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Arriva Rail North Timetable/Travel Advice on Strike Days

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Bungle965

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Very simple for Northern's Manchester-Sheffield stopping service through the Hope Valley. There will be no Northern trains on Saturdays.

No Northern train has run on any strike day. The few East Midlands services that previously made some extra stops no longer do.

The first East Midlands early service from Sheffield to Manchester stops all stations and the last of the day between Manchester and Sheffield provides a train in the opposite direction so there remains very limited connectivity by rail.

East Midlands and TPE fast services operate as normal between the two cities.
I can understand when Arriva handed over the Welsh franchise and stopped being run by them for them not to keep the arrangement of them calling at places like Sandbach for instance (as a side point does anyone know if the TfW guards are still being hired in to operate the Mid Cheshire line? Or has that stopped also?)
But East Midlands Trains has nothing to do with Arriva so why has that stopped?

Is it daft of me to think that as the strikes ramp up and there is less and less PUG's willing to work services that alternative arrangements should be increasing not declining as a result. For instance at the start of the strikes you had the likes of CrossCountry calling additionally at Congleton, and as you say you had East Midlands Trains calling at stations on the Hope Valley line.
I can understand that there has been issues that have cropped up in terms of pathing and calling at these stations, but there is no excuse really for there not to be acceptance on Metrolink now.
Sam
 
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MDB1images

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Which is working out very badly with 3 figures left behind regularly and EMT suffering substantial fleet problems.

The crush at Oxford Road is scary with the Northern services let alone without.

Preston-Man Picc the same.

Bizarrely a Northern bus still running Preston to Buckshaw Parkway whilst Manchester passengers can't get on TPE trains as Northern not providing any service to Manchester.

Think a small Wigan to Manchester service running this weekend so no doubt Virgin Trains will also carry heavy loads Preston to Wigan.
 

agbrs_Jack

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For instance at the start of the strikes you had the likes of CrossCountry calling additionally at Congleton

We certainly did not have any additional calls from ANY operators.
We have never had any northern services on any strike days and never any additional calls.
Our full timetable for the Saturday strikes is:
06:58 to Manchester
17:55 to Bournemouth
18:55 to Bournemouth

Weekday strikes are identical (with 06:57 rather than 58 and the 17:55 ommited) For the vast majority of the strike period (so far), we were the busiest station with no northern service and no suitable alternative.
 

Bungle965

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We certainly did not have any additional calls from ANY operators.
We have never had any northern services on any strike days and never any additional calls.
Our full timetable for the Saturday strikes is:
06:58 to Manchester
17:55 to Bournemouth
18:55 to Bournemouth

Weekday strikes are identical (with 06:57 rather than 58 and the 17:55 ommited) For the vast majority of the strike period (so far), we were the busiest station with no northern service and no suitable alternative.
Ah yes, you are quite right!
Do you find that more people are using the XC services in the mornings & evenings as a result?
Sam
 

agbrs_Jack

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Ah yes, you are quite right!
Do you find that more people are using the XC services in the mornings & evenings as a result?
Sam
I personally haven't checked saturdays, the few times I've caught the 06:58 it's only been around 5-10 boarding (far busier on weekdays). However I did count 180 people off the 18:55 on a Friday Strike.

People seem to be travelling on Sundays instead although that's difficult too with only 5 services each way.
I have been contacting Northern and CrossCountry about additional calls for well over a year but after 8 months of passing responsibility, they've said that the Virgin service is too close behind and will be slightly delayed so XC need to get permission from VT.

Annoyingly, for the early on strikes, Morpeth had additional XC calls, despite having a service 6 times better than CNG's anyway and a similar passenger usage. Most if not all other stations which have had additional calls have either a lower usage, or a better service. (Sandbach, Alderley Edge, Hope Valley to name some)
 

Killingworth

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Annoyingly, for the early on strikes, Morpeth had additional XC calls, despite having a service 6 times better than CNG's anyway and a similar passenger usage. Most if not all other stations which have had additional calls have either a lower usage, or a better service. (Sandbach, Alderley Edge, Hope Valley to name some)

To be fair, East Midlands stopped only a few trains at one or two Hope Valley line stations (from Dore & Totley, Hope and Edale if memory serves correct) and they were different ones for almost every strike day. They weren't advertised in any way by Northern or East Midlands so hardly any were used except perhaps at Dore & Totley where some locally arranged publicity based on info from RTT may have helped.
 

agbrs_Jack

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To be fair, East Midlands stopped only a few trains at one or two Hope Valley line stations (from Dore & Totley, Hope and Edale if memory serves correct) and they were different ones for almost every strike day. They weren't advertised in any way by Northern or East Midlands so hardly any were used except perhaps at Dore & Totley where some locally arranged publicity based on info from RTT may have helped.
Ok, but some is better than none and Congleton has superior passenger figures (for now).
The other stations remain and my point stands.
 

johntea

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The Knottingley line does seem to receive a rather good service on strike days compared to others, which is odd considering how the stations along the route are well covered by Arriva buses which can be used in lieu of the train unless that has changed recently too!
 

agbrs_Jack

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To be fair, East Midlands stopped only a few trains at one or two Hope Valley line stations (from Dore & Totley, Hope and Edale if memory serves correct) and they were different ones for almost every strike day. They weren't advertised in any way by Northern or East Midlands so hardly any were used except perhaps at Dore & Totley where some locally arranged publicity based on info from RTT may have helped.
Congleton has from Double up to ten times the passengers than stations on the Hope Valley so it’s a pretty weak argument.
 

