Cheadle and Gatley Lib Dems are moving
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by Lib Dem team on 25 January, 2014
On Friday morning I attended a meeting of Rail North in Manchester on behalf of the Leader of Stockport Council. There were Council leaders and representatives from across the north of England, plus people from organisations like Transport for Greater Manchester. Patrick McLoughlin, Secretary of State for Transport spoke and answered questions.
The idea of Rail North is to get more of the decisions about our railways taken locally, and fewer in Whitehall. In particular, Rail North is looking at the long-term rail strategy (over the next 20 years) including the electrification of many of the lines currently still served by old diesel trains, with all the problems and limitations they bring.
That’s important because nothing happens on the railways if it’s not part of the wider strategy.
For example, some people have suggested that someone could just build a station at Cheadle and have the existing Stockport-Altrincham train stop there – which would be great, but it just isn’t how the railways are organised.
Instead, we need to make sure we’re working through the system, influencing the rail strategy at all the different levels (Greater Manchester, North of England and UK-wide) and making the case for what we want locally. Others will be making their cases too and, as there’s never enough money to go round, we need to make sure our case is heard, and that it stacks up financially.
I’ve also been looking into the current Government consultation on phase 2 of HS2 (the section that runs from Birmingham up to Manchester).
Overall, HS2 is much needed – it’s about capacity far more than speed. If we do nothing, we run out of space on the West Coast Main Line in a few years time. HS2 sorts that out. There are alternatives, but they seem to me to be worse. The main one is to upgrade the WCML – something that would still cost billions of pounds, but unlike HS2 lead to years of disruption on the railways (for those who remember the pain of the last WCML upgrade, this would be much worse!).
But we have concerns about some of the details, and how Stockport will be affected, so we’re working with other local authorities across Greater Manchester to make sure those concerns are heard.
12 Comments
No the way the railways are organised is a complete shambles. A system where it is easier to build an entirely new line than it is to put one platform (where one once was) on a single line section of track and have a half hourly train service stop at it. But helping more people get to london a little faster is more important than saving the high street from drowning in a sea of cars, buses and fumes. Also don’t expect much for Stockport, each time new a plan comes out (like the congestion charge plan) it usually involves major spending on other Greater Manchester ares such as trams and bus ways and what was Stockport offered….two car parks.
Quite! Hear, hear.
While I have some sympathy with Garry, in my view one of the major obstacle to rail investment in the North has been that our area has been controlled centrally from Whitehall. Where control has been devolved to Scotland and Wales, and recently to London, there have been many lines re-opened and new stations, plus electrication. So this is a step in the right direction, just a shame it has taken so long to happen. The Northern hub project has started, will not be complete until 2018, which is the first piece of non-London centric railway investment in the area for a v long time. The situation has not been helped by GMPTE’s obsession with trams and not IMHO taking a balanced view.
The route between Chester and M/c is currently only an hourly service ( some extra peak trains but only as far Stockport) and apparently is suffering over-crowding at peak times. Like most routes it has seen a doubling in passengers in the past 10-15 years. GMPTE and Cheshire council have comissioned a report which was due to be published at the end of last year into upgrading the service. Ian, why has this been delayed and is the re-opening of Cheadle and Baguley included in the brief ??
Garry,
I take your point on platforms/stations but the problem is that it isn’t just one – there are hundreds,even thousands, of places in a similar situation (not least Baguley, just a mile or two down the line).
So it then becomes a question of which of those hundreds of stations get priority: how to you decide if Cheadle is more worthy than Baguley, or somewhere down in Cornwall.
The standard way to do that is to estimate what economic boost the change would make: if you build a new station, get the trains to stop there (and so rework the timetable, possibly needing more trains and rolling stock, or less frequent services) it has a cost. You compare the cost/benefit for all those possible schemes and fund the ones that come out top.
It’s no secret that our line currently struggles on that measure – other schemes come out higher.
On the question of what Stockport gets from Greater Manchester, I’ve no idea where “two car parks” comes from. We’re getting the A6 to Manchester Airport Relief Road funded (£290 million) and we’re working on major improvements to Stockport’s road network, replacing the old bus station with a Transport Interchange, Tram-train, cycle route funding and more besides.
