Recent content by AlastairFraser

A shuttle was proposed before I believe, but heading the whole way up to Rawtenstall. Extending a Rochdale terminator wouldn't be too awkward with the current infrastructure brought up to code I guess, but operationally I bet it would screw things up. A happy medium between the 2 ideas could...

Surely the wouldn't have attracted sufficient passenger demand to justify the investment. I know Heywood desperately needs a connection to a faster form of public transport, but I can't see it ever pulling many cars off the road with the need to change at Rochdale to access central Manchester...

I don't understand why Peel are drawing the negotiations out really. Surely losing Calmac revenue to Troon permanently would blow a hole in their budget.

I think it will be mostly the old alignment as far as Heaton Mersey (as another poster above suggested). TfGM have a 2040 strategy map for Metrolink somewhere and Cheadle Hulme/Cheadle are connected to Hazel Grove using the current freight only branch towards Northenden Junction in part. That...

I used it a couple of weeks ago and there were significant numbers of passengers transferring to/from rail in both directions, but not in comparison with London numbers I agree.

Fair enough. Brighton is probably a better destination than Seaford if you were choosing between the 2

This seemed to be the case for several days over the past few weeks. Impressive!

Although their 737 Max 10 variant on order has a range of 3,600 miles, so something like Shannon to Montreal/Toronto/Ottawa would be feasible. I don't see them going for it either, due to the economics of long haul operations and the unsuitability of their standard cabin to long haul ops, but...

Fair point. I'm not sure the journey time would be much slower at all via Uckfield. Whichever route you choose Uckfield to Lewes, it shouldn't take more than 10 mins, and there are significant improvements to be made to journey times north of Uckfield with a EMU, compared to 171 acceleration.

Indeed. Unfortunately, due to the short notice commissioning of many Buxton line RRBs, I doubt you'd have enough time to set up proper diversion signage or personnel most of the time.

I'm not convinced that you desperately need a direct link to Brighton, but fair enough. I thought that there was 2tph Brighton to Seaford, 1tph Brighton to Eastbourne, and 1tph Brighton to Ore (and vice versa). So surely 4tph at Lewes would provide a decent connection? 1748886871 Fair point...

Although at least all 3 stations are relatively close to the A329 - it mustn't be more than a 5 min walk to the station entrance from the respective replacement stops. There are some pretty hideous distances in other areas from replacement bus stops.

A notorious example of this must be the Chapel-en-le-Frith RRB stop, on the High Street in the middle of the large village/small town the best part of a mile down the hill from Chapel station! The stop is quite close to the old Chapel (Midland) station, but it has caused quite a bit of...

More trains from London via Gatwick to at least Haywards Heath and potentially Lewes. Seaford is a destination worth considering, but the issue is that you'd break the link with Brighton, which is one of the key destinations for people travelling from Newhaven/Seaford. You'd also face issues...

It is going to be costly either way, I can appreciate that. Isn't there already a decent service to Brighton (up to 4tph) on the East Coastway that can be interchanged with at Lewes? I was also proposing replacing the existing London via Gatwick to Eastbourne/Ore services with an extension of...