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3M views 18K replies 443 participants last post by  Finney Lane 
#1 ·
Since there isn't a thread that groups together non-Metrolink public transport here is a new one, bit late for the M60 widenning (finishes in a couple of weeks), however, BBC NW news this morning reporting that Virgin are set to increase the frequency and the speed of the Manchester to London trains.

Given they take 2hrs at the moment and run every 30mins they sure are going to be very very good competition for the planes.

All good stuff in my opinion, no doubt Virgin will put a press release out later that will be reported in the MEN.
 
#42 ·
New Transport Secretary Douglas Alexander is due to announce a £10m fund for the development of nationwide road charging schemes.
He hopes new technology will allow drivers to be charged by the mile.

Mr Alexander, promoted in last week's reshuffle, is to outline how he intends to improve UK infrastructure with minimum environmental impact.

His predecessor at the department, Alistair Darling, announced several pilot road charging schemes.

'Time to face facts'

Cambridge, Durham, Bristol, Bath, Greater Manchester, Shrewsbury, Tyne and Wear and the West Midlands were among the authorities developing road charging proposals.

Conservative transport spokesman Chris Grayling said: "Yet again we have a secretary of state whose only solution to our transport problems seems to be a road pricing system which couldn't be introduced for a decade.

"It's time ministers realised that we need action now to improve transport and not vague ideas for the distant future. They could start by keeping some of the transport promises they've made in the last few years and then quietly dropped."

Mr Alexander said road pricing was one of several measures that had been looked at to tackle congestion.


If we do nothing we simply face eternal gridlock
Douglas Alexander
Transport Secretary

He said that it was time to face "certain basic facts" that as the nation's prosperity improved, people would want to travel more and to travel further.

"And as we travel more, because we live on a crowded island, congestion is set to grow, so if we do nothing we simply face eternal gridlock," he told BBC News.

The debate now was not so much about "why road pricing?", but "how it would be implemented", and the prize for motorists would be "better value out of the road network".

Investment in road capacity would continue where it was justified, Mr Alexander insisted.

Air travel

And he said speed cameras had a role to play, adding: "I've seen it as a driver myself, there is absolutely no doubt where you have cameras, for example where there are tight bends in the road, it makes sense to slow drivers down."

Mr Alexander will be in York on Wednesday, where he will open a new bus service operated by transport giant First.

He will also announce the extension of the Oyster smartcard scheme in London, which will see the cards being accepted in the capital's mainline stations.

He said that while he did not want to prevent people enjoying the benefits of cheap air travel, he was concerned about the environmental impact.

"This is not simply a domestic problem, this is a challenge we need to meet internationally," he said.

"We believe the right way to address those environmental concerns is to bring aircraft within the emissions trading scheme we are trying to get established at the European Union."
 
#43 ·
There was article in the MEN the other night where Northern Trains said six new trains would come into service later this year. Not before time too. They've been absolute crap latley -

Tonight for example they announced that the 17:08 from Salford Central has been cancelled but not until half five. The six was delayed, and looking at the screens at Victoria trains to Rochdale were all cancelled or delayed.
 
#45 ·
Something needs to be done about congestion in the Greater Manchester area. Trying to get into Salford/Manchester in the morning is a right pain when coming in from the north west. The 61 is at a standstill from Westhoughton onwards, the Lancs crawls, A6 is a no go. All this after 0730.

However, I don't agree with a congestion charge. The alternatives just aren't there. The irregular, expensive trains are at bursting point.

Regarding Argentina, the blart is A1 and the locals are very friendly toward the English, your mate must have bumped into an idiot minority. Obviously you don't talk about the Falklands, same as you wouldn't spout off your views on the Northern Irish situation if you were sat in a Belfast bar. If common sense and courtesy prevail, you'll have no problems.
 
#46 ·
Article in this weeks NW Enquirer (great paper BTW) about National Rails proposals for high speed rail.

Basically, looking at a £14bn line from London to Glasgow / Edinburgh via Brum and Manc.

It seems to be the only viable high speed option that would meet government criteria for funding in this country (although that is far from certain).

The article points out a much bigger hurdle will be the political pressure to include links to Liverpool, Leeds and Newcastle - however, doing so would ensure the proposals were not economically viable.

