Manchester Piccadilly - post HS2 & NPR Services

[Purple Orange]

If option C is taken forward following the DfT consultation for Manchester, Piccadilly station will see 31 tph head south east in the off-peak, of which 15 head to Stockport, 8 to the Airport, 6 towards the Glossop & Marple lines and 2 towards Huddersfield.

In a post HS2/NPR world AND the Glossop & Marple services are converted to Metrolink, I am assuming there will be 1 tph to both London & Birmingham on the WCML, plus the Sheffield, Scotland & Wales services remain as they are, resulting in a remaining 20 tph heading south east out of the existing station, consisting of 6 to the Airport on the Styal line, 12 towards Stockport and 2 towards Sheffield via New Mills. It is also assumed that the Leeds services from the HS2 platforms will head towards Huddersfield on the existing line via Guide Bridge.

This leads to a reduction of 11 tph from the option C time table. What should be done with the spare capacity?

Could a ‘metro-lite’ operation be introduced to the Styal line, Hazel Grove, Crewe and Stoke lines? I.e.

All stop services:

• 4 tph to the Airport
• 4 tph to Alderley Edge via Stockport (2 tph to Crewe)
• 4 tph to Macclesfield via Stockport (2 tph to Stoke)
• 4 tph to Hazel Grove via Stockport (2 tph to Buxton)
• 2 tph to Chester via Stockport
• 2 tph to New Mills (1 tph to Sheffield)

Fast:

• 1 tph to London via Stoke & Stafford
• 1 tph to Bristol via Birmingham & Crewe
• 1 tph Liverpool to Nottingham via Sheffield
• 1 tph Liverpool to Cleethorpes via Sheffield
• 1 tph Scotland to Airport
• 1 tph Windermere to Airport

Victoria Fasts:

• 2 tph TfW services go to Victoria via Chat Moss
• 2 tph Liverpool to Leeds

NPR:

• 2 tph Birmingham to Leeds via Piccadilly HS2
• 2 tph Birmingham to Newcastle via Piccadilly HS2

HS2:

• 3 tph to London

This results in 26 tph leaving the existing Piccadilly platforms, suggesting there is room to spare for more paths elsewhere.

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[PTR 444]

Slightly on a tangent but I’ve been thinking about how NPR could relieve pressure on Ordsall Lane Junction to improve reliability in Manchester overall. With NPR, there is no longer a need for fast Liverpool - Manchester - Leeds services on the Chat Moss Line, therefore you can amalgamate the two TPE fasts and hourly stopper into a 2tph semi-fast skip stopping service between Liverpool and Huddersfield via Victoria. This would be in addition to the Chester services which I would alter so that one runs between North Wales & Victoria, and the other between Chester and Bradford/Leeds. With Transpennine Line capacity released, I would run the latter via Huddersfield & Brighouse instead of Calder Valley. To compliment this, I would also run an hourly Manchester Victoria - Castleford via Wakefield Kirkgate service similar to the recent TPE proposal.

As for the Windsor Link - Castlefield movement, I would keep it at 4tph with 2tph Blackpool - Airport and 2tph Southport - Bolton - Hazel Grove. Even though I like the idea of all Castlefield trains running through to the Airport, I think there is likely to still be demand for through trains from Stockport to north of Manchester so I would therefore stick with this plan. Services from Cumbria/Scotland would be diverted to terminate at Victoria while any service from Wigan North Western would use the Atherton Line.

This arrangement would mean all Chat Moss services run to Victoria and eliminate the Chat Moss - Castlefield movement from Ordsall Lane Junction, reducing several conflicts in the process.

 

[Purple Orange]

Slightly on a tangent but I’ve been thinking about how NPR could relieve pressure on Ordsall Lane Junction to improve reliability in Manchester overall. With NPR, there is no longer a need for fast Liverpool - Manchester - Leeds services on the Chat Moss Line, therefore you can amalgamate the two TPE fasts and hourly stopper into a 2tph semi-fast skip stopping service between Liverpool and Huddersfield via Victoria. This would be in addition to the Chester services which I would alter so that one runs between North Wales & Victoria, and the other between Chester and Bradford/Leeds. With Transpennine Line capacity released, I would run the latter via Huddersfield & Brighouse instead of Calder Valley. To compliment this, I would also run an hourly Manchester Victoria - Castleford via Wakefield Kirkgate service similar to the recent TPE proposal.

As for the Windsor Link - Castlefield movement, I would keep it at 4tph with 2tph Blackpool - Airport and 2tph Southport - Bolton - Hazel Grove. Even though I like the idea of all Castlefield trains running through to the Airport, I think there is likely to still be demand for through trains from Stockport to north of Manchester so I would therefore stick with this plan. Services from Cumbria/Scotland would be diverted to terminate at Victoria while any service from Wigan North Western would use the Atherton Line.

This arrangement would mean all Chat Moss services run to Victoria and eliminate the Chat Moss - Castlefield movement from Ordsall Lane Junction, reducing several conflicts in the process.

Yes, the biggest prize for Manchester is for the Liverpool fast services to be removed. This would enable the possibility of something closer to a metro service on the viaduct through Manchester.

 

[HST43257]

I’d leave HS2 and NPR services out of this for now, as I’d hope that they’d be segregated from everything else. I’d also not assume that Glossop and Marple services weren’t Metrolink-ified, but these would also be segregated anyway with other Ashburys stuff, in platforms 1-4. So looking at everything heading towards Slade Lane, I’d have:

4tph Airport Fast (from Castlefield)
1tph Scotland to Airport
1tph Cumbria to Airport
1tph Huddersfield to Airport
1tph Calder Valley to Airport

4tph Airport Slow (from Castlefield)
2tph Liverpool to Wilmslow
2tph Blackpool to Airport

4tph Stockport on Slow Lines (from Castlefield)
2tph Southport to Buxton
1tph Llandudno to Stockport
1tph Freight

4tph Stockport on Slow Lines (from Piccadilly Shed)
2tph Piccadilly to Crewe via Handforth
2tph Piccadilly to Stoke

6tph Stockport on Fast Lines (from Piccadilly Shed)
1tph NT Piccadilly to Chester via Northwich
1tph NT Piccadilly to Crewe via Northwich
1tph HS2 Piccadilly to London via Wilmslow
1tph Avanti Piccadilly to London via Stoke
1tph TfW Piccadilly to Milford Haven/Pembroke via Wilmslow
1tph XC Piccadilly to Bournemouth via Stoke and Birmingham

2tph Stockport on Fast Lines (from High Speed tunnel station)
1tph NPR Liverpool to Cleethorpes
1tph NPR Liverpool to Nottingham


6 tracks to Slade Lane Jn is preferable. Means most reliability for Castlefield and the surrounding areas. 8tph on all lines out of Piccadilly towards Slade Lane with this idea