Dozens of Sunday trains at Walkden … but none of them stop !

Walkden station has seen plenty of trains again this Sunday as engineering work on the Bolton line has caused Northern and Trans Pennine Express services to Blackpool, Southport, Manchester Airport, and Barrow (amongst other destinations) to be diverted via the Atherton line. Meanwhile the station itself remains one of the busiest in the Manchester area without a Sunday service. Today - as so often on a Sunday - FOWS volunteers working on the station have had to break the news to more than 10 would-be passengers that the last Sunday service left over 40 years ago. FOWS are campaigning for Northern Rail and GMPTE to re-introduce Sunday services at Walkden. Support our campaign by contacting your local councillor or MP and asking them to press the case for Walkden to GMPTE.

Passenger numbers keep on rising

Recently published figures from GMPTE’s latest passenger numbers survey confirm what every Walkden commuter knows - the number of passengers is continuing to rocket.

GMPTE conduct a survey every year and this year’s figures show a 14.4% increase in morning peak numbers and a more modest 1% increase off-peak. However, as the figures below show, the numbers are substantially reduced by the decline in the number of passengers alighting at Walkden - the number of passengers boarding trains here has increased by even more than 14%.

The rising popularity of the station is confirmed by Office of Rail Regulation figures which estimate the annual number of passengers at Walkden to be 156,000 in 2007 - a 5% increase on the previous year.

Walkden in line for TIF Improvements

This week’s approval of Greater Manchester’s bid for up to £3 billion of investment by Transport Secretary Ruth Kelly could signal significant improvements for Walkden station and trains along the Atherton line.

Walkden is highlighted on GMPTE’s TIF Map for TIF Funded Improvements which FOWS understand to include CCTV, real-time passenger information and improved signage at the station. The Atherton line – along with the Eccles line – is also singled out for additional carriages to ease congestion, although these might quickly be filled by additional passengers using the new proposed Park & Ride facility at Atherton.

Although there is some way to go before the TIF project becomes a reality and the improvements will not be seen for a few years yet, we are pleased that GMPTE have recognised Walkden’s particular need for modernisation in their plans.

Bus Replacement for the 2318 from Victoria this week

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.

 

Station repairs large and small

As regular passengers will of course know the platform canopy at Walkden is currently receiving a long overdue paint job. You might not have noticed some smaller repairs that have also been made in the last few weeks :

* Removal of graffiti from platform name signs
* Fixing the broken pipe at the end of the booking hall
* Repainting the booking office panels to the right of the ticket window
* The broken step at the start of the second flight of stairs has been replaced
* The insides of the canopy pillars have been unblocked so that rain water drains out through them instead of onto the platform
* And finally … the football lodged in the rafters of the booking hall has been removed !

Individually these may be minor improvements - but at least it shows that maintenance of the station is on-going and - slowly but surely - Northern are improving its appearance.

Regular surveys of the station’s condition are taken by FOWS and can be found on their website by clicking here

Railways boom in Scotland and Wales

A recent posting on this blog reflected enviously on the new high-speed inter-city express services being introduced in Spain, but you don’t have to look that far to find new high-quality commuter services opening up around the UK.

In Scotland, a brand new railway line has been built to serve Alloa, while in South Wales a disused freight line has been re-opened for passenger services in Ebbw Vale. Every station along the Ebbw Vale line has been built from scratch and equipped with CCTV, passenger information systems, help-points, and disabled access. Although most services are only 2-carriage trains the stations are long enough to cope with 4-carriage trains in future. And the line also enjoys a service 7 days a week.

The line was expected to attract 400,000 passengers a year, but with over 100,000 journeys made in the first 9 weeks it seems likely to exceed that target easily and plans are already afoot to extend services.

The development has been funded by the Welsh Assembly and just goes to show how successful rail services can be - and how much is possible when the political will exists.

Services hit by cable thiefs again

Passengers suffered disruption and delays along the Atherton line again yesterday after cable thieves struck for the second time in 6 weeks. Services were delayed throughout the afternoon and evening, and the Blackpool service had to be re-routed via Bolton, missing out Walkden completely.

Thanks to a speedy repair job by Network Rail services were back to normal this morning.

 

FOWS link up with Chapel Street Business Group

Building on our good relations with Salford and Manchester Chambers of Commerce, FOWS have joined the Chapel Street Business Group. Many businesses in Salford and Manchester share our concerns about over-crowding and the lack of Sunday services, factors that directly impact their customers and staff as they attempt to travel into town.

Painting underway !

Network Rail’s painting team yesterday started work on repainting the canopy and even the areas that have been only undercoated already look much better than before !
The ironwork and woodwork are thought to be in reasonable condition, and the team will also be jetting out the pillars so that they can once again function properly as guttering downpipes.
The colour scheme will be the same as at Swinton: white and dark blue with the painters applying some nice artistic licence to pick out some of the details of the ironwork.

Few Changes in Summer Timetable

The summer timetable - valid from May 19th until October 5th - contains just one major change from its predecessor, the addition of the traditional summer-only daily return service to Blackpool North.

The Blackpool train leaves Walkden at 1028 (Mon-Sat) and gets back at 2020 (Mon-Fri) or 2029 (Sat). This service only runs from now until September 13th.

Other changes in the new timetable are less significant:

a) the 2039 to Manchester is partially retimed: from September 20th and on Saturday’s only, this will run 6 minutes later departing Walkden at 2045.

b) the 2237 to Huddersfield now terminates at Manchester Victoria Mon-Fri. It continues to serves Huddersfield on Saturdays until September 6th but then only runs as far as Greenfield on Saturdays from September 13th on.

Unfortunately there are no improvements to the difficult connections at Salford Crescent, nor extra rush-hour services yet. We are hopefully that these may be achieved by Northern in the next timetable but one: December 2008.

Of course there are still, regrettably, no Sunday services whatsoever.