What A Difference A Small Length Of Track Will Make!
For some years it has been an ambition of Lancashire County Council to reinstate a short four hundred metre length of railway called the Todmorden Curve, which was lifted in 1972.
Northern Rail will provide an hourly service from Burnley Manchester Road and Accrington to Manchester Victoria from May 17th.
If I look at the timetables, there is one train an hour between Burnley Manchester Road and Manchester Victoria tomorrow that takes sixty-five minutes with a change at Hebden Bridge.
By comparison, on Monday, May 18th, the one-change service still runs but there is an additional direct train every hour taking fifty-two minutes.
That’s quite an improvement in service made by just four hundred metres of new railway line.
Hopefully, there will be another big improvement when the line is electrified, which should happen in the next few years.
A Journey Into History At Todmorden
The title of this post is borrowed from this article in the Todmorden News about the opening of the new curve that I wrote about here.
The tone of the article is enthusiastic and it shows how these smaller rail projects are often really useful in their local area. This curve for instance will allow direct Manchester to Burnley trains for the first time in forty years.
All they need to do is rustle up some decent diesel multiple units. Then they’ve got to work out what services will use the curve. Judging by my experience of Burnley Manchester Road station, it couldn’t be used as a terminus. So where will the trains go after that station?
The area of the country that lies between Leeds and Manchester is an area that needs to be given a lift.
Projects like this can only help.
If this one proves to be the success all of its promoters expect, I suspect we’ll be seeing more of this type of project.
Network Rail engineers will hopefully be doing what they like to do most!
The Project Manager’s Lot Is Not An Easy One
I found this article on the Rail Engineer site and it describes in detail how the project managers at Network Rail reinstated the Todmorden Curve.
This paragraph talks about the checks that needed to be done before a level crossing was eliminated.
And then there’s the new footbridge. Sorry, didn’t I mention that? Previous usage surveys suggested that Dobroyd crossing was visited only by occasional dog-walkers; nobody expected any great issue with closing it. But due diligence demanded that another survey was conducted, with the crossing being monitored by CCTV around-the-clock for ten days. Initially the team didn’t believe the results: they suggested peaks of 150 users daily, most of them being children. Only then did it become clear that an activity centre had opened at nearby Dobroyd Castle in 2009 and the chosen route to get groups up there was over the railway. This launched the crossing’s risk assessment score into the north-west’s top ten.
Nothing is as simple as it is first thought!
Burnley’s Smart New Station
Burnley has a smart new station at Manchester Road, which should be opened later in the year.
As Burnley are now in the Premier League, wouldn’t it be a good idea for a shuttle bus to Turf Moor on match days.
I wonder when and where the last station was built in the UK in quality stone.
This new station will be linked to Manchester Victoria by an hourly service, when a new curve is completed at Todmorden. There is more here on the Network Rail site. This is the key paragraph.
The new rail service between (Manchester) Todmorden and Blackburn will be supported by a partnership that includes Lancashire County Council and Burnley Borough Council. Initial plans are for an hourly service operating 7 days a week.
So hopefully two smart stations will be connected by a good service.
I do wonder whether in time, the Caldervale line from Blackpool and Preston to Leeds and the Manchester to Burnley lines will get electrified.
The Anonymous Widower 