Welcome To Huddersfield
In my trip to Huddersfield yesterday, I took the TransPennine Express from Manchester Piccadilly.
These pictures show the supremely inadequate three-car Class 185 train at Huddersfield and passengers tying to board to get to Leeds and York.
On return, I asked a Team Leader what was going on. He said trains had been cancelled because of driver shortages and that three-car trains were inadequate anyway and should be five-car. They certainly have overcowding issues and bad passenger feedback.
In some ways these trains are their own worst enemy. After Huddersfield, it was standing room only and the stop at Stalybridge took a lot longer than it should, as passengers fought to get on and off with suitcases and bicycles. So by the time we got to Manchester Piccadilly, where we called at the inadequate and very crowded Platform 14, we were nearly fifteen minutes late. There were several passengers who missed their booked seats on the 1815 to London.
I never book return seats on a journey back from football, especially if TransPennine or Manchester Piccadilly is involved.
The Team Leader at Huddersfield didn’t seem pleased, but he did indicate something would be happening soon.
It certainly needs to.
I think TransPennine’s only problem of their own making is the driver shortage. Nearly everything else can be put down to inadequate investment by various Governments over the last fifty years.
I suppose you could blame passengers for creating the increased demand across the Pennines, but as the Class 185 trains seem to have been ordered without an ability to lengthen, the trains have been unable to grow with the demand.
Compare this situation with that of the Class 390 trains on the West Coast Main Line and the Class 378 trains on the London Overground. Both these trains have been lengthened, by the simpler expedient of adding new carriages in the middle.
We should make sure that all the Ministers and the Civil Servants, who conspired to give the North some of the most crowded trains in Europe, should ride these trains at least once a week, so they can at least understand their crap legacy to the travelling public.
But then no self-respecting Government Minister or Civil Servant, would be seen taking a train between Manchester and Huddersfield, when a perfectly serviceable chauffeur-driven limousine is available.
Not The Easiest Journey Home
I’d arranged to come home via Manchester, effectively retracing the steps I’d taken in the morning. There are just three trains from Blackpool which sensibly meet Virgin’s fast services from Glasgow; 17:03, 18:21 and 19:21. Last year, I’d tried to come home on the 18:21 route, but I missed my connection, so as Preston is a gluten-free desert, I went home via Carluccio’s in Manchester Piccadilly rather than wait for an hour in the rain on Preston station.
So I’d thought that I might as well get an Off Peak ticket back from Manchester and if I had time, I’d have supper in Carluccio’s.
But I hadn’t bargained for a long time on the bus getting to Blackpool North station because of the illuminations and then a slow train to Piccadilly, which meant all I had time to do there was pay a visit to the loo and buy some sandwiches in Marks and Spencer. I was surprised they still had some gluten-free sandwiches left and had actually reduced them.
At least the sandwiches tasted fine as I came back to London getting in just after 22:00.
I do hope after the electrification of the Blackpool line, that there is a convenient train direct from the town to London on a Saturday afternoon. Virgin are starting direct services soon and they’ll take a few minutes over three hours, whereas today I was on the train for four hours and twenty minutes.
When I got to Euston, 73 buses were thin on the ground, so I walked to Euston Square station to get a Metropolitan train to Whitechapel for the Overground. And they were rather rare too, so I ended up going to Moorgate for a bus. And guess what? I had to wait twenty minutes for a 76! Where were my preferred rides of a 21 or 141?
Eventually I got in just before 23:00.
Services between Blackpool and London must be improved.
Did Manchester Railways Ever Have A Plot?
What are the two odd ones out of these British cities?
Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff, Derby, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, Newcastle, Nottingham and Sheffield
It’s actually, Glasgow and Manchester, as they are only cities other than London with two main stations. The pedantic could argue that Birmingham has more than one, but New Street is very much larger than the others.
Glasgow’s two station; Central and Queen Street, split their services geographically, but at least they could be connected by Crossrail Glasgow, which is summed up like this.
The proposed Crossrail initiative involves electrifying and reopening the City Union Line for regular passenger use in conjunction with new filler sections of track which will connect the North Clyde, Ayrshire, and Kilmarnock and East Kilbride suburban routes together, therefore allowing through running of services through the centre of Glasgow in a North-South axis.
