Ten things about British rail travel that people born after 1980 never had the chance to enjoy or endure For many passengers, today’s trains are shiny and efficient beasts. Some might say they are a little devoid of character. Sometimes they look scruffy or sport garish liveries. In the space of forty years, the joys…
Category: Trains
Northern Nationalised: Franchise Transfers from Arriva Rail North to DfT
Northern franchise taken over by DfT as Operator of Last Resort from the 01 March After several rumours and persistent lobbying by Northern English political figures in the last six months, it was announced today that Arriva lost its Northern rail franchise. Under the Anglo-German company’s tenure, the rail franchise was dogged by poor service,…
Local Rail Passenger Numbers Rise Despite Punctuality and Reliability Issues
Despite Transpennine Express’ and Northern’s crises, more people are taking to the trains in Tameside and Glossop The latest ORR (Office of the Rail Regulator) figures for the Entries and Exits of our railway stations have been released for 2018 – 2019. Given the kerfuffle caused by delayed rail projects in Central Manchester and the…
The Shape of Bus Fares Before and During Franchised Bus Operations
The state of Greater Manchester’s bus fares before and during franchised bus operations Greater Manchester has over thirty different bus operators. At present, this means over thirty different fare tables. Over sixty should you count half fares within the City Region. Once you get into cross-boundary operations, there are two or more sets of concessionary…
Christmas 2019 and New Year’s Day 2020 Trains and Trams in Tameside
Christmas and New Year train and tram service information for passengers in Tameside and surrounding area Ladies and gentlemen, following on from East of the M60’s look at Yuletide buses in the Tameside area, we turn our attention to local trains and trams.
Tameside Train Timetable Changes, 15 December 2019
Stalybridge sees restoration of Liverpool to Scarborough express service From Sunday [15 December], Stalybridge will regain its direct link with Liverpool Lime Street and Scarborough. Before May 2018, Stalybridge station was served by an hourly service from Liverpool Lime Street to Scarborough via Warrington Central and York. Since the infamous May 2018 timetable changes, this…
Should Northern Rail Be Nationalised? Be Careful What You Wish For
Or: is the Grayling Curse to blame for Northern’s woes? The rail franchising system is dead. Long live the rail franchising system. In the last year, we have seen a recasting of the rail franchising system in favour of management contracts. Since 1994, rail franchises in Great Britain have mirrored former British Rail profit centres,…
Bus Regulation The Musical: The Review
How Ellie Harrison’s show brought us fifty years of Greater Manchester transport history on wheels Bus Regulation The Musical. Manchester Art Gallery, 28 September 2019 (2pm and 3pm). Produced by Ellie Harrison. I could think of several ways of spending half an hour of my leisure time. One is listening to the entire ‘B’ side…
TfGM’s Prospectus For Rail: A Bold Vision to Boost GM Rail Journeys
How would Our Prospectus For Rail boost heavy rail and light rail journeys in Tameside? Make no bones about it: Manchester is a UEFA Champions League city with EFL Division 2 rail services. In spite of Northern’s introduction of new trains on the Manchester Airport to Barrow-in-Furness route, it can do a lot better.
Our Network: Tameside’s Future Transport Network in Greater Manchester
Why Andy Burnham has moved one step closer to bus franchising and how this affects Tameside Greater Manchester is one step closer to seeing off Nicholas Ridley’s free market experiment. A free market experiment that has seen a 45% drop in bus patronage in Greater Manchester. An experiment which has seen swingeing cuts to the…
What Can You Do With a Fallen Pacer?
Department For Transport launches scheme to bring new life to withdrawn Pacer units Has April Fool’s Day 2020 been brought forward? The Department For Transport have conjured up a wheeze to bring new life to the Pacer family of trains. What you may be relieved to find is that continued use on our permanent way…
Official! It Is Now Easier to Travel from Wigan to North Korea than to Dukinfield*
Why a Wigan travel company is offering an inclusive train tour from Wigan North Western to Pyongyang A wee while back we looked at a 1976 Nationwide clip on Oldham MBC’s drive to promote Oldham as a tourist attraction. We looked at how you could spend a week in Oldham town centre and its surrounding…