The conclusion seems to be we'll end up getting improved capacity, simply to keep those other cities happy, they'd rather we all got nothing rather than the areas that can justify the high speed rail (according to government criteria) getting improvements that may one day be expanded to their areas - ain't this working together great!!!

Can see why London does so well - each of the northern cities are bikkering every time one of them seems to be getting an 'advantage'.
 
#48 ·
Been thinking about our links to the proposed cities on this route.

We have some seriously environmentally damaging connections to these places that could e improved by the HSR link.

For example, have a look at www.manchesterairport.co.uk to see the that we currently have many flights many of the cities, for example....

We have 59 daily flights to London
We have 14 daily flights to Glasgow
We have 17 daily flighrs to Edinburgh
We don't have any flights to Birmingham obviously

A total of 90 daily (return) flights to each of these cities - imagine the amount of carbon being emitted unnecessarily.

Also, by not having these flights (whch tend to be at prime time for the airport) could free up slots that could allow other operators to come in and hopefully add a few further afield business destinations.

Not only this, but a glance at www.nationalrail.co.uk shows we have the following number of DIRECT connections to the following cities on a daily basis...

32 direct trains to London
32 direct trains to Birmingham
3 direct trains to Glasgow
4 direct trains to Edinburgh

There is clearly a huge demand from the Manchester region to these locations, which explains why the Virgin are soon to be introducing a 20min service to London.

Hopefully Network Rail can get the numbers to add up, and convience the DfT that this scheme is worthy of their investment, not only will it make sense on environmental grounds, but also on economic ones.
 
#50 ·
Indeed, a fair few would remain, but when the TGV started between Lyon and Paris, the number of flights dropped dramatically, I suspect the same would happen again.

Similarly for the Scottish cities, presuming we had a link to north on the link then I'd imagine practically every one of those flights would go.
 
#51 ·
Metrolink said:
Indeed, a fair few would remain, but when the TGV started between Lyon and Paris, the number of flights dropped dramatically, I suspect the same would happen again.

Similarly for the Scottish cities, presuming we had a link to north on the link then I'd imagine practically every one of those flights would go.
Depends on the relative price of tickets. Those flights may stimulate competition. take them away and the price of rail tickets will rise.

Japan has 600 seater 747's operating between Tokyo and Osaka, they provide the Shinkansen with intense competition and stimulate the railway to go even faster.
 
#52 ·
https://www.gnn.gov.uk/content/deta...4,677,767,684,762,718,674,708,683,706,718,674

23/05/2006 10:00

Department for Transport (National)


NEW BENEFITS IDENTIFIED FOR PASSENGERS FOLLOWING UPGRADE OF WEST COAST MAIN LINE




The West Coast Main Line modernisation will benefit passengers more than previously anticipated, a Government report confirms today.




The West Coast Main Line modernisation will benefit passengers more than previously anticipated, a Government report confirms today.

From 2009 passengers will benefit from faster journey times and more services to key cities on the route such as Birmingham and Manchester.

The West Coast Main Line Progress Report details the planned timetable to be introduced following the completion of the project in 2008. Highlights of the new timetable include:

* London to West Midlands will be served by a train every 20 minutes to Coventry, Birmingham International and Birmingham New St, with a standard journey time of 1hr 23min to Birmingham.
* London to Manchester frequency increased from every half hour to every 20 minutes and accelerated to an end to end time of only 2hr 6min. The fastest train will take less than 2 hours.
* The regular timetable will make journeys between London and Liverpool around 20 minutes quicker than today. Extra peak trains will operate.
* Frequencies will be increased between London, Lancashire, Cumbria and Scotland. Journey times will be considerably reduced, with Glasgow trains being half an hour quicker than today's norm.
* A major improvement in weekend services throughout the route, with journey times and frequencies close to weekday levels.

The report also found that track improvements are being delivered on schedule, costs have been brought under control, reliability has been transformed and is exceeding target levels, and passenger numbers are up 30%.

Launching the report on his visit to view the planned works at Milton Keynes Central station, Rail Minister Derek Twigg said:

"This project has been a tremendous engineering feat, with over 1,200 miles of track laid already and improvements made so that trains can run at 125mph in tilt mode along the entire track. There is still hard work ahead, but credit must go to everyone involved in this remarkable project.

