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North West Electrification

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Invincibles

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Is there any plan to electrify the short stretch from Victoria to Ashburys?

While there is not a service that would benefit currently it could be used as diversion for the Hadfield/Glossop (maybe permanantly to free up capacity at Piccadilly)

Then if they do ever put the curve back that allows access to Piccadilly additional platforms on the car park near 1 could be provided to bring a large number of trains through Victoria to Piccadilly and avoid 13/14. This could be vital when working on 13/14.

No doubt they will never open that curve, part of the viaduct is missing and I imagine the whole thing would need replacing. But it is not a long distance and would have benefits.

(I know diverting the Hadfield train would remove the Ashburys stop, but presumably that only helps TPE and maybe other trains could stop at Ashburys in lieu)
 
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WatcherZero

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I would be very supprised if the Scotish Trains weren't re-routed back through Bolton, when the line through it is finally electrified. My reasoning for this is that Wigan already has a Scottish service, taking away Bolton's Scotish service would not be a good idea as Bolton's population catchment area is much greater than that of Wigan. Thereby causing a lot of complaints.

The thinking seems to be they can catch both the existing direct and diverted manchester services at Preston anyway giving excellent frequency and that more lancs local services such as Blackburn/Blackpool/etc.. could be laid on from the freed up Scottish services capacity. Those Blackburn trains in particular are heavily crowded.
 
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connor7777

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well if you are saying goodbye to voyagers, i'm sure ATW would love to use them on north south routes.

haha imagine a voyager doing a daily service on the HOW line, that would be cool.

im joking by the way, ATW wont get the voyagers.
 

cle

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The thinking seems to be they can catch both the existing direct and diverted manchester services at Preston anyway giving excellent frequency and that more lancs local services such as Blackburn/Blackpool/etc.. could be laid on from the freed up Scottish services capacity. Those Blackburn trains in particular are heavily crowded.

This makes sense. I imagine demand is much higher from Bolton to Blackburn/Clitheroe/Blackpool/The Lakes than to Scotland. Or Burnley and then round to Tod... ;)

And at Preston, they'll have the hourly Euston - Glasgow, one from Birmingham and another from Manc/Wigan - so hopefully at least an hourly choice to Edinburgh too. Much better choice than present, and hopefully some 125mph action also!
 

krus_aragon

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haha imagine a voyager doing a daily service on the HOW line, that would be cool.

im joking by the way, ATW wont get the voyagers.

All those short platforms... And they'd be liable to foul several adjacent level crossings...

Unless you use the pocket SuperVoyager (221144) on the Heart of Wales: that could work! :P
 

Bevan Price

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Is there any plan to electrify the short stretch from Victoria to Ashburys?

While there is not a service that would benefit currently it could be used as diversion for the Hadfield/Glossop (maybe permanantly to free up capacity at Piccadilly)

)

I don't think Glossop / Hadfield line passengers would appreciate their journey times to/from Manchester being extended by 5 to 10 minutes, which would be necessary if trains were diverted to Manchester Victoria.

Bevan
 

Invincibles

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I don't think Glossop / Hadfield line passengers would appreciate their journey times to/from Manchester being extended by 5 to 10 minutes, which would be necessary if trains were diverted to Manchester Victoria.

Bevan

Would it really make that much difference?

They have to travel pretty slowly from Ashburys into Piccadilly at the moment and assuming that the line is properly done it is not that much further? I think 5 minutes would be about right.

The way to work it is to extend through to somewhere else, allowing more opportunities for onward connection. I think there is more interest in Salford Central now than there was with Spinningfields etc.

Not everything makes everyone happy unfortunately.
 

Nym

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Wiring to Ashburys from Victoria would mean being able to push electric services THROUGH victoria and free up platform capacity there, and with the possibliity of doing that in the other direction to free up some at Piccadilly, it wouldn't mean loosing the Ashburys stop...
and if linespeeds where high enough there wouldn't be much time loss on the way through to Victoria.

Add Stalybridge or Rochdale aswell and East Manchester can see a massive service improvment, adding 4 tracking between Ardwick and Guide Bridge would be helpful aswell. It would enable Ashburys to be an interchange where passengers can pick weather to travel into Piccadilly or Victoria, much as passengers use Salford Cresent now. Having say, 4 or 6tph Ashburys - Victoria running as extentions of the following...

Blackpool North - Victoria 1tph
Liverpool Lime Street - Victoria 2tph

(Add wires to Wigan Wallgate from Lostock) and...

Wigan Wallgate - Victoria 3tph

Then look at extending all the diesel terminators through the station to Rochdale and/or Stalybridge.
Leeds & Huddersfeild services would continue to terminate at Platforms 1 and 2
 

Bevan Price

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Would it really make that much difference?

They have to travel pretty slowly from Ashburys into Piccadilly at the moment and assuming that the line is properly done it is not that much further? I think 5 minutes would be about right.

.

15 mph across junction at Ashburys, then 20 mph all the way to Phillips Park West Junction (about 2 miles). So, I estimate at least 10 to 12 minutes from Manchester Victoria to Ashburys.. Piccadilly to Ashburys can be done in about 4 minutes, although they add a few minutes "charter time" in the timetable for trains going towards Piccadilly.

Bevan
 

Nym

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15 mph across junction at Ashburys, then 20 mph all the way to Phillips Park West Junction (about 2 miles). So, I estimate at least 10 to 12 minutes from Manchester Victoria to Ashburys.. Piccadilly to Ashburys can be done in about 4 minutes, although they add a few minutes "charter time" in the timetable for trains going towards Piccadilly.

Bevan

Yes, but...
1) If terminating at ashburys on new platforms it wouldn't matter about the junction speeds, and these could be improved anyway.

2) From Ashburys to Philips Park West Jcn could have it's linespeed increased to 40, 60 or even 75/90 mph, mitigating the extra distance with increased linespeed.
 
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