The Anonymous Widower

A First Trip To Headbolt Lane Station – 13th October 2023

Headbolt Lane station opened a week ago and I went to take a look today, where I took these pictures.

Note.

1. It is a three-platform station, with two platforms pointing towards Liverpool and one towards Wigan Wallgate station.
2. Changing trains is about a fifty metre walk.
3. The toilets are trans-ready. But the toilets at Peterborough station, that I wrote about in A Pair Of Toilets At Peterborough Station were too.

I have a few thoughts.

Could There Be Through Running Between Headbolt Lane and Wigan Wallgate Stations?

This picture shows the walkway between Platform 2 on the South side of the tracks and Platforms 1 and 3 on the North side.

Note.

1. Platform 1 is the platform on the left and Platform 2 is on the right.
2. Platform 3 is in line with Platform 1 behind the fence at the far end of Platforms 1 and 2.
3. The tracks don’t go straight through.
4. There are two concrete blocks forming the walkway between platforms.

I suspect the answer is no at the moment.

But I wouldn’t be surprised to find, that the blocks have been designed to be lifted out and there is space to put a footbridge over the tracks, so that if in the future, through running were to be required, it is possible.

How Would A Station To Skelmersdale Be Connected?

In New Express Bus Improves Links Between Skelmersdale And Liverpool, I talked about a new express bus service between Kirkby and Skelmersdale.

This page on Bus Times gives details of the service.

The 319 Trainlink service will surely give useful information on possible passenger numbers.

In Would A Lower Cost Rail Link To Skelmersdale Be Possible?, I looked at options for the rail line.

Wigan’s Comprehensive Local Connections

Wigan North Western and Wigan Wallgate station have services to all these stations.

• Accrington
• Appley Bridge
• Ashton-under-Lyne
• Atherton
• Bescar Lane
• Blackburn
• Blackpool North
• Bolton
• Broad Green
• Bryn
• Burnley Manchester Road
• Burscough Bridge
• Clifton
• Daisy Hill
• Deansgate
• Eccleston Park
• Edge Hill
• Euxton Balshaw Lane
• Farnworth
• Garswood
• Gathurst
• Hag Fold
• Headbolt Lane
• Hindley
• Hoscar
• Huyton
• Ince
• Kearsley
• Leyland
• Littleborough
• Manchester Oxford Road
• Manchester Victoria
• Meols Cop
• Moorside
• Moses Gate
• New Lane
• Orrell
• Parbold
• Pemberton
• Poulton-le-Fylde
• Prescot
• Rainford
• Toby
• Rochdale
• Rose Grove
• Salford Central
• Salford Crescent
• Smithy Bridge
• Southport
• Stalybridge
• St Helens Central
• Swinton
• Todmorden
• Thatto Heath
• Upholland
• Walkden
• Wavertree Technology Park
• Westhoughton

Fifty-eight stations is certainly comprehensively connected.

The Connection To High Speed Two At Wigan North Western

This map from OpenRailwayMap shows the two Wigan stations; North Western and Wallgate.

Note.

1. The orange tracks are the West Coast Main Line, which in the future, will carry High Speed Two services to and from Preston, Lancaster, Carlisle and Scotland.
2. The yellow tracks are the local lines between Manchester in the East and Kirkby and Southport in the West.
3. The local lines split after they pass under the West Coast Main Line, with the North-Western branch going to Southport and the Western branch going to Headbolt Lane, Kirkby and Liverpool.
4. Wigan North Western is on the West Coast Main Line.
5. Wigan Wallgate is on the local lines.

The stations are close enough to be converted into a superb combined station, where local passengers can join high speed services.

This picture shows the platforms of Wigan North Western station.

Wigan North Western station can’t be far off being able to accept pairs of High Speed Two Classic Compatible trains, that will be 400 metres long.

This graphic shows High Speed Two services after Phase 2b is completed.

Only two High Speed Two services stop at Wigan North Western.

• The London and Lancaster service, which splits and joins with a London and Liverpool service at Crewe.
• The Birmingham and Scotland service.

As Wigan North Western has comprehensive local connections to the Northern areas of Liverpool and Manchester, it surely needs more services.

North West To Benefit From £19.8 billion Transport Investment

This is the title of this government document, which has this sub-heading.

Multibillion-pound plan to link major cities in the North via bus, rail and new and improved roads.

It says this about Greater Manchester and Liverpool City Region.

