Apologies for the late posting, but for this week (Mon 9th -Fri 13th) the last train from Manchester has been replaced by a (slooooow) bus to allow overnight engineering works near Hindley.
Today is the last scheduled day for the bus - hopefully things should be back to normal from tomorrow.
FOWS understands the line closure proposed for Saturday 29th December has now been cancelled - presumably the works will be rescheduled for a later date.
Network Rail have several sets of engineering work planned around the Manchester area between Christmas and New Year.
FOWS understand that the Walkden will only be closed on one date - Saturday 29th December.
Further details will be published once we know them.
There are bus replacements between Wigan and Southport this week (20-28th October) while Network Rail carry out engineering works at Wigan.
Meanwhile all services between Walkden and Wigan were cancelled yesterday due to a broken rail between Walkden and Atherton.
Last week’s engineering works finished on time. There isn’t much sign of change visible from Walkden - just some new white lines on the platform edge. Apparently some major bridge repair work was performed around Atherton.
We understand from staff in the Booking Office that as well as the replacement buses listed in the special timetable for next week, Northern will also run some “express” bus services from Walkden to/from Manchester and Westhoughton direct during the rush-hours. Unfortunately there don’t appear to be any details of these service available on-line so we can’t give any more information at the moment.
Details of the replacement bus services for next week’s line closure have finally been published: timetable leaflets are available at the station.
Beware … the bus journey into Manchester takes longer than the train so the departure and arrival times are not the same as when the trains are running !
The bus times for Saturday 25th and Monday 27th can also be downloaded from here, but the timetable for the rest of the week doesn’t appear to be available on-line yet.
As advertised in the Booking Office the entire Atherton line will be closed from 25 August to 3 September while Network Rail carry out engineering works.
Network Rail have been asked to lower the height of the tracks at Walkden (to reduce the high step onto the trains) but we don’t yet know whether they will do it or not. There are no further details on the National Rail website yet, nor information about the bus replacement services.
