Purple Orange
On Moderation
I am all for improving public transport (greener travel, more capacity and higher frequency, getting people to ditch their cars) and the plans for the Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) service levels are where we need to get to for Liverpool, Manchester & Leeds. This forum is a great font of knowledge about the railway industry, however I would like to pose the question as to how services are bridged between TPE in 2020 and NPR service levels in 2040.
My question is how will that transition take effect? I highly doubt that on the eve of Trans Pennine operations switching to reversing at Piccadilly and using HS2 track, I can’t imagine train lengths will be as short as they are today.
What do folk think?
- In 2020 we have:
- 4 fast tph (5-car trains, but sometimes 6) Manchester-Leeds-onwards
- 3 fast tph (2 x 5-car TPE and 1 x 4-car EMR) Manchester to Liverpool
- 2 slightly slower 6-car TPE Manchester-Leeds/Huddersfield
- I acknowledge that 3-car 185s operate on some of the routes and that EMR can short-form their trains too.
- In 2040 we are supposed to have:
- 200m units capable of travelling on HS2 track.
- 6 fast tph Manchester-Leeds-onwards
- 4 fast tph Manchester-Airport-Warrington-Liverpool.
- Assumption: HS2 is built in full and as a minimum it includes a link from Piccadilly to the current line via Guide Bridge and a link from Liverpool to the Manchester HS2 spur.
My question is how will that transition take effect? I highly doubt that on the eve of Trans Pennine operations switching to reversing at Piccadilly and using HS2 track, I can’t imagine train lengths will be as short as they are today.
What do folk think?
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