Sunday Services call by Barbara Keeley MP

Barbara Keeley MP

You may have seen the half-page article in this week’s Salford Advertiser which Worsley MP Barbara Keeley dedicated to the campaign for Sunday services from Walkden.

In collaboration with FOWS, Barbara has been actively pursuing Sunday services – and other improvements such as disabled access – for the last few years.

As the article reports, Barbara recently held another meeting with the Rail Minister Chris Mole and Northern Rail’s boss Heidi Mottram. At that meeting both Northern Rail and the Department of Transport agreed to support the proposal, and some important financial concessions from the DfT were also secured.

Barbara concludes with a call for councillors at the GMITA Transport Authority to approve the subsidy so services can start with the summer 2010 timetable in May.

Overcrowding hits weekend services too

In the run up to Christmas the chronic levels of overcrowding already seen in the daily rush-hours are making an unwelcome appearance at weekends too.

The last two Saturday mornings have seen crowds of would-be travellers unable to board trains that are already completely full. For those lucky enough to cram aboard the journey has been made in terribly over-crowded conditions with passengers sitting on the floor beneath the luggage racks, and frightened children clinging to their parents.

FOWS do not wish to scare people away from using the trains, but neither can we pretend these problems don’t exist. We find it depressing that people giving the service an occasional try find that some trains are unusable.

We urge all travellers affected by the shortage of carriages to complain to Northern Rail using a complaint form (available from any manned station), phoning their Customer Relations team on 0845 000 0125, or emailing customer.relations@northernrail.org

It won’t magic up an instant solution, but will move Walkden up Northern’s list of priorities for when extra carriages are eventually received from the government. It also helps Northern Rail demonstrate to the Department of Transport why they need more carriages now.

Winter colour for Walkden station

Flowers, and litter, at Walkden station !

FOWS’ crack gardening team Angela and Barbara have been making the most of the unseasonal sunshine today to refresh the flower beds and planters on the station with some stunning winter colour.

After spending an hour clearing up Saturday night’s litter, much of which had been deliberately created by tearing up newspapers (how bored must you be to do that ?!), the flower beds were weeded, fresh compost put down, and a colourful array of new shrubs and flowers planted.

The new plants have been purchased with another grant from Salford City Council’s Community Chest who have once again demonstrated their support of FOWS efforts to improve the station environment.

Our sincere thanks to Salford and the community committee again !

Help Network Rail find out about Walkden !

Network Rail are currently running an online survey to find out what people think of railway stations and how to improve them.

It asks questions such as what you think of your local station and what facilities you would like to see there. Needless to say, the more people that complete the survey for Walkden the better our chances of making it into the improvement programme that Network Rail are planning.

Please take 15 minutes to visit Action Stations and complete the survey.

PS You will also be entered into a Prize Draw for an Annual Season Ticket or cash equivalent !

They say “It’s your Salford” … so don’t let the planners forget Walkden station !

You may have read about the council’s Draft Core Strategy for Salford’s long-term development in your “Life in Salford” magazine. This plan has serious implications for Walkden station …

Conspicuous by its absence
The “Life in Salford” article doesn’t mention Walkden station at all, just a new park and ride facility at Irlam.

But in the Transport section of the full strategy document (available from www.itsyoursalford.info), the outlook for Walkden is grim … there are improvements for Swinton, Eccles, Irlam, Salford Crescent and Central stations: but nothing for Walkden station.

Metrolink Takeover ?
The strategy also reveals plans for a feasibility study into adapting the route for Metrolink trams. Trams may provide a more frequent service, but journey times may be longer as more stops are added to the route, fares will quite probably be higher, and the carriages themselves will be smaller, have less seats than trains, and no toilets.

Moreover, conversion to Metrolink could spell the end of through train services to places like Southport and Blackpool.

FOWS believe trains provide the very best fast, green route into the city and we do not want the line to be taken over by trams.

If you share our view, make sure you take part in Salford’s consultation process.
Let’s get proper improvements for Walkden built into the plan now !

Passenger count – full details now on FOWS website

The full results of yesterday’s passenger count by FOWS are now available on our website.

We only survey up to 1.30pm (for consistency with GMPTE’s passenger surveys) but with a grand total of 524 passengers using the station during this time, it’s a reasonable assumption that the station’s daily passenger count is over 1,000 !

FOWS Passenger Count 2009 and passenger numbers keep on rising … !

Today we conducted our annual passenger count and we’re now collating the data. The full stats will appear on our website in the next couple of days.

In the meantime, here are the headline figures:

* Overall number of passengers using the station from 6am to 1.30pm up 2% since last year: from 511 to 524 passengers

* Peak-time travel into Manchester is down 7% from 227 to 210

* Passengers boarding trains towards Wigan were up 44% from 48 to 69

As we say every year, our survey provides only a snapshot on a “typical” working day. All the same, it is quite amazing that passenger numbers have continued to climb – albeit at a lower rate – after the economic downturn the country has experienced this year.

And, even though peak-time travel into Manchester was slightly down on last year (in line with rising unemployment), and the fact we now have an extra train during the morning peak, there were still 20 passengers left stranded as they were unable to board the jam-packed 0818.

FOWS encourage all passengers let down in situations like this to fill in a Complaint Form and send it Freepost to Northern Rail. It’s not the Booking Office staff’s fault (they wish there were more trains too), but they do stock Northern’s Complaints Forms.

Only by filing complaints each time the train is overcrowded will Walkden climb up Northern Rail’s priorities … so stand up for yourselves !

Renovated roof revealed

The renovated Booking Hall roof

The scaffolding has been removed from the station now and the renovated roof can be seen in all its glory.

Thanks to the clean, new skylights and repainted lower walls the Entrance Hall, and Booking Hall, and Upper Stairway are all brighter, cleaner, more welcoming, and weather proof.

Thanks to Network Rail and their contractors for a grand job, and a special thank you from FOWS for taking care not to damage the plants in the flower beds during the course of the works.

The brighter Entrance Hall

More waiting for the tannoy …

We understand the local tannoy system installed at the station last week has some further technical issues so we must continue waiting for it to come into use.

Meanwhile Swinton station now boasts CCTV, departure boards, a departures TV screen in the booking hall, and a Help Point. Truly the railway works in mysterious ways …

“All change” at Walkden …

Freshly painted stairway walls and a new roof make very welcome improvements to Walkden station

October has arguably been the best month for Walkden station since FOWS was launched in February 2007, with numerous, sizeable improvement projects coming to fruition.

Firstly the roof renovation is nearly complete and looking infinitely smarter than the old roof. The new roof should be water-proof again, so the water damage caused by leaks onto the stairways should become a thing of the past.

After Network Rail rejected our initial request to repaint the stairway walls (arguing this was the responsibility of Northern Rail) we were delighted when the decision was reversed and the whole length of the stairway and Booking Hall walls were freshly painted. The results are a vast improvement on the grubby, stained walls we had before.

The long-awaited tannoy system is also nearing “go-live” too, and may even be working by the time you read this. Having a local tannoy will enable staff to inform passengers of delays without having to close the Booking Office to walk up to the platform.

For a more detailed review of the station’s improving condition, check out our latest station condition report.

And FOWS are doing their bit too … pending a council funding decision today we hope to have winter plants installed in the gardens very soon.