£85m train link between Manchester Piccadilly and Victoria stations approved

[Invincibles]

Chester - Leeds could well work, as could a link from Yorkshire to the North Wales holiday towns (Chester - Manchester really ought to be better than hourly, unless you want the long treck through Knutsford etc)

And then we can finally take the Liverpool - Scarborough off 13 and release a lot more paths into Piccadilly

If only there was enough stock.

Chester - Yorkshire might work as an extension of a Leeds/York - Victoria express running with 158s presumably available after the cascading of units from the electric lines around Manchester / Edinburgh. If you wanted to go all the way along the North Wales coast it would need more units and would presumably have to be a Northern/ATW joint train?

 

[Welshman]

Chester - Leeds could well work, as could a link from Yorkshire to the North Wales holiday towns (Chester - Manchester really ought to be better than hourly, unless you want the long treck through Knutsford etc)

There used to be through North Wales/Leeds/Hull/North East services in the 1980s and 90s, and it would be good to see them return.

Now, as then, they could go via Victoria and Ashton rather than Piccadilly, so save a bit of congestion that way. They would also provide a more frequent Chester/Manchester via Warrington service, as the present hourly service is usually packed. Perhaps, too, they might be express on this section, stopping only at Warrington, perhaps. The current time of 60-63 minutes for the 40 miles from Manchester to Chester is hardly breath-taking.

But I doubt it will happen. Where will the stock be found? Which franchise would run it? Could WAG be persuaded to spend money on trains going to other places than Cardiff?

{sorry to duplicate some of your points, Invincibles. You got your post in as I was writing mine!}

 

[pemma]

Chester - Leeds could well work, as could a link from Yorkshire to the North Wales holiday towns (Chester - Manchester really ought to be better than hourly, unless you want the long treck through Knutsford etc)

I think the best solution would be the westerly Airport link I mentioned earlier. This would allow Chester-Knutsford-Man Airport-Piccadilly in around an hour assuming the only stops would be Northwich, Knutsford and Manchester Airport. It would also mean the fast Airport service and through service could be the same service, opposed to something like a Llandudno-Airport service and a Chester-Hull service.
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Could WAG be persuaded to spend money on trains going to other places than Cardiff?

Doubtful. The Welsh politicial interference is what's changed a lot of the routes in to Wales, such as the Liverpool-Cardiff service and Holyhead services generally going via Wrexham instead of Crewe.

 

[Whistler40145]

jccollins, a line linking Manchester Airport & Chester would be quite useful, then the Stockport-Altrincham line could then close, but do you then build a new line enabling services to link Stockport & Manchester Airport?

 

[pemma]

jccollins, a line linking Manchester Airport & Chester would be quite useful, then the Stockport-Altrincham line could then close.

Not really. Firstly, it is used by freight. Secondly, there is a market for Stockport services from Mid-Cheshire. I agree demand would decrease on that line if the a lot of passengers for Manchester use the new line. However, the reinstation of Cheadle and Baguley stations on the Altrincham-Stockport line would put some of that demand back.

but do you then build a new line enabling services to link Stockport & Manchester Airport?

When it was examined (in the 1990s) an easterly Airport link from Stockport was seen as a less useful operation than a westerly link, so the westerly link has been repeatedly seen as an 'look at again in the future' option, while the easterly link appears an option as dead as a do-do.

 

[DiscoSteve]

However, the reinstation of Cheadle and Baguley stations on the Altrincham-Stockport line would put some of that demand back.

Those are so badly needed - despite being mooted for years I do not understand why nothing has happened - especially at Cheadle

 

[pemma]

Those are so badly needed - despite being mooted for years I do not understand why nothing has happened - especially at Cheadle

GMPTE's priority is the Metrolink - that's why. The Airport Metrolink link would serve the Wythenshawe/Baguley area and I imagine they would argue Cheadle is within walking distance of Gatley station, although most people seem to use the 130 bus and not the train.

The reinstation of Cheadle station in it's original location has issues due to infrastructure previously being removed and Motorway taking over.

Although one issue that will probably occur if those two stations were reinstated now is relating to capacity. Some off-peak services on the Chester-Altrincham-Manchester line are overcrowded so if 100 people from Cheadle want to use the train to commute to Manchester then the capacity isn't there. Putting in an extra service every hour between Northwich and Manchester calling at Cheadle and Baguley would be the solution but there's no spare trains or paths!

 

[DiscoSteve]

Original Cheadle Station (not original original) was on the Tiviot Dale Line next to the M60 now. The mooted location for Cheadle Station was actually on the Stockport-Navigation Road Line around Roscoes Roundabout