• Greater Manchester will also receive around £1.5 billion from the CRSTS2 budget and around £900 million additional funding – funded from HS2 – which is an unprecedented investment in local transport networks. That is more than double their allocation under the previous programme
• Liverpool City Region will also receive c.£1 billion from the CRSTS2 budget, plus a further £600 million on top – funded from HS2. That is more than double their allocation under the last round

Some of that amount of money could go a long way to improve Liverpool and Manchester connections through Wigan and create a link to High Speed Two.

TransPennine Services Between Liverpool/Manchester And Scotland

Currently, the following services run between Liverpool and Manchester, and Scotland.

• Manchester Airport and Glasgow Central – 1 tp2h – via Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Oxford Road, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme Lake District, Penrith North Lakes, Carlisle, Lockerbie and Motherwell
• Manchester Airport and Edinburgh Waverley – 1 tp2h – via Manchester Piccadilly, Manchester Oxford Road, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme Lake District and Haymarket Penrith North Lakes, Carlisle and Lockerbie and Haymarket
• Liverpool Lime Street and Glasgow Central – 2 tpd – via St Helens Central, Wigan North Western, Preston, Lancaster, Oxenholme Lake District, Carlisle, Lockerbie and Motherwell

Note.

1. tp2h is trains per two hours.
2. tpd is trains per day.
3. Only the Liverpool services go through Wigan.
4. North of Preston all trains will use the same route.
5. All three services are run by Class 397 trains.
6. When High Speed Two Classic-Compatible trains start running to Glasgow and Edinburgh, they will use the same route North of Preston.

Point 5 surely means that High Speed Two’s trains will be limited to the same speed as the current Class 397 trains, which is 125 mph. Although, this might be increased to up to 140 mph, by the use of in-cab digital signalling.

Consider.

• Edinburgh to Preston is 191.4 miles.
• The current TransPennine express service from Edinburgh to Preston is scheduled for two hours and 34 minutes, with five stops, at an average speed of 74.6 mph.
• The Wikipedia entry for High Speed Two says that the London-Edinburgh service from Edinburgh to Preston is scheduled for two hours and 30 minutes, with two stops and a split/join at Carlisle, at an average speed of 76.6 mph.
• The Wikipedia entry for High Speed Two says that the Birmingham-Edinburgh service from Edinburgh to Preston is scheduled for two hours and 24 minutes, with four stops, at an average speed of 79.8 mph.

Note.

1. The first timing is based on a Class 397 train and the others will be High Speed Two Classic Compatible trains.
2. The times would appear to be vaguely in line with each other.
3. The removal of the split/join could explain why the Birmingham service is six minutes faster.

The following would appear to be true.

• Both the Class 397 and High Speed Two Classic Compatible trains can run at similar speeds North of Preston.
• The High Speed Two Classic Compatible train may have faster acceleration and deceleration, which could save a few minutes.
• Nothing substantial has been done to improve the tracks between Edinburgh and Preston.
• As the current times are run without digital signalling and the Class 397 train, is within ten minutes of that, I would be very surprised if digital signalling will be installed before High Speed Two services reach Edinburgh.

I also suspect that if digital signalling and a few other improvements were made to the North of Preston, a few extra minutes could be saved.

The Future Of TransPennine Services Between Liverpool/Manchester And Scotland

Will the TransPennine services between Liverpool/Manchester and Scotland continue after High Speed Two services start running to North of the border?

Consider.

• I have never seen any plans from High Speed Two for services between Liverpool/Manchester and Scotland.
• If the TransPennine services, aren’t kept, travelling between Liverpool/Manchester and Scotland will need a change at Wigan North Western or Preston.
• The TransPennine services will probably need only a single train per hour (tph) on the West Coast Main Line to the North of Preston.

I can see them continuing. But possibly in a different form.

In 1967, I went from Glasgow to Manchester on a train.

• The Glasgow and Edinburgh trains joined at Carstairs.
• They then split again at Preston.
• One half went to Manchester and the other half went to Liverpool.

I remember that the train was late, because of late arrival of the Edinburgh train at Carstairs.

I needed to take a taxi. But I wrote my first complaint letter and got a cheque from British Rail.

Could similar joining and splitting be used again, as it uses only one train path between Preston and Scotland?

Would it also be better, if the service were to be under the Management of High Speed Two?

There are several possibilities, but I feel the TransPennine services will continue.

October 12, 2023 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | British Rail, Class 397 Train, Class 777 Train, Digital Signalling, Edinburgh Station, Glasgow Central Station, Headbolt Lane Station, High Speed Two, High Speed Two Classic-Compatible Trains, Merseyrail, Merseyrail Northern Line, Merseyrail To Skelmersdale, Skelmersdale Station, TransPennine Express, Wigan North Western Station, Wigan Wallgate Station