First Group has announced it has submitted the first phase of an application which could see them operate direct trains to London for Rochdale passengers.
All of the trains as part of the plan will be electric and battery powered and will be built in the UK.
The new trains would operate a proposed six return journeys a day, restoring the Rochdale / London link that last ran in 2000.
Services will call at Rochdale, Manchester Victoria, Eccles (Manchester), Newton-le-Willows and Warrington Bank Quay on their way to London Euston.
It is estimated that should discussions with the ORR and Network Rail be successful, the service could start as early as 2027.
“We have extensive experience of running open access rail operations and we want to bring our successful Lumo service to this new route that connects Rochdale and London. We have seen the level of growth and opportunity that is possible with open access, as well as the positive effect it has on the wider market, including economic and environmental benefits. In addition, the new service will help to drive modal shift from road to rail between the North West and London. We will be working closely with stakeholders as we build our application and our case for this new service.”
FirstGroup Chief Executive Officer, Graham Sutherland
Responses
If Lumo is to introduce a new direct rail service from London Euston to Rochdale then what about a direct service to Blackpool North that Grand Union was going to operate a direct open access service. And TransPennine Express to run some of their trains from Rochdale to York, Scarborough, Hull, Sunderland and Newcastle via Leeds.
The train can start and terminate at Rochdale. It doesn’t need to go further north. Bolton is connected well from Preston to a fast network. No need for extra batteries further north then. Rochdale can be the start point like Bradford is for the trains to KX and like hull is for hull trains. It’s a FANTASTIC IDEA AND SOON AS IT GETS THE GO AHEAD THE BETTER!!!!
If this proposal was to really offer new journey opportunities then it would run with a bi-mode train from London via Eccles to Manchester Victoria then depart towards Stalybridge but turn off at Aston Moss North Junction then via Denton Jun calling at Denton and Reddish South before terminating in platform 3A at Stockport ……… Back under the wire to recharge batteries .
I would like this to happen just what ever you do do not let avanti run it please and maybe in the future it might run to Blackburn so London-Blackburn after Rochdale calling at Accrington Burnley Manchester road only deffo good idea
Hitachi to build new Bi-mode trains (Class 8xx) or to use redundant DEMUs such as Class 220/221 Voyagers, Class 222 Meridians that Lumo would use to operate from London Euston to Rochdale and perhaps extend to Burnley and Blackburn.
A great idea, but another line is needed to connect Crewe to HS2.
LOL as Rochdale is not wired for electric trains you would need it to battery.
As you can’t turn around a train at Burnley you would have to run the trains to Preston and then come down the East Lancashire Line to Burnley and then carry on towards Rochdale,, I dow’t if the trains batteries could provide enough capacity for this however.
Perhaps you can’t turn around at Burnley Manchester Road but you certainly could at Burnley Central
Instead of Rochdale, how about Bolton, Blackburn, Burnley?
Bolton is linked to Victoria in the wrong direction for trains onto London unless you do some wild journey around Manchester, and then you’re basically having to head towards Sheffield via Edale which defeats the purpose of connecting the towns west of Manchester to the WCML
Whilst ideally the line to Rochdale needs to be electrified, it has a bay station available as a terminus, and there’s a lot of investment with the Atom Valley project coming to the Rochdale/Oldham M62 corridor area, so there’s station and track capacity and room for growth
Reverse at Victoria after approaching from Bolton?
They could have done a service from Stalybridge to London Via Manchester Victoria and then the rest of the proposed route and they could use Electric only trains as the line from Stalybridge to Manchester Victoria is fully electric now
Rochdale cannot take electric trains
As it states above they will have batteries so Rochdale will be able to accomodate an electric train.