The Anonymous Widower

Beeching Reversal – Stockport And Ashton Line

This is one of the Beeching Reversal projects that the Government and Network Rail are proposing to reverse some of the Beeching cuts.

I came across this railway, when I was writing Macclesfield Station And High Speed Two, as I felt the Stockport and Stalybridge Line could be a useful connection to the proposed High Speed Two terminus at Macclesfield station.

This article on the Quest Media Network is entitled Proposals For New Rail Link Between Ashton And Stockport.

This paragraph described the political backing.

The Labour politicians are backing a bid to the ‘Restoring Your Railway Fund’, which will distribute £500 million of funds to reinstate axed local services and restore stations. 

The bid was put forward by Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and Stockport Council, but also has the backing of Tameside Council.

Not fans of Boris, I would presume!

These paragraphs describe the proposals

It proposes two options – a heavy rail service between Stockport and Manchester Victoria via Denton and Reddish South, and a light rail service connecting with the existing Manchester-Ashton Metrolink line at Ashton Moss in the north, and with the proposed Stockport-East Didsbury line in the south.

The proposals also open possibilities of new stations along the line at Audenshaw, Thornley Lane and Heaton Norris.

These are my thoughts.

Macclesfield As A Terminal

As I said in conjunction with High Speed Two, I believe that Macclesfield station would make a good terminal, where a Stockport-facing platform could be built, which would give step-free access to the hourly High Speed Two train to Stoke, Stafford and London.

Manchester Victoria And Stockport

This route map, which has been clipped from Wikipedia, shows the route between Manchester Victoria and Stockport stations.

Note.

1. The connection to Manchester Victoria station joins at Denton Junction.
2. There are possible stations at Denton, Reddish South and Heaton Norris.
3. Trains to Macclesfield station take the West Coast Main Line from Stockport station.
4. At Stalybridge there is a connection to the Huddersfield Line for Huddersfield and Leeds.

Realtimetrains devolves this extra information.

• Manchester Victoria and Stockport are twelve miles apart via Denton.
• It is a busy freight route with upwards of a couple of trains per hour (tph)
• There used to be a station at Miles Platting.

It is a comprehensive route and deserves a lot more than a simple hourly service to Manchester Victoria station.

Battery Electric Trains

Consider.

• Macclesfield, Manchester Victoria and Stockport stations are all fully electrified.
• About twelve miles of track are not electrified.
• Manchester Victoria and Macclesfield stations are twenty-four miles apart.
• I estimate a four-car 100 mph battery electric train like a Class 350 train would do the trip in close to 25 minutes.

It looks like an ideal route for a battery electric train to me.

Two trains would be needed to run a two tph service, with no extra infrastructure.

Conclusion

Develop a service between Manchester Victoria and Macclesfield stations using battery electric trains, with at least a frequency of two tph.

July 15, 2020 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Battery-Electric Trains, Beeching Reversal, Class 350 Train, High Speed Two, Macclesfield Station, Manchester Victoria Station, Stalybridge Station, Stockport Station