Just a late reminder that train services are dramatically cut back over the next few days. The last train from Victoria to Walkden today leaves at just 8.10pm … 3 hours earlier than usual.
There are no trains on Christmas Day or Boxing Day, but services at Walkden resume on Monday the 28th.
As always, be sure to check your journey times on the National Rail Planner website which has full details of the modified timetable.
A Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to our readers from FOWS.
We’re very, very excited about 2010 with the Sunday service starting in May and – fingers crossed – station improvements from GMITA towards the end of the year. Let’s hope it lives up to expectations !
Our exciting news about the Sunday service trial is featured on a few regional news websites including Wigan Council’s news page, and Salford Online.
The Wigan article also carries the first details of the proposed trial service, saying it “would run hourly during the day on Sundays, with the last train departing from Manchester shortly after 6pm.”
Bring on May the 9th when the service should start !
It’s been a little while coming (two and a half years to be precise) but the tannoy is now installed and working at Walkden station.
This is sure to be a big help on occasions when trains are delayed or other service news needs to be broadcast to passengers – previously staff have been unable to pass news on to passengers on the platform as they’ve had to stay in the Booking Office to deal with customers there.
Our thanks to GMPTE’s Steve Magner for arranging the funding and installation of the tannoy.
Dozens of would-be passengers were again unable to board trains from Walkden this Saturday morning due to over-crowding.
It’s a rotten experience for anybody whose travel plans are thwarted, and the railway will have to work hard to persuade some of the unfortunate travellers to return. It’s ironic that passengers are called “customers” by the privatised railway companies yet the trains provided for them at Walkden are more inadequate than ever !
Obviously there is a large seasonal element to the current over-crowding issues with many more shoppers and revellers wanting to take the train into town. However railway planners should take note that concerts at the MEN and other events in Manchester mean over-crowding is not just a rush-hour phenomenon.
The extra carriages promised to Northern Rail are desperately needed in the Greater Manchester area and can’t come soon enough !
Fantastic news for Walkden station users … GMITA have reached an agreement with Northern Rail to launch a Sunday service from Walkden station from next May.
FOWS understand the service will be subsidised by GMITA on a trial basis for one year, after which time they will review whether it provides value for money for their outlay.
FOWS have campaigned for Sunday services since our inception in 2007 and are delighted with this break-through. Knowing how busy the line is Monday to Saturday, and how busy other lines around Manchester are on Sundays, we’re sure the service will be enthusiastically welcomed by local people and confident the service will be very popular.
Details of the trial service timetable are not yet known.
In the complicated way that the railway is currently structured, introducing change of any sort is difficult because of the number of organisations involved. A lot of people from Northern Rail, Network Rail, and the local councils have worked hard to get this trial off the ground, and FOWS wish to pay special thanks to Barbara Keeley MP, Councillor Ian Macdonald and Councillor Iain Lindley who have all been unstinting in their support for our campaign. We would also like to thank the members of GMITA who have worked towards, and now voted to subsidise, this boost to public transport provision in our area.
More details of the new service will be published here as we learn them, but for now let’s celebrate !!
The Times today carries a report that Heidi Mottram, the Managing Director of Northern Rail, will be leaving the company to take charge of Northumberland Water.
Heidi has done a fantastic job at Northern and will be greatly missed. Taking charge of a franchise widely held to be a basket case – one of the least glamourous in the whole country and saddled with the worst trains – her personal vision and enthusiasm has injected the company with regional pride and a reputation for innovation.
FOWS had the pleasure of meeting Heidi at a number of community rail events (indeed her commitment to placing the railway at the heart of the wider community is one of her most celebrated achievements). Heidi’s openness and down-to-earth attitude have won many admirers within and outside of Northern Rail.
Heidi’s success at Northern had prompted rumours that she could be “head-hunted” by one of the main-line rail franchises, but her move outside the rail industry will be a surprise to many.
We wish Heidi well in her next venture and hope Northern Rail can find a replacement who can live up to her example.
Our campaign to lobby GMITA to vote to fund Sunday services along the Walkden line is gathering support from councillors around the area.
So far we have been delighted to receive support from the following:
Salford
Cllrs Lindley, Macdonald, Lea, Warner, Turner (Les and Nicky), Devine, Dawson, Antrobus and Hinds
Wigan
Cllrs Smethurst, Holland, Winstanley, and Mayor Aldred
Bolton
Cllr Chadwick
Tameside
Cllr Dickinson
Manchester
Cllr Whitmore (Vice-Chair of GMITA)
Help FOWS make train-less Sundays a thing of the past !
After 2 years of campaigning by FOWS, Barbara Keeley MP, and Councillors Iain Lindley and Ian Macdonald, the prospect of Sunday services from Walkden station is getting closer … but we need the help of Walkden station users to clinch it.
As if anyone needs reminding, Walkden station needs and deserves a Sunday train service because …
• The train is the fastest, greenest route from Walkden to Wigan and Manchester
• Shops, cinemas, sports venues, galleries … there are thousands of attractions open for business on Sundays
• The Walkden line is the only major passenger line in Manchester that doesn’t have a Sunday service
• The number of people using the station has more than doubled in the last 5 years
• Even some trains on Saturdays are full and standing … the demand for weekend train services is clear
• Leaving a perfectly good railway line idle 1 day out of every 7 is a terrible waste of a valuable resource
• It’s simply ridiculous that in 2009 trains don’t serve towns the size of Walkden and Atherton on a Sunday !
The story so far is this:
In the summer GMITA voted to formally make Sunday services an “aspiration” for the transport authority.
At a recent meeting arranged by Barbara Keeley MP, Northern Rail and the Dept For Transport pledged their desire to launch the service, and the DfT even agreed to waive some revenue charges to make the scheme more affordable.
Why we need YOUR help
The final hurdle is GMITA approval for the subsidy required to run the service.
On Dec 18th GMITA meet to vote on funding. To make sure we don’t fall at the final hurdle we need every local councillor to lobby GMITA to approve the proposal.
Please don’t leave it to someone else … if you want a Sunday service from Walkden send your local councillor a message or email TODAY and insist they exert the maximum possible pressure on their colleagues in GMITA to approve this plan.
Whoever wins the next election, public spending is likely to be squeezed in the years ahead … it really could be “now or never” if Walkden is ever to get a 21st century train service running 7 days a week !
See our special Sunday service web page for details of how to contact your local councillors.
The winter timetable starts on Monday 14th December and runs through until May next year.
The overall level of service from Walkden is unchanged from the present, but there are slight changes of 2 or 3 minutes to many of the current departure times.
For example, the daytime departures to Manchester which are currently at 17 and 48 minutes past each hour will be changing to 20 and 50 respectively (reverting to the pre-Leaf Fall timetable times).
As always, the advice is to check your train times carefully before travelling unless you want to risk ending up – like the author – missing your usual service !
The new timetable can be downloaded from Northern Rail’s website, or is available from Marion at the station.
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