Warning - this message contains lots of information about trains and the relevance of the new franchises from 2016 on services to Manchester Airport. People who think rail connectivity at the Airport is b*gger all to do with the prospects of the Airport should look away now....
Bagso
Any current flapdoodle about train services to / from the Airport comes as a result of the just completed consultation on the re-letting of the Northern and TPE franchises. Here's the link
https://www.gov.uk/government/upload...nsultation.pdf
I'm assuming you have had your say
and I'm sure the airport have done likewise, considering there are threats but also opportunities to enhance not only the range of destinations to / from the Airport, but the service quality and capacity of the trains in use..And if the Airport haven't responded
Bagso, what you describe are some of the questions asked in the consultation and are about what routes should be specified in the Invitation to Tender for the two franchises. In an unbelievable moment of joined up thinking, DfT are looking at route swops etc between franchises and letting them both at the same time.
In respect of the South Transpennine /Cleethorpes service I recommend you read paras 5.6 -5.16. I have reproduced paras 5.12 and 5.13 below.
5.12 In the case of South Humberside services, stations between
Doncaster and Cleethorpes currently have an hourly TPE
service from Manchester Airport. Passenger loadings are
relatively high between Manchester Airport and Doncaster but
low between Doncaster and Cleethorpes. The majority of
passengers from Cleethorpes, Grimsby and Scunthorpe are
travelling only as far as Sheffield or connecting at Doncaster or
Sheffield for onward services, rather than travelling over the
Pennines.
5.13 We are therefore examining the option, subject to operational
constraints, of terminating the TPE service from Manchester at
Doncaster with a replacement Sheffield-Cleethorpes service
being operated by Northern, possibly as an extension of the
existing hourly Northern Sheffield-Scunthorpe service. A wider
package of changes could also feature the transfer of one of
Northern's two services between Doncaster and Hull in each
hour to TPE, allowing a through TPE service to Hull via the
South TransPennine route (i.e. via Sheffield)
These are all still ideas on which everyone was asked to give their views and we will know the franchise spec soon enough when the Invitation to Tender is issued in December 2014. So the Airport to Cleethorpes service could terminate at Doncaster, or be extended to Hull, which would be a new direct train connection for the Airport.
It is also suggested that TPE could operate all the fast Sheffield - Manchester services taking over the current East Midlands Liverpool - Nottingham train. In addition, a third frequency could be added from Dec 2018 when capacity enhancements in the Hope Valley allow. The report says
Previous work carried out by Network Rail suggests that for most of the stations served by the TPE and EMT services the economic benefits of a direct service to Manchester Airport are similar to the economic benefits of a direct service to Liverpool. On this basis, we expect the ITT will not specify particular cross-Pennine linkages in these two cases but will instead leave bidders to make a commercial decision based on the relative strengths of the passenger flows.
This means that all three trains from Sheffield could go in theory to the Airport if the franchisee wishes although I wonder whether the paths are available. Most likely that one will remain to Liverpool and the other is up for grabs.
In respect of the Airport - Windermere and Barrow, the situation is more complex and is covered in paras 5.18 - 5.32. Barrow currently has 5 through trains a day to the airport; Windermere only has one. Both these routes plus Airport - Blackpool could be transferred to Northern. Northern would use 4 coach electrics on Blackpool instead of TPE's 3 coach diesels; there is no guarantee that Northern would run Airport - Windermere or Barrow although the consultation asked the question as to which destinations should be served.
I should add that when Northern introduce their "new" 4 coach electric units (cast offs from Thameslink) in the December 2014 timetable change, the first route is almost certainly to be Manchester Airport - Liverpool via Earlestown; so faster journeys and more capacity...
It is suggested that North Transpennine service patterns should be left to the bidders in the same way as South Transpennie because-
Previous work carried out by Network Rail suggests that for
each of the eastern destinations (Newcastle, Middlesbrough,
York, Hull or Scarborough) the wider economic benefits of a
direct service to Manchester Airport are similar to the wider
economic benefits of a direct service to Liverpool.
Paras 3.62 and 3.63 of the consultation say
3.62 This means that we do not propose to specify a particular
timetable or service pattern for TPE, but instead to have a
more flexible train service specification which could include the
following service characteristics (note that these would be
specified separately for weekday, Saturday and Sunday
services):
Number of calls at each station per hour/per day
Specified first and last trains, including specific
consideration of Manchester Airport services
Certain calling patterns
3.63 This would give the franchisee the freedom to develop
services to respond to changes in passenger demand and to
grow the market in the areas where there are commercial
incentives to do so as well as protecting minimum service
levels for social and economic purposes on the remainder of
the TPE network.
I would hope that the Airport will work with the bidders and others to ensure a maximisation of relevant services to and from the Airport. There once used to be a very clued up Ground Transport Team but I'm not sure how it is handled nowadays
As far as Northern are concerned, the consultation remains silent on all routes and specifications apart from the potential route swops, so we shall have to see what comes out in the ITT specification - See Section 6 of the report if you are interested.
So there you have it. Plenty to think about.