The airport via Victoria
From: Bob Longworth, Glossop, Derbyshire.
THE decision to route transPennine trains to Manchester Airport through Manchester Victoria (Roger Backhouse,
The Yorkshire Post, June 24) was a conclusion of the 2010 Manchester Hub Rail Study.
At that time TransPennine Express trains to Manchester Airport and Liverpool had to cross the tracks approaching Manchester Piccadilly.
The crossing moves adversely impacted on network capacity and increased the risk of delays.
Re-routing TransPennine Express trains through Manchester Victoria and round to Manchester Airport via Manchester Oxford Road station would move a major source of delays, but this required enhancements to the Manchester network.
These were a new platform at Manchester Airport, enhancements to Victoria station, a new connecting section of track at Ordsal, re-modelling Oxford Road station platforms and two new platforms (15 and 16) at Piccadilly station.
The works at Victoria, Ordsal and Manchester Airport have all been completed but work on the Piccadilly and Oxford Road platforms was paused in late 2015 following a review into Network Rail’s investment programme triggered by cost overruns and delays to major schemes elsewhere in the country.
Omitting the new platforms at Piccadilly and Oxford Road will have had an impact on original service plans for both Transpennine Express and Northern as the current franchises were bid for, and let, on the assumption that the full scheme was completed by the end of 2019.