Adding Alderley Edge And Manchester Piccadilly To The Bee Network
This article on the Railway Gazette has a list of the lines, that will be transferred between Northern Rail and the Bee Network.
Included in the list is this line.
Alderley Edge And Manchester Piccadilly
I think this route would be the following.
- The Southern terminus would be Alderley Edge.
- The Northern terminus would be Manchester Piccadilly.
- Intermediate stations would be Wilmslow, Handforth, Cheadle Hulme, Stockport, Heaton Chapel and Levenshulme.
- The route is fully electrified with 25 KVAC overhead.
- Most of the route has a range of operating speeds. up to 110 mph.
- The distance is 13.6 miles
- Trains take 29 minutes
- Trains are often three-car Class 331 trains.
The route is the same as the current Northern Trains service.
This is my thought.
Trains
As the route is fully-electrified, electric trains are needed.
Any 110 mph trains would probably be ideal, to keep out of the way of the expresses.
Wigan North Western To Alderley Edge And Stalybridge
The following two services were started from Wigan North Western station in May 2018.
- Alderley Edge via Manchester Piccadilly.
- Stalybridge via Manchester Victoria
Both services are hourly and cross-Manchester services. I rode both of them on Friday afternoon.
These two routes are not fully-electrified and it was intended that they would use new Class 769 bi-mode trains, which can use diesel on sections without electrification.
But the Class 769 trains are still under test, so there was a selection of good and not-so-good rolling stock.
- One four-car train was two refurbished Class 156 trains working together.
- Another was a pair of refurbished Class 150 trains.
- And a third was a Class 150 train pulling a Pacer.
The diesel trains trundled into Manchester at speeds between sixty and eighty mph.
At least the four-car trains were the right size for the route and although full, the trains weren’t by any means over-full!
The arrival of the Class 769 trains would increase the quality and operating speed of the rolling stock.
I also went into Manchester on Saturday in a Class 319 train.
This electric train was doing up to ninety mph on the fully-electrified route via Newton-le-Willows.
As the Class 769 trains are based on Class 319 trains on electrified sections of the routes, they will be able to speed along and shorten journey times.
Wigan North Western And Alderley Edge
On this route approximately 9.5 miles of the 34.5 miles route is not electrified and journeys take 78 minutes.
As between Bolton and Alderley Edge is now fully electrified, I wonder what will be time between Wigan North Western and Alderley Edge.
If the service is under the hour, this could mean a reduction in the number of trains needed to work the route.
Wigan North Western And Stalybridge
On this route approximately 17 miles of the 27.8 miles route is not electrified and journeys take 59 minutes.
Because this service spends more time on diesel, the speed-up might not be as easy to achieve.
Conclusion
I predict that the Class 769 trains will be welcomed by passengers, operators and staff, as they will speed up services.
Does A New Service Start Between Wigan North Western And Alderley Edge Stations Using Class 769 Trains On May 20th?
On the Wikipedia entry for Class 769 trains, this is said about the introduction into service of the trains by Northern.
Scheduled to begin entering service in May 2018, Northern plans to deploy its Class 769 units on the Windermere branch line and also their Manchester Airport to Windermere, Wigan North Western to Alderley Edge and Wigan North Western to Stalybridge services
I have looked at the National Rail timetable for the 19th of May and looked up getting between Wigan North Western and Alderley Edge station involves a change at Manchester Piccadilly station.
But look at the journey on the 21st of May and there is an hourly direct train.
- First train – 08:50
- Last train – 19:50
- Journey time – 78 minutes
The train will stop at Hindley, Westhoughton, Bolton, Salford Crescent, Deansgate, Manchester Oxford Road, Manchester Piccadilly, Levenshulme, Heaton Chapel, Stockport, Cheadle Hulme, Handforth and Wilmslow.
In the other direction, the service is as follows.
- Hourly
- First train – 06:49
- Last train – 19:48
- Journey time – 70 minutes
It is an ideal route for a Class 769 train.
- Between Wigan North Western and Bolton is not electrified.
- I also suspect that Bolton and Salford Crescent won’t have the wires completed by the 20th of May.
Manchester will be getting another cross-city service courtesy of a thirty-year-old electric train, with a couple of diesel engines slung underneath.
Wigan North Western And Stalybridge
An hourly service from Wigan North Western to Stalybridge also appears to be in the timetable from the 21st of May.
- First train – 08:08
- Last train – 22:50
- Journey time – 59 minutes
The trains will stop at Hindley, Westhoughton, Bolton, Moses Gate, Farnworth, Kearsley (Manchester), Salford Crescent, Salford Central, Manchester Victoria and Ashton-under-Lyne.
In the other direction, the service is as follows.
- First train – 06:30
- Last train – 21:29
- Journey time – 63-66 minutes
It is another ideal route for a Class 769 train.
- Between Wigan North Western and Salford Central not fully electrified.
As the current service between Wigan Wallgate and Stalybridge seems to have been discontinued, it looks like Pacers and elderly diesels are being replaced by electric trains.
Conclusion
It looks to me, that as the electrification through Bolton and Salford Crescent, that Northern are doing the best they can with what they have available.
I estimate that Northern will need around six trains to run these two services, one of which is new and the other a change of terminus from Wallgate to North Western at Wigan.
The Anonymous Widower 