Thousands of people are being asked their views from today on plans for a massive package of rail improvements.
Bosses at Network Rail have launched the major consultation on the 'Northern Hub' - the heavily-congested network of track around Manchester. It will be their biggest-ever test of public opinion.
A series of exhibitions are being held.
Network Rail says £560m needs to be spent on improvements that would create up to 30,000 jobs across the north and boost the regional economy by £4.2bn.
Experts say the project is vital for the future economic prosperity of the north of England - and just as important as plans for high-speed rail.
Network Rail's publicity video for Northern Hub below ...
Graham Botham, Network Rail's Northern Hub boss, said: "Better connections between towns and cities in the North are vital for the economy. We want to make it easier for people to get to work, do business, go shopping and visit friends and family. We want to share our vision with the public and look forward to hearing their views."
Mr Botham said the project would see 700 more trains a day running between towns and cities across the north, with space for 44m more people to travel by train each year.
More from Graham Botham in the audio and video clips below ...
The consultation comes six months after Chancellor George Osborne approved plans to create an £85m direct train link between Victoria and Piccadilly stations – a small part of the hub proposals. It will help uncork a massive bottleneck on the network and cut journey times to Leeds by 14 minutes.
The government has already approved plans to increase journey times by electrifying rail lines in the north west at a cost of between £400m and £500m.
There are also plans by Network Rail to spend £27m on a revamp of Manchester’s run-down Victoria Station, including a £16m new roof. The 160-year-old Grade II-listed station could be set to get a futuristic see-through roof from the same material as the iconic domes of the Eden Project plant-houses in Cornwall.
Manchester Piccadilly would get two new platforms and new tracks would allow faster trains to overtake slower services.
Network Rail submitted its plans to the government in September.
Transport Secretary Philip Hammond told the MEN during the Conservative conference he believed the rail connection between Piccadilly and Victoria was a 'vital link'. He is expected to make a decision on whether or not to approve the full package next summer.
List of consultation events:
- Today (Friday): Museum of Science and Industry 3pm to 7pm
- Tomorrow (Saturday): Museum of Science & Industry 10am to 5pm
- Tuesday 11 October: Salford Central Station 7am to 9.30am and 3pm to 7pm
- Wednesday 12 October: Salford Town Hall 2pm to 8pm
- Thursday 13 October: Eccles Station 7am to 9.30am and 4pm to 7pm
- Friday 14 October: Manchester Victoria Station 7am to 9.30am and 3pm to 7pm
- Saturday 15 October: Manchester Victoria Station 10am to 6pm
- Wednesday 19 October: Manchester Piccadilly Station 7am to 9.30am and 3pm to 7pm
- Thursday 20 October: Manchester Town Hall foyer 2pm to 8pm
- Friday 21 October: Arndale Centre, Manchester 10am to 6pm
- Saturday 22 October: Arndale Centre, Manchester 10am to 6pm
Comments
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What Greater Manchester needs is an orbital railway which links up all the satellite boroughs. As it stands if you want to say take a train from Stockport Town Centre to Tameside or go from Tameside to Oldham Town Centre you need to travel to Manchester city centre first. The only feasible alternative is to drive using the M60 ring road. With an orbital train route commuters would have a real choice.
Why is it necessary to connect both stations when there is a rail line in place-- the Metro?
Still,anything that wastes money,eh?
How about having 'express' trains that stop ONLY at the major stations and more frequent 'stopper' trains that stop at minor stations to take commutors to the major stations where they can catch one of the 'express' trains.
a wonderful idea thats 20 years over due,,, the big but is the cost of the tickets, who realy buys them,, tickets at 500 pound manchester to London,,, great for MPs or civic dignitaries,, but in real life when its coming out of your pocket its a different mater ,, it easy to see why the countries having economic problems when the most simple and important things are missed,, when government ministers who are paid,,, are unable to address the scandalous prices it makes me wounder how they keep their jobs ,, do i have an answer ? NO,, but thats what we pay them large salaries because there much brighter than us
Consultation starts today - someone was a bit late in sending the press releases to the media then!
hang on a second whilst I book my flying pig expresss for next century.
Ideally it would be a good ide to renovate Castleton completely as it is perfect for living outside of manchester and in the commuting area. Right on the train line between manchester and leeds. I know it wont improve the train service right away but it will generate more customers as it could be the perfect place to live.
I'd rather see more Northern trains added generally - more need to stop at Swinton, with an additional carriage at peak times, and more than ONE doing that route on Sundays! Combined with the Quayslink bus from Salford Crescent, it's a great way to get to MediaCity, but just not frequent enough and far too overcrowded (especially considering how many students have just been added to the commuter crowd too).
I went on a train last week for the first time in over 25 years. I decided to give it a go rather than use the car. My son who does use the train informed me that a conductor came around and you purchased your ticket on the train. I travelled from my local station to Widnes, no conductor, no way to pay. Coming back we had to stop and change at Warrington, once again no conductor, no way to get a ticket. Caught another train from Warrington to my local station, suprisingly no conductor, no way to pay. 3 people, 3 x £9.00 + not gone back into the train system. No wonder these .struggle.
It was absolutely amazing that there was no way to get a ticket, no conductor.
They need to sort their house out before charging ridiculous prices for tickets.
STOP - let's instead look at the whole notion of travelling around by public transport.
The UK has some of the longest travel to work distances, most expensive ticket and pass prices and most over-crowded commuting conditions anywhere in the developed world. More people have to be able to work from home on this overcrowded little island! (it's not just a 'lifestyle' thing - it is now essential). Let's stop finding excuses on why it can't be done and instead try to engineer something that will really make a difference to people's quality of life and the environment around us (working from home may not even be that expensive to set in place in many instances).
They will waste EVERY SINGLE PENNY of it.
Should have happened years ago. Victoria really is a mess.This shames our city! They never let things slide like that in Greater London.
How about a tram line between Piccadilly and Victoria instead? Oh! whoops we have that already
Been a while since I've been to Victoria, because I forgot about the roof with the holes in, have they fixed that yet? If not, money should be spent on that!
trams!, the good folk of wilmslow have the 100mph pendolinos
Next time anyone wants to go on about the North/South divide or a London bias, have a look at some of the comments on here.
When you've got people this negative, small wonder Governments aren't inclined to send any money this way.