Northern Trains Ltd

[Raawwwrrr!]

RE: Northern Trains Ltd

(13/01/2021 09:51)knutstransport Wrote:  What I'm getting at is based on annual usage it was decided the main stations on the Mid-Cheshire line justified 2 trains per hour to Manchester. Yet despite those much needed additional services not being introduced, Northern have still decided to axe around 60% of the services from the line. On the other hand the Buxton line got it's enhancements and it's 'reduced timetable' is close to what the line had pre-May 2018, with the exception of the earlier finish. The Macclesfield line was another that was supposed to get an enhanced service but didn't and it seems generally that line is keeping roughly the same level of service, again with the exception of the earlier finish.

So that's 3 lines which should ideally have half-hourly services based on pre-COVID demand, two of them are to have hourly services from next week and one is to get 2 hourly from next week. It makes no sense when comparing service levels to passenger demand.

The Mid-Cheshire line is unable to go to half-hourly. I can’t remember the exact reason off the top of my head but Network Rail have decided that a 2tph for the full day operations is impossible without improvements taking place to the route.

The reason why those lines are dropped is that they are the rural lines where in general there are higher levels of income from jobs that most people will be working from home doing (offfice based) and car ownership is also generally higher. Schools being closed also will not help the situation either. It’s not that Northern have simple decided to become ‘anti-Manchester’ there are service cuts across the entire network as ordered by the DfT and Manchester happens to be one of the largest areas that northern operate, with some of the highest frequencies