spend a couple of minutes booking a cycle space
 

JMan

Member
Joined
22 Feb 2018
Messages
15
Is there a case of the Bolton line caused this, let’s punish them? Northern have completely messed up calling patterns, especially at intermediate stations like Lostock. Lostock loses a morning peak service with a 43 minute gap between 0735 and 0817 - what happened to the 0750ish departure? This will cause more crowding and parking issues at Horwich. More concerning is the evening peak Manchester Oxford Rd to Bolton core route has gone from departures at 1703, 1714, 1726, 1731, 1749 to only two services at 1704 and 1734 - let the chaos ensue!
 

notlob.divad

Established Member
Joined
19 Jan 2016
Messages
1,609
Is there a case of the Bolton line caused this, let’s punish them? Northern have completely messed up calling patterns, especially at intermediate stations like Lostock. Lostock loses a morning peak service with a 43 minute gap between 0735 and 0817 - what happened to the 0750ish departure? This will cause more crowding and parking issues at Horwich.

I don't think it is a case of 'punishment' but most of the issues are caused by the continualy lack of power on the Bolton route. The rest of the Northern network needs to keep moving during this time, and there simply are not enough DMUs in the country to plug the gap.

More concerning is the evening peak Manchester Oxford Rd to Bolton core route has gone from departures at 1703, 1714, 1726, 1731, 1749 to only two services at 1704 and 1734 - let the chaos ensue!

Interestingly according to RTT there is an Alderley Edge to Southport service, that goes though at 1720 stopping at both Piccadilly and Deansgate but not Oxford Road which does seem irregular.
 

pdq

Member
Joined
7 Oct 2010
Messages
800
The changes already appear in journey planners (eg NRE) and anyone who signed up to be notified will, aiui, receive an email late this week (Saturday I think). Given the changes, I'd expect a significant amount of local press coverage, as well as lots of hype about improvements from Northern & TPE online and through posters at stations.
So far there's nothing at all at Batley Station...
 

Mathew S

Established Member
Joined
7 Aug 2017
Messages
2,167
I don't think it is a case of 'punishment' but most of the issues are caused by the continualy lack of power on the Bolton route. The rest of the Northern network needs to keep moving during this time, and there simply are not enough DMUs in the country to plug the gap.



Interestingly according to RTT there is an Alderley Edge to Southport service, that goes though at 1720 stopping at both Piccadilly and Deansgate but not Oxford Road which does seem irregular.
There's a post earlier in the thread with a copy of a letter from Northern which explains that one Alderley - Wigan evening peak service skips Ox Road and one skips Deansgate, to help mitigate overcrowding.
 

BrianB

Member
Joined
21 Jan 2018
Messages
111
There's no new timetables at any station yet, afaik. It takes time to produce printed docs, or even pdfs.
Normally there is no obligation to have pocket timetables available at stations until 4 weeks in advance, therefore Sunday 22 April at the latest. With this year's delays I don't imagine that is remotely possible considering the edit and print timescales involved.
 

YorkshireBear

Established Member
Joined
23 Jul 2010
Messages
8,677
There are lots of complaints to be had but I think to be frank.

It is going to be hell for 6 months. End of.
 

transplanted

Member
Joined
21 Feb 2016
Messages
36
There are lots of complaints to be had but I think to be frank.

It is going to be hell for 6 months. End of.

not seen anything in the MEN yet; but im awaiting the apocalyptic headlines.

it does appear though, for the regular punter, that for some commutes these improvements have actually had a detrimental effect on their services. they will not care if there is direct services through the city if it is more difficult to make commuting trips, which frankly is a big percentage of the farebox.
 

Bantamzen

Established Member
Joined
4 Dec 2013
Messages
9,668
Location
Baildon, West Yorkshire
not seen anything in the MEN yet; but im awaiting the apocalyptic headlines.

it does appear though, for the regular punter, that for some commutes these improvements have actually had a detrimental effect on their services. they will not care if there is direct services through the city if it is more difficult to make commuting trips, which frankly is a big percentage of the farebox.

