The next meeting of SHRUG, the new Stalybridge to Huddersfield Rail User Group will take place at the Railway Inn in Greenfield on November 9th at 20.00 hrs. The Railway Inn is less than 100 metres from Greenfield Station.
The topics will include the recent meeting between SHRUG and the Greater Manchester Transport Authority, as well as the response to the SHRUG petition to local members of parliament over proposed changes to local rail services.
Over recent years, one of the less satisfactory aspects of travelling on trains from Marsden and Slaithwaite has been the poor standard of cleaning. Poor, that is, bordering on non-existent. One of SMART’s committee members keeps threatening non-violent direct action in the form of taking his own mop and bucket on to the train. But all this could be about to change………..
Found, on a Northern train between Garforth and York, a glossy magazine which turns out to be Northern Rail’s customer magazine. It’s also available on-line at http://www.northernrail.org/magazine/issue5/.
In it, Ian Bevan, Managing Director of Northern Rail, answers some letters from their latest postbag, including the following.
I travelled on a train to Manchester which was in a disgusting state. There was rubbish everywhere including takeaway cartons and spilt drinks.
Mrs C S, Sheffield
I was disappointed by the cleanliness and general appearance of my train, especially on the inside. Can’t you make them clean and bright inside and take a couple of minutes at the end of each journey to mop the floors and pick up litter?
Mr P E, Manchester
Ian says: I’ve had a lot of letters about this issue and so we’ve looked into how we can improve the cleanliness of our trains. We’ve now brought in more cleaners at our maintenance depots to help us with deep cleaning inside the trains overnight and to hand wash the exteriors during the day. We’ll also have more employees to collect litter at stations and on trains. As well as extra people, we’re also looking at the equipment and materials we use to clean trains to make sure they work as well as we’d like. I’m confident you will start to see these changes making an impact very soon.
Let’s hope we do see a difference soon.
Unfortunately an increasing problem on the railways and elsewhere. Here’s a postcard which the British Transport Police are distributing to tell people what they can do to help tackle cable theft.
A letter in the Huddersfield Examiner, 20th October 2011, from Councillor Hilary Richards (Labour, Golcar)
NETWORK Rail is planning major changes in the local train service between Huddersfield, the Colne Valley and Manchester Victoria.
At present, local trains from Huddersfield stop at Slaithwaite, Marsden, Greenfield, Mossley, Stalybridge, Ashton-under-Lyne and Manchester Victoria.
In order to accommodate six fast trains each hour between Leeds and Manchester, the planners want to remove the stopping train and have one fast train stopping at each station each hour.
This will result in a loss of connections to neighbouring communities along the line and mean commuters having to use the less convenient station at Manchester Piccadilly.
We need the trains to connect between the communities along the rail line on each side of the Pennines. Our present train service helps to bind us together and encourages local tourism in the South Pennines.
Instead of trying to put a ‘quart into a pint pot’ the sensible thing would be to enlarge the existing four ‘fast’ trains an hour to six coaches and provide a much-needed additional stopping service between Manchester and Leeds.
Network Rail should be looking to improve capacity on the route for both passenger and freight services by adding additional tracks and re-opening the disused rail tunnels at Standedge.
The proposal to run six express trains an hour between Huddersfield and Manchester without any extra track capacity also means the end of the campaign for a new station for the people of Golcar, Longwood and Milnsbridge, which the Labour Party has been campaigning for over several years.
