Mcr Warrior
Veteran Member
- Joined
- 8 Jan 2009
- Messages
- 11,648
Presumably this is the link...There is a feature in this evenings edition of The Manchester Evening News, Its available online-Sorry I have not got a link.
Plans to suspend 'vital' train service spark angry backlash
Northern Trains has announced it will withdraw services from Rose Hill station - in Marple - and Manchester Piccadilly between early September and mid-December.
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
'It's totally unacceptable': Plans to suspend 'vital' train service spark angry backlash
Northern Trains has announced it will withdraw services from Rose Hill station - in Marple - and Manchester Piccadilly between early September and mid-December.
By Nick Statham
Local Democracy Reporter
14:01, 28 JUL 2020
Plans to suspend a ‘vital’ rail service for three months have met with an angry backlash.
Northern Trains has announced it will withdraw services from Rose Hill station - in Marple - and Manchester Piccadilly between early September and mid-December.
Used by thousands of passengers every week, the service also stops at Romiley and Woodley, in Stockport, as well as Hyde Central in Tameside.
Rail users will now have to use either Marple or Bredbury stations, depending on which is closest for them.
Bosses say the ‘tough decision’ has been taken due to the continuing impact of Covid-19, with many staff classed as vulnerable and a training backlog affecting the number of drivers available.
The rail firm - which was brought under government control in March after years of disruption - says it will be ‘some time’ before services return to pre-Covid levels.
But the announcement has sparked fury among passengers, with thousands signing petitions against the decision within days of it coming to light.
Craig Wright, founder of Friends of Rose Hill Station, said the plan was ‘totally unacceptable’.
“It is just not possible to close down a railway line for three months without destroying its passenger base,” he said.
“I helped found the Friends of Rose Hill Station in 2009. Since then we have spent thousands of hours improving the appearance of the station.
"But we’ve also campaigned and achieved improvements to the train service.The result has been that usage of the whole line has more than doubled in the last 10 years.
"We want to do more but this three-month closure will destroy much of our 10 years’ hard work.”
Stockport’s Liberal Democrat group’s petition had attracted more than 3,000 signatures at the time of writing.
Deputy leader Coun Lisa Smart said: “This decision by government-run Northern Trains has come out of the blue and will leave many people with no decent alternative to travel to work or school. It has been made after the Conservative government took over running Northern Rail following years of poor service.
“More than 3,000 signatures in three days is a staggering number and shows just how vital this rail link is to people here, with so many people relying on it, including school pupils due to start back in September and commuters travelling to work.