Couple of points. HS2 is an excellent concept that is needed to keep commerce and enterprise moving in the right direction in the North West. It will cost around 43 b + 7 b rolling stock which seems good value to me. Also its only catching up a bit with say Germany and its excellent regional high speed train system. However, all we seem to hear in the media is what a waste of money it is – I note that London’s cross rail is costing ca 17 b and TfL gets 7b a year subsidy and yet there is never any comment over these expenses. So I agree this needs support.
Re the point about building a station in Cheadle / Baguley – it may seem counter intuitive but the slower that trains go the higher the capacity of a train line ! So having lots of stations and the trains going really slow (eg the London tube) gives maximum capacity so no more train sets would be needed.
I see another tramline open in Oldham, Wythenshaw is getting huge investment. This village of ours could be more so much better if we got a train service. We are constantly ignored, perhaps we would get more young professionals moving to our village to boost our economy if we had much better transport links. For me living in the village, to get to Manchester it’s either £20 in a taxi or drive all the way to Stockport and get a train when I may as well just drive in to Manchester. Even East Didsbury has just got a tram, again neither use nor ornament to us living in Cheadle as by the time we’ve driven to it, we may as well carry on up Kingsway in our cars to Manchester. Our politicians need to do a lot more.
The East Didsbury tram stop is worth a try, Penny – with free car parking lots of people are finding it a good route into Manchester.
With transport schemes, it’s about making the economic argument. There are many more places around Greater Manchester without tram or train than with it – we’re working on finding the schemes that show a good economic return and so meet the rules for getting the investment.
NO2 HS2.
Signed, Northern Anorak !
Iain,
As again these pages have shown there is significant interest in the community in the possibility of re-opening Cheadle station. Could you please inform us of the status of the study into the options for the line ? I quote ” In March 2013 Transport for Greater Manchester, Cheshire West & Chester Council and Cheshire East Council commissioned a study into the line’s future from consultant JMP. Originally due for publication in the summer, the report has still to be published.” I am sure the terms of reference of the study include cost-benefit ratios and other means of showing the economic benefit of various investment options, eg 1/2 hourly service, which will allow comparison with other schemes fighting for a limited pot of money. I accept all that you have been saying about having to prove your case, following the correct procedures & looking at transport in S. Manchester as a whole.
As well as enquiring when it will be published, can you please tell us does the study include looking at Cheadle and Baguley stations ?
Hi Jon – where are you quoting from?
Hi Iain,
My main source is the Autumn 2013 newsletter of the Mid-Cheshire Rail Users Association. http://www.mcrua.org.uk/notice-board/mid-cheshire-rail-reports/
there is also the Mid Cheshire Community Rail Partnership, website http://www.midcheshirerail.org.uk/ This may have some Cheshire council funding, given the email address of Sally Buttifant, its employee.
Sally.Buttifant@cheshirewestandchester.gov.uk
The two organisations seem to work very closely together.
It’s amazing what you can find on the web !
Hello Ian,
It really should be obvious that Cheadle (at least)and possibly other stations on the Stockport – Altrincham line are long overdue for re-opening since passenger trains have been routed this way again for some years. I feel that not to have a plan established is prevarication. A simple platform with access and lighting would not cost the earth!
On the subject of HS2, I feel this really is like taking a sledgehammer to crack a nut! Before the Beeching cuts, we could go to London via Marylebone and St Pancras as well as Euston. These two routes were closed to exploit the electrification of the WCML so its no wonder that it is now approaching maximum capacity. (Forget speed, I think the trains are fast enough now)
Could not The re-introduction of HSTs from Stockport to St Pancras alleviate this at the next timetable change? Replacing the missing few miles between Peak Dale and Darley Dale would complete this once premier route, thus relieving the WCML.
And then there is the former GC route to Marylebone. It beggars belief that this opportunity is not being explored further. Freight companies have already been eyeing the southern end of this line.
I believe both these alternatives could be completed at a fraction of the cost of HS2 – with far less disruption and be completed in less time so that the rewards would be realised sooner. The money saved could be used to fill in some of the gaps created in our rail system like Skipton to Colne, etc.
It seems to me that HS2 is a political legacy-led project borne from foreign train set envy!