Not strictly Urmston news, but may be of interest to Urmston folk travelling to/from Manchester: the lavatories at Oxford Road station, both Ladies and Gents, are closed for refurbishment. They are not expected to re-open for six weeks, which I reckon takes us to the very end of August.

A tiny, tiny piece of good news for Urmston commuters: some of the new trains come into service on Monday next, 1st July. You'll see them speeding through the station at high speed on their way to or from Manchester Airport.

How is this good news for us, I hear you ask. Well, they start a cascade of rolling stock, displacing some trains with longer carriages and more seats, which will replace some trains with shorter carriages and fewer seats, which will displace a few of the Pacers (the ones on four wheels rather than eight). The Pacers have to be out of service completely by the end of the year.

I don't think they were vandalised to try to get money out, more just wilful damage of the screen similar to how people smash bus shelters for no good reason. 

Somebody must really hate Northern Rail then, because those ticket machines don't hold any money. (They only accept bank cards, for anyone wondering.)

I was told last week by the guy in the ticket office at Chassen Road that the ticket machine on the platform is being removed as it has been vandalised twice.  Pity Northern never got around to installing the CCTV cameras they put the poles in for about 18 months ago as if they had they might have spotted and been able to prevent any antisocial behaviour on the platforms.

Just a reminder that the new timetable starts tomorrow, Sunday 20th May. More trains of an evening, but if you're used to getting the train back from Deansgate, remember that only half the westbound trains will call there in future.

Graz - it was around 1993 that Flixton lost its Sunday services. I think it co-incided with the transfer of Liverpool - York trains to run through Warrington and Piccadilly rather than Newton-le-Willows and Victoria.

At the same time our local trains on weekdays changed from mostly one an hour, terminating at Warrington, to two an hour. One of these was the much-missed through train from the newly opened Manchester Airport station, which called at Urmston but not Flixton, and continued to Liverpool. The other was the shuttle from Oxford Road, originally all stations to Flixton and later extended to Irlam.

If you mean the proposed expansion of Piccadilly to have a 15th & 16th platform towards the old Mayfield depot that's been mothballed as far as I'm aware  Same for the expansion of the viaduct between Piccadilly and Oxford Road, and the closure of Oxford Road platform 5.

There have been rumours about Deansgate station closing as part of the Piccadilly platforms 13/14 development - there seems little point creating extra capacity when Deansgate remains a bottleneck. That said, it would remove a really useful station for those of us who see the southern part of the city centre and Castlefield as home. The gap between Trafford Park and Deansgate is currently a wasteland but the high density developments taking place along Chester Road would benefit from a metrolink / rail interchange at Cornbrook. One was proposed for White City as part of the congestion charge plans. Anyway, trains at Flixton on a Sunday - how long has it been since that last happened?

The new rail timetables have finally been published and Northern's website has a pdf file of the new pocket timetable for Urmston and Flixton (1.12MB). It takes effect on Sunday 20th May.

On the plus side, we get extra trains in the evening. These leave Oxford Road at 1915, 2015 and 2243. There are still some gaps - nothing at 2115 or 2215. And Flixton finally regains a Sunday service.

On the down side, Flixton actually loses some evening trains which will now race straight through. But there should at least be a better chance of getting a seat on the trains that do call at Flixton, because overall there's more capacity leaving Manchester.

Bizarrely, many trains will cease to call at Deansgate. This is mostly in the westbound direction, and I presume it's done to ease the congestion through the Oxford Road corridor. Deansgate to Flixton becomes almost impossible, unless you get on the eastbound train and travel into Oxford Road first. Most but not all of the eastbound trains continue to call at Deansgate. The timetable does require some careful reading.

Getting to and from Manchester Airport will be slightly easier than now. One of the two-an-hour expresses that follow our stopping trains into Oxford Road will now run to the Airport rather than Scarborough, so that will save a bit of time waiting for a connection. And similarly in the opposite direction too.

Just so's you know: the ticket office at Urmston railway station is out of action for the next couple of weeks while the ticket window is rebuilt with a lower counter to help folk in wheelchairs. The self-service ticket machines on the platforms are still in use, but they only take bank cards, and they can't sell advance purchase tickets, or tickets from stations other than Urmston, or railcards, or System One multi-modal tickets, or much else really.

