Rail bosses propose cutting frequency of Buxton to Manchester trains

The motion is one of three options put forward by the Department for Transport in a consultation to provide ‘increased reliability’ on Manchester’s railways.

In Option A of the consultation Buxton services would be reduced to one train per hour - however this would increase to two trains per hour during peak times.

In Options B and C Buxton would retain two trains per hour.

The Manchester Recovery Task Force consultation is seeking views from the public on all three options - which have been put forward to ‘address the poor performance of the rail network in the Manchester area’.

In the consultation the task force wrote how badly performing services had been ‘the source of much train delay on rail services across the whole north of England since late 2017’.

However Damien Greenhalgh, High Peak Borough Council’s member for regeneration, said the council would ‘resist’ any proposals to reduce the frequency of train services.

He said: “Rail is a vital link for commutes in terms not only of work and education but also hospitals with other public transport not being what it should be.

“Anything that seeks to reduce it is just ridiculous - I’m in favour of more public transport and better frequency across the board.

“I understand the principle behind these proposals but this is a vital link between the High Peak and Manchester and transport needs to be part of our post-Covid recovery.

"Having previously been chairman of the community rail partnership (in the High Peak) I know the number one issue is frequency.”

Manchester Recovery Task Force say increases in train service frequency in recent years have put greater demands on the whole network - particularly on the congested two-track railway which runs through Manchester Piccadilly and Deansgate.

They wrote: “Passengers have been experiencing poor performance to, from and through central Manchester for too long.

“The key objective of this work has been to find timetable-based solutions for making performance much better.

“Better performance in the Manchester area will have far reaching beneficial impacts across the north of England rail network.”

The consultation ends on March 10 - more details can be found at https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/timetable-options-to-improve-rail-performance-in-the-north-of-england.

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