"Passengers have already seen faster journey times and improving reliability delivered by this project, and this is why so many more passengers are now using the West Coast Main Line. Now we have details of the second stage of benefits they will enjoy after the upgrade completes in 2008. These improvements from the project are even greater than we thought would be possible when this work started. Passengers on the West Coast Main Line can look forward to the future with confidence."

Notes to Editors

1. A copy of the West Coast Main Line Progress Report is available on the DfT website at http://www.dft.gov.uk

2. The timetable improvements once the project is completed in 2008 will be better than previously anticipated. The regular journey times and trains per hour frequency from London to major stations will be:

London Euston to/from

Pre-Project
Time (hr min) / Stops / Freq. (tph)

Current (2006)
Time (hr min) / Stops / Freq. (tph)

Latest Indicative Timetable for Post-project
Time (hr min) / Stops / Freq. (tph)

Birmingham 1h 43m 3 2 1h 30m 3 2 1h 23m 3 3
New St.
Coventry 1h 11m 1 2 1h 04m 1 2 1h 00m 1 3
Manchester 2h 41m 4 1 2h 15m 3 2 2h 06m 3 2
via Stoke
Manchester 2h 56m n/a 2/day n/a n/a 4/day 2h 08m 3 1
via Crewe
Stoke 1h 51m 1 1 1h 31m 0 2 1h 28m 0 2
Liverpool 2h 53m 5 1 2h 30m 5 1 2h 09m 2 1**
Crewe 2h 08m 3 2 1h 45m 2 2 1h 35m 0 2**
Preston 3h 01m 5 1 2h 29m 5 1 2h 12m 2 1**
Carlisle 4h 04m 8 0-1 3h 44m 9 0-1 3h 22m 5 1*
Glasgow 5h 35m 10 0-1 5h 00m 10 0-1 4h 29m 6 1*
Chester 2h 38m 3 3/day 2h 10m 2 5/day 2h 02m 2 1
Holyhead 4h 28m 9 3/day 3h 52m 9 4/day 3h 45m 9 5/day





* - Final timetable being prepared. It is expected there will be two off-peak occasions when the service will be 2-hourly and extra trains will run at peak times of day.
** - Additional trains will operate at peak times of day

3. The fastest journey times on the route from London will be:

London Euston Pre- Current Latest
to/from project (2006) Indicative
Timetable for
Post-project
Time Stops Time Stops Time Stops
Birmingham N St 1h 39m 1 1hr 21m 1 1h 18m 1
Manchester n/a n/a 2hr 05m 1 1h 59m 1
Liverpool n/a n/a 2hr 09m 1 2h 06m 1
Preston 2h 25m 0 2hr 10m 0 2h 07m 0
Glasgow 5h 06m 3 4hr 24m 1 4h 15m 1





4. The West Coast Main Line is 1,660 miles long and runs from Euston to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, North Wales and Scotland. It is responsible for over 2,000 train movements each day and caters for over 75m passenger journeys every year.

5. The engineering work completed so far includes line speed improvements throughout the route to 125mph in tilt mode, 1,266 miles of track renewed and 2,802 miles of signalling cable laid. Major individual projects include new platforms at Birmingham New Street, Wolverhampton and Stockport, a new flyover and platforms at Nuneaton and three major new junctions on the route.

6. Remaining engineering work which will complete the modernisation project include additional line speed improvements on the London-Northampton line, and further work on the line at Stoke, Crewe and sections of Liverpool and Glasgow. Milton Keynes and Rugby stations will be enlarged, the Trent Valley route will be widened and a new depot will be opened at Northampton.

Public Enquiries: 020 7944 8300
Department for Transport Website: http://www.dft.gov.uk

Client ref 049

GNN ref 133275P

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Other information
Derek Twigg
NEW BENEFITS IDENTIFIED FOR PASSENGERS FOLLOWING UPGRADE OF WEST COAST MAIN LINE




© Crown Copyright 2006
 
#53 ·
https://www.gnn.gov.uk/content/deta...4,677,767,684,762,718,674,708,683,706,718,674

23/05/2006 11:01

Department for Transport (North West)


TRAINS EVERY 20 MINUTES TO LONDON FOR MANCHESTER PASSENGERS FOLLOWING UPGRADE OF WEST COAST MAIN LINE




Manchester and Stockport will get three trains an hour to London when the West Coast Main Line modernisation project completes - a better service than previously anticipated, a Government report confirms today.




