Altfish
Member
I would have though that this line is well down the list of those requiring electrification.
Lets hope the remedial work gives the enhanced clearances for electrification..."just in case....one day"It is not a railway issue but a significant number of road bridges in Blackpool had become life expired and required remedial work. Funded in part by the LEP this work has now been done on bridges over the Blackpool North line and the focus has now shifted to the Blackpool South route.
I agree that could be done, but my comment was directed at those who keep maintaining that Central should have been retained as the main terminus and North run down. After the crash there was no way that Central could be retained long-term: the finance would not have been there to rebuild it. Closing it and selling the large amount of land at least allowed North to survive. Otherwise you would have had a new larger "South" station, no Central, and no North
Lol, there are (I'm one of them) but they are a minority! In fact the population is that old, the shop windows are bi-focal.
I have corrected that post for you...
That line is brilliantLol, there are (I'm one of them) but they are a minority! In fact the population is that old, the shop windows are bi-focal.
Blackpool South isn’t being electrified although there are mooted plans for tramsor tram trains to run to Lytham from around Pleasure Beach
Living near Blackpool South, that would not be good for business, or visitors, especially to Pleasure Beach. The promenade tramway is not good in Winter, rammed in peak season, and slow! All South line needs is a passing loop, an extra train to Manchester? Far cheaper than closing part of it, and converting part to a tramway.
From what I hear of the current admission charges to Blackpool Pleasure Beach that are advertised, the company running that should be asked to contribute some finance towards any upgrading/enlargement of the railway station facilities there.
Given the attitude of the Pleasure Beach owners described in these pages, if I hop on a tram at North, I will be going in the opposite direction!Wont it make more sense to go to North and then hop on a Tram to Pleasure Beach when the link is completed
Lets hope the remedial work gives the enhanced clearances for electrification..."just in case....one day"
I bet it doesn't though
The bridges already completed on the South branch are all noticably steeper which I assume is due to them being higher. They also have high coping stones like what you see on an electrified line. They look wire ready to me. You certainly feel the difference on a push bike.
There was a FoI request put in on August https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/south_fylde_railway_line which asked some of the questions and points being raised in this post.
The reply from DFT https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/426203/response/1037892/attach/html/3/attachment.pdf.html would have been at home during PMQ.
"Looking ahead, you might be interested to know that Lancashire County Council has
identified the Blackpool South line as a key weakness in the Fylde Coast public transport
network. The Council secured funding to investigate the best way of enhancing the role of
the South Fylde Line in providing a southern gateway to Blackpool and to establish what
the most viable and cost-effective way of linking the South Fylde Line and the Blackpool
Tramway might be. They also looked what benefits such a link might deliver."
We've heard that one for years.
"In regard to your point on a passing loop, Network Rail explored a number of options for
maintaining rail access to Blackpool during the closure, which included a passing loop as
you have suggested. Unfortunately, due to the time required to undertake the design and
delivery of the passing loop, this option could not be completed ahead of the November
closure. However, Blackpool South will be open during 8 weeks of the closure to help to
minimise disruption to passengers travelling to Blackpool."
Meh! I think that is utter tripe. Doing a project like re-opening the Borders railway does take a great deal of planning, but to plan for a loop when at the same time planning as already been done to introduce signalling on the South Fylde line just seems to me like they are missing a bit of joined up writing. But then again, I'm not in the industry, so I don't know how they plan for such things.
Going back to the tram situation. Agree with the post above that replacing heavy rail with trams to either St Annes / Lytham would has too great an impact on people and businesses. According to the stats, more than 50% of the usage on the South Fylde line starts at BPS, BPB and SQU so there would be a great deal of outcry from the locals if they lost their direct service to Preston. I would imagine that the nimby's at Royal Lytham would object to electric masts going up next to their beloved golf course. Blackpool Transport and Stagecoach provide a decent bus service from Blackpool to Lytham so it asks the question of whether extending the tram to Lytham would be viable.
Yes but the bridges under discussion are not new, merely undergoing (apparently fairly heavy) maintenance.Hasn't it been the case for a while that ALL new bridges, regardless of location, are built with sufficient clearance for OHLE?
hi will Blackpool South be electrified?
Cutting back to Lytham would allow a half hourly service without needing to upgrade what was left of the branch. Combined with reasonable connection times at Lytham this could be sold as an improvement. Redesigning Lytham with an island platform for same platform transfers between train and tram would also help. NR will sign over half of the branch if that is what the council wants because it loses money.
surely this is about as likely as a new tunnel being built under central Blackpool to build a new line to link the Blackpool North and Blackpool South stations!
Beeching proposed retaining Central and closing North, with the line via Poulton continuing to Fleetwood which in many ways would have been better than what actually happened. Only Layton would have lost out.I don't think I particularly advocated that but pointed out it would be better if the current line ran closer to the original Central Station and that the closure of Central seemed to be more at the behest of the Council rather than BR, but of course it was different times then with a Railway on the decline, maybe that could be something to consider in the future as an alternative to a Tramlink.
The difference there Paul is that the Bury and Altrincham branches ran to the country's 3rd city and through generally built up areas. There is next to nothing between Lytham and Kirkham.
Beeching proposed retaining Central and closing North, with the line via Poulton continuing to Fleetwood which in many ways would have been better than what actually happened. Only Layton would have lost out.
As others have said the appeal of selling the Central site overcame common sense unfortunately. Ironically I seem to remember that in the end the site lay vacant for years until the Hounds Hill Centre was eventually built.
Have you ever travelled on the Manchester Metrolink on the section of the line from Derker to Rochdale? Plenty of countryside to view en route.
I would have thought that it might be better to get rid of heavy rail entirely on the branch and send it through to Kirkham OK its been said there is not much between Kirkham and Lytham but it would eliminate a short heavy rail branch and allow interchange with heavy rail services at Kirkham.
The Blackpool South line always amuses me the way it stops in the middle of the wasteland that used to be the approach to Central. You would think that a halt nearer Central should have been built or even retained a platform at Central but then I guess that would have attracted too many passengers when North was meant to become the main station. I gather the decision to close Central rather than North was more the decision of the council than the railways as they wanted to redevelop the land which I find ironic OK we have a direct route to the M55 and an oversized Car Park but it still looks like a bit of a wasteland even today.
The early trains from South Station start well before the trams and buses wake up
Correct first tram is 0500. First train from South was before that, arrive Preston around 0550 ishIs it still the case that on Mondays to Fridays, the first tram departure from Starr Gate running northwards towards Blackpool is timed at 0500?