Lostock Station, Gtr. Manchester?

[Chrius56000]

Just a quickie one!

Is there any scheme to rebuild/reopen the Wigan line platforms at Lostock Station, and is there any reason why the station wasn't built with them shen it reopened in 1988?

Chris Williams

 

[faltskog36abba]

Just a quickie one!

Is there any scheme to rebuild/reopen the Wigan line platforms at Lostock Station, and is there any reason why the station wasn't built with them shen it reopened in 1988?

Chris Williams

All I know is when Manchester had suggested the congestion charge about 14 years ago, It was voted as a no. If the people of Gtr Manchester had voted yes- Then vehicles would have been charged to enter Manchester within the m60- Lostock junction station would of benefited from the money raised as well as others projects.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Small write-up here (relating to the 1988 re-opening) from 2021.

Rarity as Lostock's closed station brought back into service

THIS photograph from 1988 records a fairly rare occurrence.

www.theboltonnews.co.uk

Extract...

Over £300,000 was being spent on the new station which would give residents direct rail access to Manchester, Bolton and Preston.

Presume the decision to only re-open / re-build the platforms on the lines to /from Preston/Chorley was due to budgetary constraints.

Topic previously also discussed here...

The formerly named Lostock Lane railway station.

Now that electrification of the line from that junction to the Wigan area has been approved, will the former platforms on that part of the junction be reinstated as part of a rail upgrade, leaving the current Lostock station as a former 4-platform junction station once again ?

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[30907]

Presume the decision to only re-open / re-build the platforms on the lines to /from Preston/Chorley was due to budgetary constraints.

Topic previously also discussed here...

The formerly named Lostock Lane railway station.

Now that electrification of the line from that junction to the Wigan area has been approved, will the former platforms on that part of the junction be reinstated as part of a rail upgrade, leaving the current Lostock station as a former 4-platform junction station once again ?

www.railforums.co.uk

Said thread indicates there are considerable signalling complications which would mean siting any platforms considerably further from the junction.

 

[biggerisbetter]

This is one of the examples of what appears to me to be short term thinking when it comes to infrastructure improvements in the UK. Platforms on the Westhoughton line would be more appropriate than those on the Bolton line given the distance travelled by the services. With the electrification of the line and presumed termination of services at Wigan would it not have made sense to construct these platforms at the same time as the electrification works?

Similar applies to Salford Central station which has had upgrade works to the entrance, electrification, platform levels increased and in the future potential additional platforms but all delivered separately. I wonder how much might have been saved in the long term by coordinating some of these works even if it meant delay.

 

[Bevan Price]

Is there much demand for travel between Lostock Junction and Wigan ??
Bolton and Manchester are more likely target destinations for people in the Lostock Jn area.

 

[AlastairFraser]

Is there much demand for travel between Lostock Junction and Wigan ??
Bolton and Manchester are more likely target destinations for people in the Lostock Jn area.

Wigan to Chorley might be a better option that way, since connections at Leyland are often difficult.
Away fans from further afield may want to choose Avanti to Wigan NW, then change at Lostock for a game at Bolton Wanderers' stadium next to Horwich Parkway station, especially given the unreliability of Manchester area services at the moment.