Manchester and Stockport will get three trains an hour to London when the West Coast Main Line modernisation project completes - a better service than previously anticipated, a Government report confirms today.

The West Coast Main Line Progress Report details the planned timetable to be introduced following the completion of the project in 2008. Highlights of the planned timetable include:

* Three trains an hour from London to Stockport and Manchester, instead of two. The standard journey time between Manchester and London will be reduced to just over 2 hours - around 40 minutes faster than before the upgrade of the route

* Two of the trains will run via Stoke, 35 minutes faster than before the modernisation project

* The third hourly service to Manchester will operate via Crewe - a route that will provide a new regular hourly service between Wilmslow and London with a journey time of just 1 hour 50 minutes.

* The fastest train from Manchester to London will run in the morning peak and will now take less than 2 hours


* A new through train service will link to Manchester Airport to Carlisle and Scotland

* A major improvement in weekend services, with journey times and frequencies close to weekday levels

The major increase in frequency and improvement in journey times for Manchester will build on the excellent growth in passenger numbers on this service since the first benefits of the West Coast upgrade were implemented in 2004.

The report also found that track improvements are being delivered on schedule, costs have been brought under control, reliability has been transformed and is exceeding target levels, and passenger numbers are up 30%.

Launching the report, Rail Minister Derek Twigg said: "This project has been a tremendous engineering feat, with over 1,200 miles of track laid already and improvements made so that trains can run at 125mph in tilt mode along the entire track. There is still hard work ahead, but credit must go to everyone involved in this remarkable project.

"Passengers have already seen faster journey times and improving reliability delivered by this project, and this is why so many more passengers are now using the West Coast Main Line. Now we have details of the second stage of benefits they will enjoy after the upgrade completes in 2008. These improvements from the project are even greater than we thought would be possible when this work started. Passengers on the West Coast Main Line can look forward to the future with confidence."

Notes to Editors

* A copy of the West Coast Main Line Progress Report is available on the DfT website at http://www.dft.gov.uk

* The timetable improvements once the project is completed in 2008 will be better than previously anticipated. The regular journey times and trains per hour frequency from London to Manchester will be:

London Pre-Project Current(2006) Latest Indicative
Euston Timetable for
to/from Post-project

Time(hrStops Freq Time(hr Stops Freq. Time(hr Stops Freq.
min) (tph) min) (tph) min) (tph)
Manchester 2h 41m 4 1 2h 15m 3 2 2h 06m 3 2
via Stoke
Manchester 2h 56m n/a 2/day n/a n/a 4/day 2h 08m 3 1
via Crewe








The fastest journey times on the route from London will be:


London Pre-Project Current(2006) Latest Indicative
Euston Timetable for
to/from Post-project

Time Stops Time Stops Time Stops
Manchester n/a n/a 2hr 05m 1 1h 59m 1





* The West Coast Main Line is 1,660 miles long and runs from Euston to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, North Wales and Scotland. It is responsible for over 2,000 train movements each day and caters for over 75m passenger journeys every year.

* The engineering work completed so far includes line speed improvements throughout the route to 125mph in tilt mode, 1,266 miles of track renewed and 2,802 miles of signalling cable laid. Major individual projects that have been completed include the electrification of the line between Crewe and Kidsgrove.

* Remaining engineering work which will complete the modernisation project includes further improvements to speed up the line to London via Stoke-on-Trent.

* Work will also continue on developing and appraising a third platform at Manchester Airport, with a partnership between Network Rail and local organisations hoping to implement the scheme by the end of 2008.

ISSUED ON BEHALF OF THE DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT BY GNN NORTH WEST

Press releases from DfT can be viewed on http://www.gnn.gov.uk

Department for Transport Great Minster House 76 Marsham Street London SW1P 4DR

Client ref DFT/NW/029/2006

GNN ref 133295P

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Other information
TRAINS EVERY 20 MINUTES TO LONDON FOR MANCHESTER PASSENGERS FOLLOWING UPGRADE OF WEST COAST MAIN LIN


© Crown Copyright 2006
 
#60 ·
So we should be getting an improved super-fantastic West Coast Mainline.... we did after all miss out massivley on the Regional Eurostar - paid by local taxpayers. :bash:

Now that's happened I think it was for the best.
 
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