Blackpool Airport wants rail link

[Humberside]

Sounds like an airport that doesn't understand the rail industry to me, but heres the article

Rail passengers to Blackpool Airport could be getting off the train a stone's throw from the terminal, if new plans get the go-ahead.

Bosses at the airport are looking at a rail loop link from the Squires Gate station to boost the numbers arriving for flights by train. It is part of plans by City Hopper Airports, which owns the Squires Gate site, to limit the impact on the environment as it expands.

http://www.uk-airport-news.info/blackpool-airport-news-260906.htm

For anyone who doesn't know much about Blackpool Airport its a small, but fast expanding regional airport. Last year it handled 377,000 passengers and it is close to Squires Gate railway station on the Blackpool South line (with an hourly service) and Starr Gate tram stop

 

[Max]

I would be amazed if an airport of that size could support its own railway station, let alone a whole new line! Look at East Midlands airport - it handles far more passengers per year, is extremely close to the Midland Mainline yet it still hasn't got its own station after years of planning.

This is a non starter in my opinion!

 

[metrocammel]

Sounds like an airport that doesn't understand the rail industry to me, but heres the article


http://www.uk-airport-news.info/blackpool-airport-news-260906.htm

For anyone who doesn't know much about Blackpool Airport its a small, but fast expanding regional airport. Last year it handled 377,000 passengers and it is close to Squires Gate railway station on the Blackpool South line (with an hourly service) and Starr Gate tram stop

The train station is already a stones throw from the airport! However the service on the Blackpool South line is poor to say the least. Squires Gate was once served by trams going up the Marton? line, and it is less than a mile from the current tram terminus at Starr Gate, so to me re-opening the tram line from Starr Gate to the airport would be more beneficial for passengers arriving at Blackpool Airport, who are going to the Central/ North Shores.

 

[Max]

...so [to re-open] the tram line from Starr Gate to the airport would be more beneficial for passengers arriving at Blackpool Airport, who are going to the Central/ North Shores.

But will passengers really want to cart loads of heavy bags onto trams which surely have virtually no luggage space? I for one was unimpressed with the luggage space on our Central Trains 170 to Stansted - despite it terminating at an airport, there was nowhere near adequate space for even two or free large bags.

I think that a bus would be a much better idea, and would also be far cheaper to implement. In Basel in Switzerland, the airport bus had a little locked trailer attatched to the back where all the bags were stowed, a very good idea in my opinion!

 

[Humberside]

The airport needs a decent bus to Blackpool Town Centre (and Blackpool North Station first). Its only bus service is a seafront route. And Im sure an improved bus service could stop at Squires Gate and Starr Gate for the tram

 

[metrocammel]

But will passengers really want to cart loads of heavy bags onto trams which surely have virtually no luggage space? I for one was unimpressed with the luggage space on our Central Trains 170 to Stansted - despite it terminating at an airport, there was nowhere near adequate space for even two or free large bags.

I think that a bus would be a much better idea, and would also be far cheaper to implement. In Basel in Switzerland, the airport bus had a little locked trailer attatched to the back where all the bags were stowed, a very good idea in my opinion!

On the old (1930's) "Baloon Trams" have plenty of luggage space underneath the stairs (as they were designed for an era when people came to Blackpool for two-week long holidays by train, to both North & Central Stations!) The modern (Jubilee & Centenary cars) are less suited for big suitcases.

 

[37372]

I wouldn't have thought Blackpool airport needed its own station yet, East Midlands and Doncaster Robin Hood maybe but I flew from Blackpool airport last year and the airport building is tiny compared with others, it may be expanding but TBH I cant see the point in a staton yet.

 

[Bighat]

Sounds like an airport that doesn't understand the rail industry to me, but heres the article


http://www.uk-airport-news.info/blackpool-airport-news-260906.htm

For anyone who doesn't know much about Blackpool Airport its a small, but fast expanding regional airport. Last year it handled 377,000 passengers and it is close to Squires Gate railway station on the Blackpool South line (with an hourly service) and Starr Gate tram stop

Squires Gate Airport (as was) was once served by a DIRECT tram route from Blacpool town centre. The road in which the depot is situated continues right out to the front entrance of the Airport, and the trams terminated there. The rails then ran past the Airport, past the old Lytham St Annes Tram depot (later converted to a bus garage), over the railway (which itself is adjacent to the airfield on the east side, and the holiday camp on the west side), went down to the front, and made a connection to the existing system just north of the loop at Starr Gate. All since long gone!

 

[Nick W]

Hmm even if every passenger for the airport used the railway, it still wouldn't make the magic 12,000 passengers per week to break even.