Invariably when changes happen, some commuters lose out whilst others gain. In the North West it hasn't helped that many of the engineering projects haven't gone to plan, and with Northern slap bang in the middle of a large cascade as well as waiting on new units there was bound to be a period of churn whilst everything gets into place.
 

transplanted

Member
Joined
21 Feb 2016
Messages
36
Invariably when changes happen, some commuters lose out whilst others gain. In the North West it hasn't helped that many of the engineering projects haven't gone to plan, and with Northern slap bang in the middle of a large cascade as well as waiting on new units there was bound to be a period of churn whilst everything gets into place.
i understand - however this doesn't make a great response to the papers, though. :(
 

pdq

Member
Joined
7 Oct 2010
Messages
800
There's no new timetables at any station yet, afaik. It takes time to produce printed docs, or even pdfs.
I was at least expecting by now some generic posters informing of the fact that timetables are changing significantly. There was one at HUD yesterday but nothing at BTL.
As someone said earlier, you would think that they would be trumpeting the fact that Batley now gets fastish, direct services to Manchester Piccadilly and Hull, whilst probably keeping quiet about the uneven pattern (xx49 and xx04 towards HUD) and withdrawal of direct services to Brighouse and beyond.
 

Mathew S

Established Member
Joined
7 Aug 2017
Messages
2,167
I was at least expecting by now some generic posters informing of the fact that timetables are changing significantly. There was one at HUD yesterday but nothing at BTL.
As someone said earlier, you would think that they would be trumpeting the fact that Batley now gets fastish, direct services to Manchester Piccadilly and Hull, whilst probably keeping quiet about the uneven pattern (xx49 and xx04 towards HUD) and withdrawal of direct services to Brighouse and beyond.
I'll admit I haven't been keeping an eye out for them, but there's certainly a poster advertising the upcoming timetable change on Salford Crescent station (no detail, just stating that the new times will be online/in NRE from 7th April onwards). My expectation is that we'll see large posters advertising the improvements closer to/on/shortly after the date of the actual changes; just as we saw for the limited improvements in December.
Invariably when changes happen, some commuters lose out whilst others gain.
Exactly this.
i understand - however this doesn't make a great response to the papers, though. :(
The MEN are generally pretty reasonable about railway stuff, I think. Some of their readers, on the other hand, are frothing at the mouth fruitloops judging by the comments.
 

Bantamzen

Established Member
Joined
4 Dec 2013
Messages
9,668
Location
Baildon, West Yorkshire
I was at least expecting by now some generic posters informing of the fact that timetables are changing significantly. There was one at HUD yesterday but nothing at BTL.
As someone said earlier, you would think that they would be trumpeting the fact that Batley now gets fastish, direct services to Manchester Piccadilly and Hull, whilst probably keeping quiet about the uneven pattern (xx49 and xx04 towards HUD) and withdrawal of direct services to Brighouse and beyond.

Some are starting to appear, I noticed one in the ticket office at Shipley stating that .pdf versions would be available from 7th May. But most if not all are loaded into the systems now, so journey planners should be throwing up the correct results for ticket procurement even if they may still carry some caveats.
 

LewHammer

Member
Joined
23 Jan 2016
Messages
122
Having a look at the current Lincoln-Sheffield/Adwick stoppers being extended to Leeds, with none for Doncaster/Adwick, and running as express services from Sheffield; I'm thinking that Northern would be putting out better units than the existing 142/144's, my fingers are crossed for 158s being allocated for these! Even though the timing loads on RTT are that of 150/3/6 units.
:http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/Y23411/2018/05/21/advanced
 

JMan

Member
Joined
22 Feb 2018
Messages
15
I don't think it is a case of 'punishment' but most of the issues are caused by the continualy lack of power on the Bolton route. The rest of the Northern network needs to keep moving during this time, and there simply are not enough DMUs in the country to plug the gap.



Interestingly according to RTT there is an Alderley Edge to Southport service, that goes though at 1720 stopping at both Piccadilly and Deansgate but not Oxford Road which does seem irregular.

