Manchester Piccadilly To Horwich Parkway And Return
Going from Manchester Piccadilly station to Horwich Parkway station for the Reebok Stadium is a journey that should be easy.
For a start, the platforms are at the back of the station and not logically on the concourse.
Walkway To Platform 14
As the picture shows there is a moving walkway, but I do wonder how many people get lost trying to find it. I know the station fairly well, so when I see Platform 13 or 14, I know where they are. There is also a bridge to Platform 13-14.
Bridge To Platforms 13-14
But then unless you know your connection, you probably wouldn’t use it. I did use it, when I returned after the match and the signage on the bridge is very poor. The arrangements at Birmingham New Street station are much better.
When you get to Platform 13 or 14, things don’t get better, as there is just a small waiting area. The actual platforms are usually teeming with passengers waiting to get on the trains.
Manchester Piccadilly is a classic case of bad design. And bad design probably fifty years too late. It did have a big makeover in 2002, but they are really dealing with the immense problems that date from the 1960s, when the station was built out of the old London Road station. To say British Rail did a bad job, would have been giving them more credit than they deserve.
The station probably needs a decking built over the platforms to give access to the trains. This is the sort of thing that is happening at many stations around the world. The alternative as at St. Pancras of a large space underneath is probably not possible.
In spite of all this, Wikipedia says this about the station.
According to an independent poll carried out in 2007, Manchester Piccadilly has the highest customer satisfaction level of any UK station, with 92% of passengers satisfied compared with the national average of 60%
I would assume that they interviewed passengers going to Euston. Now that and its Underground station is a total disgrace! But Manchester deserves a station to the same standard as Leeds or Liverpool.
The train when it arrived to go to Horwich was the usual totally inadequate Transpennine Express three-coach Class 185 diesel multiple unit. If ever there was a train designed by civil servants it is this one. They do their best, but they are just too small. Wikipedia says this.
The loss of seats relative to an equivalent three-coach 158 means that more passengers have to stand at peak times. An increase in passenger numbers since the trains were brought in to operation has meant that some passengers are unable to board 185s at peak times due to them being seriously overcrowded.
They also have a serious lack of handholds for those who have to stand.
The route between the two stations is the Manchester to Preston line, which is slated to be electrified. So hopefully as many of the other lines in the area will also be electrified, this will solve the train problems as new electric ones will be needed and hopefully the Class 185s will be lengthened.
But like Picadilly station, which is totally inadequate, this line should have been electrified in the 1960s as a follow on to the electrification of the West Coast Main Line. After all, when linked to the electrified Manchester to Crewe line, it serves as a diversion for trains when the West Coast Main Line has to be closed.
The whole area, shows how when you don’t invest in infrastructure, it all comes back and bites you a few years later.
A Good Day
Seeing Tornado was the start of a good day.
I then took a Virgin Train to Manchester Piccadilly, where I had lunch at Carluccio’s in the station before going to the Reebok stadium to see Ipswich Town at Bolton. Town won 2-1, which was a good result, just like England’s victory in the rugby over New Zealand Although a friend had his pocket picked at Twickenham.
Coming back wasn’t the best part as the train from Bolton to Manchester was just three coaches and far too crowded. This was then followed by a Virgin that was empty in First Class and nearly half-an-hour late into Euston. If you’re going to get problems coming in to London, you can generally rely on Euston to not perform.
Although I eventually found some supper there, Marks and Spencer at Euston, looked as if it had been ravaged by a plague of locusts.
I do wish that someone starts a London to Manchester service from St. Pancras after the line is electrified. But they won’t be allowed to as you mustn’t annoy Saint Richard! Although to be fair, the lateness wasn’t down to Virgin.
The day was also improved as Chelski lost! On the train and in Bolton, no-one had any sympathy for them!
Tornado At Canonbury Station
Tornado passed along the North London line yesterday, on it’s way from Ipswich to Bath for a shopping excursion. I took these pictures on Canonbury station.
I know it’s only a modern replica, but it was an impressive sight.
It was cold and that probably explains, why so few enthusiasts were on the station to see the train pass. Although there was one kid about sixteen, who said he’d seen the engine before.
Who said train-spotting is dead?
I made a video of Tornado a couple of years ago. It’s here.
The Can Of Worms That Is Leveson
Shami Chakrabarti would not generally be considered a friend of newspapers and big business, as she is the director of Liberty.
But read this article on the BBC’s web site about her views on Leveson. She feels that any legislation on the press as posed by the enquiry could get entangled in the Human Rights Act.
The Anonymous Widower 