Killingworth

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Congleton has from Double up to ten times the passengers than stations on the Hope Valley so it’s a pretty weak argument.

Let's not fall out about this. We all want the strike resolved. The good folks wanting to get to Edale may be few but they don't have an alternative bus on any day. The few East Midlands random stops without publicity were of minimal help. It was better than nothing but didn't last. We all want a full, reliable, service restored as soon as possible. See the Northern DOO thread for latest developments.
 

agbrs_Jack

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Let's not fall out about this. We all want the strike resolved. The good folks wanting to get to Edale may be few but they don't have an alternative bus on any day. The few East Midlands random stops without publicity were of minimal help. It was better than nothing but didn't last. We all want a full, reliable, service restored as soon as possible. See the Northern DOO thread for latest developments.
I agree that we all just want normal service restored, but it’s frustrating when smaller stations are getting much better services (not just on strike days, Edale has an hourly Sunday service!)
The strikes have pretty much obliterated leisure travel from Congleton now as people will assume there are no trains (I’ll be making sure as many people know as possible when there are no strikes though). A simple 2-hourly stop in each direction from XC would help a great deal.
 

LowLevel

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Let's not fall out about this. We all want the strike resolved. The good folks wanting to get to Edale may be few but they don't have an alternative bus on any day. The few East Midlands random stops without publicity were of minimal help. It was better than nothing but didn't last. We all want a full, reliable, service restored as soon as possible. See the Northern DOO thread for latest developments.

I dropped off at Edale one strike day over 50 walkers. Pretty much none of them were aware there were only a couple of trains back.
 

Killingworth

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I dropped off at Edale one strike day over 50 walkers. Pretty much none of them were aware there were only a couple of trains back.

I was on one of those very few trains that stopped and suspected the large numbers alighting and joining may have been very lucky as there was no local publicity by the TOCs. Any who planned for those stops must have been keen rail watchers.
 

LowLevel

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I was on one of those very few trains that stopped and suspected the large numbers alighting and joining may have been very lucky as there was no local publicity by the TOCs. Any who planned for those stops must have been keen rail watchers.

I genuinely think, having spoken to most of them to impress they couldn't do common things like walk to other stations and that they only had a limited range of options to return, that they had just put Manchester to Edale into a journey planner and gone with what it spits out.
 

MDB1images

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No ticket acceptance with EMT this coming Saturday.
Advance Northern tickets only can be used on TPE.
 

Kite159

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Needless to say if travelling back towards Stoke/Macclesfield from Manchester on a Saturday evening, don't leave it until the final XC service.

I believe the final XC to Birmingham on the 24th November left a good 100+ passengers behind at Piccadilly (forcing XC to put an additional service to Stoke on using a voyager which was stabling up in Manchester overnight).
 

agbrs_Jack

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Needless to say if travelling back towards Stoke/Macclesfield from Manchester on a Saturday evening, don't leave it until the final XC service.

I believe the final XC to Birmingham on the 24th November left a good 100+ passengers behind at Piccadilly (forcing XC to put an additional service to Stoke on using a voyager which was stabling up in Manchester overnight).

If travelling to Congleton don't miss the 1827 :/
 

Big_43

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I notice that Northern services from York to Leeds are no longer calling at Church Fenton on strike days. Would anyone have an idea whether this is temporary due to Christmas season or permanent from now on?
 

syorksdeano

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Something I have noticed about the we page for the strikes is that Northern will mention every football team that are playing at home.... With the exception of Bradford.

Last weekend I had to help out a few Walsall fans who firstly didn't know about the strike timetables, but secondly which station trains were running from.
 

TUC

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What is noticable is how low a profile the strikes have. Unlike the xmouny of noise Southerners make, most people are just getting with life and making other plans.
 

Jamesrob637

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So this can be the thread to post notifications on strike days given that the "main thread is no longer open for future replies. Obviously every Saturday in Jan is strike day (unless one or more get called off) so shouldn't need too many more posts about that for now.
 

BurtonM

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What is noticable is how low a profile the strikes have. Unlike the xmouny of noise Southerners make, most people are just getting with life and making other plans.

I wish they'd just go on strike for a solid week, and get on with making a point, instead of this drawn out farce. General consensus in the north is 'no trains on Saturdays, proceed otherwise'. Nobody complains or really knows why any more, it's just a fact of life now.
 

HowardGWR

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Links to PDF timetables are now posted for next Saturday:



www.northernrailway.co.uk/strike
Is this typical of what's been provided up until now? You get an hourly service from cities to surrounding towns and "the shop shuts" at about 1700 (last trains)? I suppose you can get Saturday shopping done, but it's too tight if attending the football (for instance). (l looked up Skipton, Macclesfield and Buxton as examples).
 

bearhugger

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Is this typical of what's been provided up until now? You get an hourly service from cities to surrounding towns and "the shop shuts" at about 1700 (last trains)? I suppose you can get Saturday shopping done, but it's too tight if attending the football (for instance). (l looked up Skipton, Macclesfield and Buxton as examples).
Certainly typical for my local line (Middlesbrough to Whitby). What is more, my local line for years didn't have a Sunday service, now it has an hourly service on a Sunday and is much better than strike days!
 

HowardGWR

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Using Skipton as example, am I right in thinking that the class 333s normally work in multiples of two? Can they operate as 12 car? By the way, also thanks to Starmill (where are my manners?).
Are there many chances to double up units on the various lines? I'll admit I am very ignorant about Northern services, but I am interested of course.
 
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