At least they recognise there will be overcrowding going from 5 trains to 2... But I just don’t get how this has slipped through TfGM, etc

I accept there’s a shortage of DMUs but in some cases, like the 0750ish and 0850ish departures at Lostock, the trains are still running in those paths, they’re just choosing to omit more stops.

It’s lose lose as far as I see with Bolton line users - we’ve been hardest hit with disruption (no trains at weekend for the foreseeable) and now a reduction in services.
 

MidnightFlyer

Veteran Member
Joined
16 May 2010
Messages
12,857
There's no new timetables at any station yet, afaik. It takes time to produce printed docs, or even pdfs.

Batley (and all the stations between Stalybridge and Leeds) are included in the new TPE north book, which is online as a pdf now.
 

PFE

New Member
Joined
18 Apr 2018
Messages
2
Morning all, first time poster. Be kind!

I noticed something in Manchester Piccadilly on an electronic notice board this morning about timetable changes, but couldn't work out from it the information that is pertinent to me. Please can someone indulge?

Will there be (and if so what are the details) of a new Macclesfield - Blackpool North Line?

I am getting all excited at the prospect of a) going all the way through to Oxford road/Deansgate where I work and B) going through to Preston for friends/family.

I can't see anything on the Northern website though. Thanks in advance.
 

pdq

Member
Joined
7 Oct 2010
Messages
800
Batley (and all the stations between Stalybridge and Leeds) are included in the new TPE north book, which is online as a pdf now.
Indeed. But my point is really that 'normal' travellers - who don't follow the ins and outs of these timetable changes but just turn up at the station each day for their train - are yet to be informed of the changes. They are significant changes, not because of the alterations to the timings per-se, but because journeys to some stations on the Calder Valley line will become much more difficult and lengthy, which could possibly impact on people's journeys to work.
 
Last edited:

LNW-GW Joint

Veteran Member
Joined
22 Feb 2011
Messages
19,555
Location
Mold, Clwyd
Morning all, first time poster. Be kind!
I noticed something in Manchester Piccadilly on an electronic notice board this morning about timetable changes, but couldn't work out from it the information that is pertinent to me. Please can someone indulge?
Will there be (and if so what are the details) of a new Macclesfield - Blackpool North Line?
I am getting all excited at the prospect of a) going all the way through to Oxford road/Deansgate where I work and B) going through to Preston for friends/family.
I can't see anything on the Northern website though. Thanks in advance.

A Macclesfield-Blackpool electric service (and many other new services) was due to have started on May 20.
However the Salford-Bolton-Preston line is still being electrified and won't be finished before summer at the earliest.
So Northern have had to rewrite their timetable for May 20, and are short of diesel trains to cover all the planned new services.
So some of the new services are not going to operate, and others will only be partially working.
Until Northern publish their timetable we can only speculate on services, based on snippets of information from various places.

You can of course get an electric train from Oxford Road to Preston now (TP to Scotland, via Wigan), and Northern will start a Manchester Airport-Blackpool electric service (also via Wigan) as soon as the Blackpool line goes live which hopefully will be on May 20.
Macclesfield-Oxford Road-Bolton-Preston should be running by December, but until then it will terminate at Piccadilly.
The trains themselves might change as 4-car class 319s will be working more services from May 20 (new trains are due next year).
Welcome to the forum by the way.
 

geoffk

Established Member
Joined
4 Aug 2010
Messages
3,223
Indeed. But my point is really that 'normal' travellers - who don't follow the ins and outs of these timetable changes but just turn up at the station each day for their train - are yet to be informed of the changes. They are significant changes, not because of the alterations to the timings per-se, but because journeys to some stations on the Calder Valley line will become much more difficult and lengthy, which could possibly impact on people's journeys to work.
And, while we are trying to cope with the timetable changes, at the same time some of us are getting a Penalty fares scheme!
 

pemma

Veteran Member
Joined
23 Jan 2009
Messages
31,474
Location
Knutsford
The 22:41 Piccadilly to Chester is shown as skipping Navigation Road for no obvious reason, possibly a mistake?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top