They are the two services that won’t be removed from the corridor, whether people like it or not.
Cutting off the Lake District from the nearest airport? That would down well in what was a Lib Dem marginal…
Much better to remove the closer services, such as Southport.
Surely the closer places are the ones most deserving of direct services. Paths should be allocated based on some weighting of distance and relative importance, in order of priority of Airport, then Castlefield, then Victoria.
TfW should be banned from Castlefield, with the Chester Airport service running non-stop via the Mid Cheshire line, calling at Stockport then reversing at Piccadilly which doesn’t increase journey times. If 2tph to Warrington Bank Quay are desired, run an additional Chester - Wigan via Newton-le-Willows.
Personally I'd like to see the signalling centre at Salford moved and Salford Crescent changed to two islands for quality cross platform interchange both ways including the Atherton line, then it doesn't matter. A third platform is very much sub optimal as it reduces the quality of the interchange (though helps overcrowding, but so would shifting the track over and building one larger island).
I would give Salford Crescent 2 islands more like the size of the ones at Bolton, much larger than the current ones, with 1 through track in the middle used by TPE services in both directions, with P1 for Victoria, P2 for Bolton, P3 for Piccadilly, P4 for Atherton and all crossing movements made on approach to the station. Non-stop Atherton services could be the fastest to Wigan rather than going via Golborne if there were any.
On both sides of Salford Crescent there seem to be some stupid slip roads which serve no purpose whatsoever. Just rip them up in favour of conventional flat road junctions and widen the railway with increased passenger space.
And Vic needs a total rebuild, it remains an abject fume filled dump. If it isn't going to be possible to dump the Arena, then a mezzanine.
I would say Victoria is one of the better Manchester stations. Oxford Road needs to be top of the list for the complete rebuild. The present track layout is unusable. The lack through of platforms at Salford Central and Piccadilly then need to be addressed and Salford Crescent is an embarrassment. Deansgate however is quite pleasant and provides excellent tram connections, except to the Trafford Centre which needs to be rectified immediately.
Platforms 13/14 at Piccadilly feel like one of the weakest links in the entire UK rail network. The lack of space there, in relation to their centrality for rail connections across the whole of the North of England, is beyond a joke. Seriously when will platform 15/16 get built?
My money is now on immediately after the conclusion of the current round of strikes.
The existing east facing turnbacks at Victoria (Platforms 1 and 2, and the reversing siding west of the station) are all on the south side. Trains to/from the Rochdale lines have to cross the eastern throat to use them, which restricts capacity. Also the bays are only 4-car length.
Presumably the additional turnback will be accessed from Platforms 5 and 6.
No services from Rochdale use Platforms 1 or 2 that I know of. Regardless of any sub-optimal crossing movements that have to be made, Platforms 1-2 at Victoria and 1-12 at Piccadilly provide no shortage of east facing terminal capacity whatsoever, which is a hugely less constrained situation than from the west, with effectively no terminal platforms at all. P5 at Oxford Road should be closed since it does more harm than good, which leaves only the bays at Stalybridge and Rochdale.