The scheme never saw fruition however. Will any Glaswegian tell me why, as on paper it looks sensible?
Manchester has a similar problem with two stations at Piccadilly and Victoria. If I’m going to say Burnley or Blackburn, as I often have and want to have lunch at Carluccio’s in Piccadilly, I find I have to traipse across Manchester, usually in the rain, to get the train out of Victoria.
There was a plan in the 1970s for the Picc-Vicc Tunnel, but like the Crossrail Glasgow it has been cancelled.
So now the Ordsall Chord is being built to allow trains to cross Manchester city centre.
It may work well in the end, but it has a touch of the old answer of “I wouldn’t start from here!” to the question of how to get to X.
The proof of the pudding will be in the eating, but it doesn’t seem to be a concept that can catch the imagination of the public, like some public transport schemes do.
Walking Across Manchester
I know I posted that it was wet, as I walked between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Victoria stations. But it wasn’t an easy walk!
There were a few signposts to Victoria, but I didn’t see one map anywhere, so in the end I followed the tram lines, which I knew went to the station. Or they did last time I was in Manchester, but now due to the rebuilding of Victoria they don’t. I met a couple from Bolton with their grandchildren at Victoria, who’d used the tram to get to Victoria. They missed the alternative stop and had ended up in Rochdale. So they had to come back on another tram.
Incidentally, when I left Piccadilly, I found that the free buses that go all over Manchester city centre don’t actually connect the two stations without a change. I suppose this is to ensure that those changing between the two stations with or without heavy baggage use a taxi or pay for a tram to get lost in Rochdale.
Because my eyes don’t respond quickly to fast moving objects from the left, I always cross the road using a light controlled crossing. For extra safety I generally use the thingy underneath to tell me of the green light. But I found a lot of these buttons were missing as I got near Victoria. As were the signposts! Vandalism or theft?
It’s Wet So It Must Be Manchester
To get to Blackburn I needed to get between Carluccio’s at Manchester Piccadilly station and Manchester Victoria station to catch the 13:00 train to Clitheroe.
I knew I was in Manchester, as it was raining.
As I had bought my ticket from Manchester Stations to Blackburn for the princely sum of £6.95, I had to walk, as you can’t use these tickets on the tram to get between the two stations. Also, unlike Sheffield, my Freedom Pass where it is valid on the trams, it is not valid in Manchester.
God Has Taste
The BBC has just shown a dramatic picture of a lightning strike on Manchester Piccadilly station.
She couldn’t have chosen a better target!
Getting To Huddersfield By Train
Huddersfield is the tenth largest town in England, with a population of 146,000 or so. As I found on my trip yesterday, it has a grand railway station with good connections to Manchester and Leeds, but it doesn’t have any good connections to the South and London. Those that came up by coach and car from Suffolk, weren’t too impressed by the roads to get their either.
I went by changing at Manchester Piccadilly, which at least has a frequent connection to Huddersfield. Going as fast as you can that way it takes a few minutes under three hours, as it does via Leeds. Going via Wakefield can be a bit quicker, but trying via Sheffield say stretches the journey to nearly four hours.
Looking at the various rail lines in the area, there is a line from Huddersfield to Sheffield called the Penistone Line. If someone had a bit of sense, it would seem that this area of Yorkshire could be given better transport links by improving this line so that it provides a better link to the Midland Main Line, when that is electrified to Sheffield. Many countries would electrify the line, but seeing the terrain yesterday and looking at the map, it might not be a cost-effective project.
The current improvements and electrification of the Midland Main Line will probably mean that going via Sheffield to London will be quicker than the other routes in a few years.
And then sometime in the next century HS2 might reach Sheffield Meadowhall station!
You can’t get over the fact, that Huddersfield seems to be a bit of an afterthought in railway planning and it has been like that for many years.
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!
A Travelator At Manchester Piccadilly
When I changed trains at Manchester Piccadilly on Wednesday, I used this travelator at the station to get to platform 14 for Liverpool.
Travelator at Manchester Piccadilly
We need more of these in strategic places to speed up pedestrian flows.
The Anonymous Widower 