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1709 Stockport-Chester ran VSTP yesterday and today and they managed to run both Ellesmere Port trains as well today!

(20/12/2022 19:42)mikestone Wrote: [ -> ]1709 Stockport-Chester ran VSTP yesterday

Same today but the 16:10 Piccadilly-Chester was cancelled, so it's probably carrying a lot of passengers who turned up for the earlier train.

(11/12/2022 16:40)507022 Wrote: [ -> ]The half hour Lime St to Wigan NW service is back as well, although only time will tell if passengers can rely on them running

The timetable may have changed but not Northern.
Since the 12th Dec, it seems the new ones mostly run but the pre December ones are mostly cancelled.
However today it was a total shambles. This afternoon there was a Lime St to Wigan stopper at 1345, then the next at 1708 (stopper from Huyton) and 1713. The next was at 1845.
It’s not very encouraging for the rest of this timetable

I've noticed Northern are now selling Advances for almost immediate departures, which only slightly undercut the normal single price. For example, £3.60 for the next Manchester Airport to Wilmslow service instead of £3.90.

Seems the first evening Stockport to Chester and the evening Ellesmere Port runs are being deleted from the timetable again. Disappeared for both today and tomorrow.

(14/02/2023 17:37)knutstransport Wrote: [ -> ]Seems the first evening Stockport to Chester and the evening Ellesmere Port runs are being deleted from the timetable again. Disappeared for both today and tomorrow.

With it being 11 minutes before the service from Manchester, it's very easy for Northern to cancel that 17:08 Chester train from Stockport. They don't gain anything financially from running it and as long as the 17:19 runs on time it's within the 15 minutes delay repay. It'd be better to be operating similarly to the 16:39 train from Manchester as it's now quicker to get to Altrincham via the Airport and overcrowded 288 bus then me waiting for ~40 minutes extra

(14/02/2023 17:56)dounowhoiam Wrote: [ -> ]With it being 11 minutes before the service from Manchester, it's very easy for Northern to cancel that 17:08 Chester train from Stockport. They don't gain anything financially from running it and as long as the 17:19 runs on time it's within the 15 minutes delay repay. It'd be better to be operating similarly to the 16:39 train from Manchester as it's now quicker to get to Altrincham via the Airport and overcrowded 288 bus then me waiting for ~40 minutes extra

I think the operator most likely to take a financial hit would be Avanti if the 16:09 arrival from Euston doesn't get in time for connecting with the 16:19 to Chester. If the 17:08 runs then it's a 30-59 minute delay, while if it doesn't the delay is a minimum of 62 minutes at Knutsford. There can be 5+ passengers making a connection from a London train to a Mid-Cheshire train at times.

If Northern can't get a better path they'd be better off running the 17:08 semi-fast to Greenbank, turning it around and running it back to Stockport semi-fast, given there can be quite a lot of Barclays workers travelling from Knutsford to Trafford and Stockport.

(13/02/2023 17:45)knutstransport Wrote: [ -> ]I've noticed Northern are now selling Advances for almost immediate departures, which only slightly undercut the normal single price. For example, £3.60 for the next Manchester Airport to Wilmslow service instead of £3.90.

For my day in the office I saw some £2 singles between Heaton Chapel and Manchester Piccadilly. However, they would not have been valid on Metrolink and I could not have been certain exactly which train home I'd need in case I was delayed in the office.

For some reason it's been decided drivers are no longer able to take 4 car Sprinters on the Mid-Cheshire line between Altrincham and Chester, unless the rear carriage is locked out-of-use. All the platforms are long enough to take 4 car 150s but there were issues if 4 car 156s were used at some stations. It means that on weekdays 1 in 4 services is operated by a 4 car train with 1 carriage locked out-of-use and 3 in 4 are operated by 2 car trains. Logic dictates one of the following should happen:
1. 'The issues' are resolved. They started last year and are still ongoing.
2. 3 car 158s or 195s are used instead of 4 car 150s/156s.
3. Sprinters are reformed to create 3 car sets, allowing another diagram to get an additional carriage.
4. Some 153s are cascaded in, to be permanently attached to 150/2s.

Both Northern and Network Rail seem good at coming up with excuses for running down the Mid-Cheshire line. We had excuses about no service enhancements being possible until farm level crossings were upgraded. That's happened now but there's still no service enhancements and capacity is being reduced on existing services.

156408 is booked to transfer from East Midlands Trains to Northern tomorrow.