Stone to regain rail service (and other bits).

[Lewisham2221]

Stone station (between Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford) will once again see trains stopping there as part of the Crewe - London Euston services that will be introduced under London Midland from the December timetable. Additionally; Alsager and Kidsgrove will receive an improved service to/from Stoke and Crewe as these trains will also call there in addition to the East Midlands services.

Norton Bridge, Barlaston and Wedgwood will continue to be served by buses between Stoke/Stone/Stafford.

Alsager, Kidsgrove and Longport will be managed by East Midlands, which seems strange in the case of Alsager, as it is located in Cheshire, which by pretty much all definitions is in the North-West region rather than the East Midlands!

 

[DescendingSadly]

I swear i've signalled that station before!

oh wait that's simsig isn't it

 

[Nick W]

Stone the crows!

 

[Gizmogle]

Awesome
It's a station I'll probably never use, but it does look like a rather nice station none-the-less. They really should get a stopper service from Stoke to Stafford, stopping at all those little stations. I'm sure the people living near the stations with no service would start travelling out to Stoke and Stafford more if they could get there by train.

 

[william]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but wasnt stone's services axed due to capacity constraints affecting other, more important services?

 

[Lewisham2221]

Correct me if i'm wrong, but wasnt stone's services axed due to capacity constraints affecting other, more important services?

That was one of the claims IIRC. However, when the line between Stoke and Stone only really sees 4tph each way (pax) - the Derby trains branch off just South of Stoke; and a bit of freight it isn't really hard to slot another train in, especially when they manage to slot stoppers in on the line to the North of Stoke.

 

[Guinness]

That was one of the claims IIRC. However, when the line between Stoke and Stone only really sees 4tph each way (pax) - the Derby trains branch off just South of Stoke; and a bit of freight it isn't really hard to slot another train in, especially when they manage to slot stoppers in on the line to the North of Stoke.

The problem was also with Platform Space at Stoke. You can terminate it in either platforms but they both get 5tph in each direction and up to 6tph next year. If you terminate it in the Up Platform your blocking the way for West Coast and XC Trains to Stone Junction which is likely to be due in the platform within 5 - 10 minutes of the terminating train. Again doesn't sound a lot but you need to account in the Slack time of the service around about 5 minutes, the Express would of caught up by Wedgewood and be riding Yellows, something Virgin would scream about.

A bay platform at the Southern end Stoke would *ideally* solve the problem but I can't see Network Rail forking out millions strengthening and widening bridges for the sake of serving Barlaston and Wedgewood. Bakers do a superb job with there VDLs.

 

[AlexS]

It was closed because of the WCML engineering works and the claim was that the rolling stock had been redeployed elsewhere - partly true, the 310s originally used were withdrawn in 2000 and replacement 153s were packaged off to Lincolnshire.

The other stations are, to be honest, rather marginal - Norton Bridge will never return, because, much like Polesworth, it's footbridge has been assessed as uneconomical for replacement - they probably need lifts to provide access or something silly now.

Stone was the main populace and it was originally planned to add it as a stop on Virgin XC services to Manchester. Barlaston and Wedgwood are now much reduced in stature following the reduction of the potteries industries.

 

[Humberside]

Alsager, Kidsgrove and Longport will be managed by East Midlands, which seems strange in the case of Alsager, as it is located in Cheshire, which by pretty much all definitions is in the North-West region rather than the East Midlands!

AFAIK the main train operator there will be Stagecaoch Midland, hence why they will operate it

The other stations are, to be honest, rather marginal - Norton Bridge will never return, because, much like Polesworth, it's footbridge has been assessed as uneconomical for replacement - they probably need lifts to provide access or something silly now.

Doesnt Polesworth have a one way only service thoyugh?

 

[AlexS]

It does - the other platform is now completely unaccessible because of the lack of bridge.

 

[Guinness]

It does - the other platform is now completely unaccessible because of the lack of bridge.

According to NR and their WCML Plan is that the station will 're-open' in both directions, so presumably will have the footbridge back in place. I saw plenty of Network Rail Workers weeding the Up Platform the other day.

 

[Max]

The local Lib-Dems don't seem too pleased mind:

Rail service we do not want

The Department for Transport has announced details of the new West Midland franchise and it is not good news for prospective Stone rail passengers, claims Richard Stevens, Borough Councillor for Stonefield and Christchurch ward.

The announcement confirms that Stone will get an hourly stopping service from December 2008 but the service will not be the Manchester/ Birmingham service originally proposed. Instead, the service will operate between Crewe, Stoke, Stone, Stafford and then London Euston via the Trent Valley line.

"This is not the service we were consulted upon,"said Richard. "The proposed Birmingham/ Manchester service was greeted with acclaim by everyone. It would have been a marvellous service for Stone commuters and shoppers. But the service just announced is likely to be very under used. And then what? The DfT will then say it isn't economical and we could lose trains again. What was the point of holding a consultation exercise if the results are simply ignored?"

 

[Guinness]

It's better than the current levels they're getting at the moment.

 

[Lewisham2221]

Interesting that they are complaining about gaining a direct service to London!

And it's far from difficult to get change at Stafford/Stoke/Crewe for onward connections. I also doubt that XC services would have been planned to call hourly either, considering the situation that Congleton has where it gets a service roughly every 2 hours.

 

[ChrisCooper]

The problem is, it would be nice to think that the idea is to run trains that would be most useful for local people and therefore get most use, but it's too easy to think that they are running trains that are not going to be that useful for locals, which will then not get much use and give the excuse to close the station once and for all.

 

[AlexS]

Judging by how busy the current Trent Valley local services are, the fears may well be correct!

 

[Max]

The problem is that they don't really go anywhere of note. People from Stone, Stafford and Rugely don't want to go to Lichfield, Tamworth and Polesworth! The vast majority will want to travel to Birmingham, Coventry, Stoke or Manchester. And to go to London they would probably just use Virgin.

 

[Karl Bough]

After completion of the Trent Valley quadrupling next year, with more frequent and faster Pendolino paths on the fast lines, will the semi-fast London Midland services have to use the slow lines, or are there sufficient paths on the fast lines? Also, are there any plans to add the 'missing' Down Slow line between Brinklow and Nuneaton? I know that this is not part of the Trent Valley upgrade, with the main focus of the work being between Tamworth and Armitage, but this will continue to be a bottleneck. I also think the Trent Valley upgrade should have included grade separation at Colwich, as it is a critical high-speed junction.

 

[Guinness]

Google Maps

The Up Stone Line merges on to the Up Slow rather than onto the Up Fast. Looking at the image above, (Up Slow the top 4 tracked line, the Up Fast below it) the alteration could be made quite easily without spending huge sums. Perhaps this would increase the speed limit rather than trains routed to the Up Fast having to use the Crossover.

 

[voyagerdude220]

I've always been annoyed that Tamworth LL has no Pendolinos at all from Liverpool/Warrington/Preston, and just the one daytime service to/from Manchester Picc.

A few years ago, I seem to remember catching the 11:46 ex Euston, which called at:
Watford J, Rugby,Tamworth,Crewe,Warrington,Wigan,Preston and Lancaster.

But importantly, I remember it doing the journey in exactly the same time as todays services.

If at least two or three services stopped at Tamworth to/from Liverpool/Preston/Manchester, it would enable another interchange on the VT network (or soon to be new XC), further reducing the need to change at Birmingham New Street.

Does anyone know why the 10:45 Manchester to Euston no longer stops at Tamworth, as it used to do so, until around a year ago? I'm guessing because of the CT Trent Valley services?