Salford Central Improvements

[Chrisyd]

The Greater Manchester Transport Committee (Metrolink and Rail Sub committee) meeting on 23rd September has the agenda published.

In the section Rail Services Performance Report it contains the following points:

7.2. Salford Central station will be closed for platform works from January – May 2023.
Further details Section 8 of this report.

8.4. Salford Central station will have long awaited station improvements early in the new
year. The station will be closed between 02/01/23 until 21/05/23. Trains will still run
through the station not stopping, maintaining service links to and through
Manchester Victoria. There will be a number of Sunday possessions that will see
service changes across the route in January to March 2023 to facilitate construction
works. The works will include the replacement of the canopies and coping stones,
installation of new platform tactile paving, ducting and drainage, and new passenger
information equipment. TfGM are due to meet with Northern to discuss disruption
mitigations.

This does not clarify if it is only Platform 1 & 2 being renewed, or whether it is the out of use platforms as well, but still welcome news.

I seem to recall that the previous plans involved removing the ramps which are too steep and hence non compliant with Disability Regulations and replacing them with stairs to go alongside the existing lifts, not sure if this is still the plan now thouigh.

On Skyscraperforum, it is suggested the platform height will be raised.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The platform height really needs to be raised - it's almost German height, which is shocking for a big city station.

 

[td97]

Especially given the state of the in-use platforms Salford Central, which are (or at least, are for the next 3 months) 150-200mm too low.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Especially given the state of the in-use platforms Salford Central, which are (or at least, are for the next 3 months) 150-200mm too low.

Were they always that low or has ballasting raised the track? I was quite shocked when I fell off (!) there a couple of years ago, they are Scottish-rural-line levels of low, and no portable steps to be seen either!

 

[Greybeard33]

Especially given the state of the in-use platforms Salford Central, which are (or at least, are for the next 3 months) 150-200mm too low.

Although Salford Central is to be closed for the first 19 weeks of 2023 while the platforms are rebuilt.

Be careful what you wish for!

 

[td97]

Were they always that low or has ballasting raised the track? I was quite shocked when I fell off (!) there a couple of years ago, they are Scottish-rural-line levels of low, and no portable steps to be seen either!

There's no tamping over New Bailey St bridge (immediately after the platform end) so the station is not regularly tamped. The platforms have been low (or track high) for years on end, if not over a decade. It's a highly constrained project that has been easier for NR to neglect rather than resolve (hence why NWEP didn't touch it). One of the biggest blockers has been structural stability of this bridge to support increased ballast depth post-works. The bridge in itself has an appallingly low existing ballast depth (50mm, literally a couple of ballast stones) and no design could proceed without raising that depth to enable tamping.

 

[Mollman]

There's no tamping over New Bailey St bridge (immediately after the platform end) so the station is not regularly tamped. The platforms have been low (or track high) for years on end, if not over a decade. It's a highly constrained project that has been easier for NR to neglect rather than resolve (hence why NWEP didn't touch it). One of the biggest blockers has been structural stability of this bridge to support increased ballast depth post-works. The bridge in itself has an appallingly low existing ballast depth (50mm, literally a couple of ballast stones) and no design could proceed without raising that depth to enable tamping.

Could they not use slab track instead?

 

[td97]

Could they not use slab track instead?

Not with the budget. Exactly zero track renewal will occur in this project.
Plus the issue is weight of the track system so pouring concrete on the bridge deck isn't exactly an optimal solution...

 

[Geeves]

Obviously the bridge on the chord has an impact but it's amusing waiting for a train that's already 3ft up to step on board (on the open platforms), but then the Chord/Chat Moss lines are at European height with the original disused) platform now about 30cm high. It's like the station that Jack built!

 

[td97]

Chord/Chat Moss lines are at European height

These were built compliant for platform construction i.e. when/if the money lands, P3, 4 & 5 can be (re)built without any track work.

 

[WatcherZero]

So are they using some lightweight filler like Styrofoam then putting ballast down on top of that? Ive seen that solution used elsewhere where ballast cant be increased due to weight.

 

[td97]

So are they using some lightweight filler like Styrofoam then putting ballast down on top of that? Ive seen that solution used elsewhere where ballast cant be increased due to weight.

No it will be ballast but not a lot. Barely enough for a few tamping runs.

 

[cle]

Can anyone confirm about platforms 3-5? Seems a shame to have such a long closure and not tackle the lot. This MEN article seems to indicate it won't - https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...alford-central-railway-station-close-25090212

 

[td97]

Can anyone confirm about platforms 3-5? Seems a shame to have such a long closure and not tackle the lot. This MEN article seems to indicate it won't - https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...alford-central-railway-station-close-25090212

Different project, different funding, different timescale.
P1/2 is funded by Network Rail with CP6 money. P3/4/5 should be TfGM and property developer funded.

 

[WatcherZero]

To be fair TfGM gave them amount of money NR requested to complete 3/4/5 and NR spent it all on 1/2 then asked for more.

