Old Yard Dog
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- 21 Aug 2011
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Northern Trains' December 2020 Track Access Application includes replacing the current twice daily Ellesmere Port - Warrington BQ - Manchester Victoria - Bradford - Leeds and return Mon-Fri services with extra Chester - Leeds services. Ellesmere Port would have one through train to Liverpool via Helsby and Runcorn instead, giving it through Liverpool services via two different routes.
This is a clear breach of the franchise agreement which requires two trains per day each way on the Ellesmere Port to Helsby line and stipulates
"One service departing from Ellesmere Port to Manchester shall arrive at Manchester between 08:00 and 08:59. One service shall depart from Ellesmere Port between 18:15 and 19:29 to Manchester."
"The service departing from Manchester to Ellesmere Port shall depart Manchester between 17:00 and 17:59. In addition to the specified services, one service shall be provided between Warrington Bank Quay and Ellesmere Port which shall call at all intermediate stations, and shall arrive at Ellesmere Port between 06:30 and 07:29."
On Saturdays, the franchise only requires two trains per day between Ellesmere Port and Helsby.
The loss of through services to Manchester is a serious loss to Ellesmere Port passengers who will not only lose fast journey times to Warrington, Manchester and Yorkshire but also connections to the West Coast main line (both directions) at Warrington and to many parts of the country at Manchester. Instead we will be palmed off with a much less useful very sparse service to Liverpool via a more indirect and slower route than that offered by Merseyrail.
Rail services east of Ellesmere Port are slowly but surely being run into the ground. Since the 1980's, the service has been reduced from a half hourly frequency, pre electrification from Hooton to Ellesmere Port, to a train every two hours to Liverpool via Warrington. The franchise requirement was then reduced to four trains a day which ran at very uneven intervals, inconvenient to passengers, mostly just to & from Helsby. The latest franchise reduced the requirement to only two trains per day between Ellesmere Port and Helsby (although, in fact, three are provided). This bitter pill was sweetened by the promise of through trains to Manchester and beyond. But now Northern Trains are planning to take these away.
The current franchise was of course won by Northern Rail, owned by Arriva, who have since been replaced by Northern Trains, owned by the DfT OLR Holdings Limited (DOHL). Northern Rail had shown a total lack of commitment to Ellesmere Port for very many years, running a skeleton service at times convenient to themselves rather than passengers. They decided not to market the new Manchester services, even refusing to put up timetable posters at Ellesmere Port station showing the times of their trains - or to supply posters to Merseyrail (the station operator) to put up on their behalf. This was despite a number of representations from myself and local rail users' groups. The new operator, presumably with many of the same staff, has also failed to put up timetable posters showing either the normal or Covid-19 services. The lack of provision of basic information is not acceptable.
This is a clear breach of the franchise agreement which requires two trains per day each way on the Ellesmere Port to Helsby line and stipulates
"One service departing from Ellesmere Port to Manchester shall arrive at Manchester between 08:00 and 08:59. One service shall depart from Ellesmere Port between 18:15 and 19:29 to Manchester."
"The service departing from Manchester to Ellesmere Port shall depart Manchester between 17:00 and 17:59. In addition to the specified services, one service shall be provided between Warrington Bank Quay and Ellesmere Port which shall call at all intermediate stations, and shall arrive at Ellesmere Port between 06:30 and 07:29."
On Saturdays, the franchise only requires two trains per day between Ellesmere Port and Helsby.
The loss of through services to Manchester is a serious loss to Ellesmere Port passengers who will not only lose fast journey times to Warrington, Manchester and Yorkshire but also connections to the West Coast main line (both directions) at Warrington and to many parts of the country at Manchester. Instead we will be palmed off with a much less useful very sparse service to Liverpool via a more indirect and slower route than that offered by Merseyrail.
Rail services east of Ellesmere Port are slowly but surely being run into the ground. Since the 1980's, the service has been reduced from a half hourly frequency, pre electrification from Hooton to Ellesmere Port, to a train every two hours to Liverpool via Warrington. The franchise requirement was then reduced to four trains a day which ran at very uneven intervals, inconvenient to passengers, mostly just to & from Helsby. The latest franchise reduced the requirement to only two trains per day between Ellesmere Port and Helsby (although, in fact, three are provided). This bitter pill was sweetened by the promise of through trains to Manchester and beyond. But now Northern Trains are planning to take these away.
The current franchise was of course won by Northern Rail, owned by Arriva, who have since been replaced by Northern Trains, owned by the DfT OLR Holdings Limited (DOHL). Northern Rail had shown a total lack of commitment to Ellesmere Port for very many years, running a skeleton service at times convenient to themselves rather than passengers. They decided not to market the new Manchester services, even refusing to put up timetable posters at Ellesmere Port station showing the times of their trains - or to supply posters to Merseyrail (the station operator) to put up on their behalf. This was despite a number of representations from myself and local rail users' groups. The new operator, presumably with many of the same staff, has also failed to put up timetable posters showing either the normal or Covid-19 services. The lack of provision of basic information is not acceptable.
