Summary of the changes that will take place at May 2019 and the proposed changes for December 2019.
TPEs priority for May 2019 is to build on the improvements made in the December 2018 timetable change, protecting performance improvements and reliability of service. They will be extending the train turnarounds at Scarborough and Newcastle which will provide more resilience in the timetable; this was done at Manchester Airport in the December 2018 timetable change with major performance improvements achieved as a result.
To protect the provision of existing services, and in line with a request from Rail North Committee that performance/reliability is protected in the first instance rather than additional/new services introduced, TPE are deferring the start of the direct Liverpool Lime Street to Glasgow Central service via the West Coast Main Line until this Autumn. These changes took place from Sunday 19th May.
For the December 2019 timetable change, TPE have submitted the following changes to Network Rail:-
- half hourly [stopping service] in the am/pm peak between Manchester and Huddersfield
- extension of Liverpool Lime Street – Newcastle service to Edinburgh Waverley, with all call at Morpeth (Huddersfield will be directly connected to Morpeth and Edinburgh)
- removal of some calls in the off-peak from the Hull – Manchester Piccadilly service
- extension of the Manchester Airport – Middlesbrough service to Redcar
These bids are currently being evaluated by Network Rail, with a formal outcome due by early summer.