I can confirm that the new ticket machines at Urmston and Flixton are now in service. Chassen Road's is probably working too but I've not seen it yet. They take bank cards but not cash.

Yes, Flixton is getting one too - I noticed the foundations a few weeks back. It may even be in service by now.

Another train strike on Wednesday 8th November...

In other news, ticket machines and CCTV are being installed at Chassen Road this week.  A machine is also being installed at Urmston by the look of things.  Not sure about Flixton but I suspect it'll be getting one too.

Northern Rail will be on strike again 8th, 9th & 10th July (Saturday, Sunday & Monday) so expect disruption on those days.

The improvements pre-date the Green Belt plan. They were signed off a couple of years ago, but their implimentation is over the course of the franchise.

Minutes of the 16th June Transport for Greater Manchester Committee show that local rail services were discussed. From May 2018, Sunday services will stop at Flixton too. 

TfGM Officers have requested that Northern investigate the possibility of the new Northern Connect services to the Airport stopping at Urmston. This is however a longer-term objective dependant on the new station at Warrington West.

Graz,

Acording to the New Station Fund 2 Application form for the proposed Warrington West Station dated 25/11/16:

"Two stopping services are to call at Warrington West. These currently operate between Liverpool Lime/ Street /and Manchester Oxford Road, but are likely to be extended through to Buxton/New Mills Newtown once the Northern Hub infrastructure enhancements in the Castlefield corridor have been implemented (due to removal of the bay platform at Manchester Oxford Road). Whilst these services operate as skip stop services along the CLC (for operational reasons), direct services from Warrington West to all stations along the CLC route will be offered through a combination of the two stopping services."

Thanks Atlantean. Being able to access Piccadilly directly will be a big improvement although the service may be busier as a result.

I understood our local services will continue through Piccadilly to Stockport and Buxton once the Oxford Road bay is closed.

Hi Mike

Sounds ominous. A strengthed majority after the GE may tempt someone to try and dilute the investment going into the Northern Hub. As you say, the Ordsall Chord and it's new bridge is not going to fulfil any potential on its own.

The obvious problem is that a terminating service waiting to 'turn around' will be using up valuable platform space whichever station it's stopped at. Lengthening the platforms at Oxford Road is proposed to increase capacity so having a stopper waiting is not beneficial. A bay platform is the answer!

Graz,

Re Train's terminating at Oxford Road or continuing onto Piccadilly.

I don't think we'll get a definitive answer until the funding for the platforms 15 and 16 at Piccadilly is secured from Government.

Can't stress enough how vital they are to any improvement to capacity, frequency and extracting value from the investment that's gone into the Ordsall Chord.

Kate Green asked the question in parliament quite recently  . Chris Grayling is not a fan of public transport and answered with a fudge and it's pretty clear that Theresa May is not an admirer of George Osborne, with whom this project is particularly associated.

Where that will leave our service is a moot point. Northern (Arriva) are quite keen to develop Northern Connect as part of their franchise. Essentially that's train services linking medium towns of 80,000 plus population. Warrington would fit that bill. The problem for stations in Urmston and Stretford is that Northern really do have to improve the quality of service on our line as it's always one of the worst performing in the North West. We really need those additional platforms at Piccadilly.

Mike Cordingley
Labour Councillor for Gorse Hill Ward
gorsehill-labour.co.uk

You'd need to change at Warrington Central for TransPennine Express or East Midlands Trains to Liverpool.

Thanks. This looks like a very limited service, running once an hour and calling only at Warrington Central, Padgate, Birchwood, Irlam, Flixton, Urmston and Manchester Oxford Road. It will not even call at Deansgate.

And as far as I can make out, it will not go west of Warrington, so anyone that needs to get to Liverpool will probably have to go into Manchester first, or else go across Warrington to Bank Quay station. There will be no evening service either. Definitely a day to stop at home, if you have that option.

Strike Action will take place on the Northern network on Monday 13th March. Northern have issued a revised timetable for our line, available here:

Further details here: https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/industrial-action