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©2024 Phil Wieland

Questions

This page of the website is a bit like a FAQ, except that at the time of writing I don't have firm answers to any of the questions. Hopefully the information will be made available in due course. In the mean time I have added my best guess answers to some of the questions.

What trains will we get, and when?
The published plan is that Class 319 units released by the London's Thameslink project will be refurbished for use in the Northwest. However, announcements of the awarding of the contract for the new Thameslink trains say the first ones will be in service in 2015, and that date assumes that they aren't late. A few units had arrived by the end of 2014, allowing driver and fitter training to be undertaken.

Of course, the above applies only to local services - The Manchester-Scotland trains run by TransPennine Express are being operated by new Class 350/4s, the first such service ran on 30th December 2013.

Where will the trains be maintained?
The diesel trains currently working all the lines are based at Newton Heath, Manchester. The plan for the electric trains on local services is that they will be maintained at Allerton depot, which has been substantially refurbished ready for its new role.

The contract for new Class 350/4 trains for TransPennine's Manchester to Scotland services included the upgrading and electrification of Ardwick depot in Manchester, and these trains are being maintained there.

Will resignalling be required?
Prescot and Huyton signal boxes have been closed and demolished. The full route modernisation planned for the Blackpool line will presumably abolish the mechanical signalling there.

Thus, all the lines involved in phases one to four will be under the control of modern signalling.

The Manchester Victoria to Stalybridge line features mechanical signalling which I'm guessing will be replaced, while the Wigan to Bolton route is already equipped with modern signalling controlled from Manchester.

What will the new train service be?
It's too early in the project for any decisions on train times, but the planners must have an idea of the basic service structure to be provided on the electrified railway in order to specify things like power supply capabilities, the size of sidings and the number of trains required. For the Liverpool end of the service I would suggest that simply replacing each two car diesel service with a four car electric train would be a good start, doubling the number of seats available. An increase in the basic frequency would be even better, and some later trains in the evening. Of course, the addition of the transpennine electrification to the plans means a much greater impact on services in our area.

The High Level Output Specification 2012 describes "illustrative peak train services" which include half-hourly fast Liverpool - Chat Moss - Victoria - Leeds - York - Newcastle trains and half-hourly local Liverpool - Chat Moss - Piccadilly - Airport trains.

An early view of the May 2015 timetable shows no changes at all at Huyton, so it looks like we have to wait until December to see significant changes.