 

[snowball]

Place North West has this:

Salford Central expansion hits buffers - Place North West

The reinstatement of three platforms at the railway station in a bid to increase its capacity has been shelved due to “a lack of industry support”.

www.placenorthwest.co.uk

Salford Central expansion hits buffers

The reinstatement of three platforms at the railway station in a bid to increase its capacity has been shelved due to “a lack of industry support”.
A report to the Greater Manchester Combined Authority’s transport committee said that discussions over the proposed expansion of Salford Central had failed after the rail industry pushed back on the scheme.
Stakeholders including the Department for Transport, Network Rail, Northern Trains and Transpennine Express, told Manchester’s Recovery Taskforce that the project was “unacceptable to the rail industry”.
The stakeholders cited the operational impact of reinstating the platforms as a reason for its recommendations.
In addition, the rail industry believes that reopening platforms three, four, and five – which have not been used since the 1990s – would not work because of the platform lengths, “which won’t allow for future proposed train fleet to stop”, according to Transport for Greater Manchester.
TfGM had been leading the additional platforms project. However, any future work around expanding the station’s capacity will be the responsibility of the rail industry, it is understood.
A report to the GMCA earlier this year said the project could have begun in 2024 if TfGM had received the relevant approvals from the rail industry.
While the expansion project has hit the buffers, another element of the upgrade of Salford Central will still go ahead.
The station will be closed from January to May next year for a £7.3m package of works that includes reducing the gap between trains and the platform edges.
Salford Central is located in an area undergoing significant transformation. English Cities Fund’s New Bailey office development and the Greengate residential quarter are both within easy walking distance.

 

[cle]

That's a shame. They might need to wait for a change in government - Andy Burnham is pretty vocal about rail and the govt right now. Feels political.

Is the operational impact 'reason' about journey times (slowing existing services), or the blockage of the lines for work?

 

[Geeves]

I think it was going to be mainly Northern stopping (at the new platforms) with the occasional Trans Pennine back years ago, but since then TPE trains have become much longer and Northerns Calder Valley to the Airport services only ever made it as far as Oxford Rd and now not at all. No point building new platforms if there's nothing to use them especially with Oxford Rd Graylinged

 

[AMD]

Had my first run through Salford Central this year, the canopies are gone.

 

[cle]

All those new buildings and three cranes. It's a shambles.

 

[Purple Orange]

Does anyone have a summary or a link that details all the infrastructure proposals that are coming under the Manchester Recovery Taskforce, that they could share please?

 

[WatcherZero]

Hasnt been updated since Spring last year as far as I know.

https://democracy.transportforthenorth.com/documents/s4262/Appendix%201%20Manchester%20Blueprint%20for%20Services%20and%20Infrastructure.pdf

 

[bengley]

Had my first run through Salford Central this year, the canopies are gone.
View attachment 126732

It already looks better

 

[Purple Orange]

Hasnt been updated since Spring last year as far as I know.

https://democracy.transportforthenorth.com/documents/s4262/Appendix%201%20Manchester%20Blueprint%20for%20Services%20and%20Infrastructure.pdf

Thanks very much.

 

[Kite159]

Not the best photo, taken on Monday when on a train passing the station showing the platform disappeared.


I'm looking forward to when the work is complete and you don't require a parachute to exit the train

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Not the best photo, taken on Monday when on a train passing the station showing the platform disappeared.
View attachment 127673

I'm looking forward to when the work is complete and you don't require a parachute to exit the train

Yes, Salford Central’s Bolton-bound platform is probably the most extreme case I’ve ever seen in the UK. I’ve almost broken my ankle a few times getting on or off. All this work is badly needed.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Yes, Salford Central’s Bolton-bound platform is probably the most extreme case I’ve ever seen in the UK.

You've not used many rural lines, then. Several like that on the Conwy Valley for instance. Doesn't excuse it though.

I’ve almost broken my ankle a few times getting on or off. All this work is badly needed.

If as a young, fit person you can't step down about a foot without "almost breaking your ankle" I'd seek medical assistance, and perhaps best never go to mainland Europe by train. It was unacceptable for the elderly and infirm and totally wheelchair inaccessible (the ramp would be too steep) though.

To me it very much felt like one of the mankier Brussels stations - lots of buildings around it but low platforms and beyond bleak.

 

[AMD]

Developments making progress, the platform edge is now in place and the supports for the new canopies are in.

 

[davetheguard]

Developments making progress, the platform edge is now in place and the supports for the new canopies are in.

Looks better already. It would be nice if they got rid of the Buddleia forest on the disused platform as part of the work.....

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Looks better already. It would be nice if they got rid of the Buddleia forest on the disused platform as part of the work.....

If it is anything like the mature specimen that is high up on the tram entrance into Victoria station that has flourished seemingly without much effort over the years, with no attempts to remove it, then it will be a very long time before your aspiration is realised.

Does anyone know what the particular species was that eventually caused the damage to the building/canopy on Northwich station?