Forum
John Haigh (‘Forum’, last month) raises some important points regarding the effect of the current state of platforms 13 and 14 at Manchester Piccadilly on local stations along the Airport route, including my own local station, Heald Green. However, Mr Haigh’s proposal to reroute most long/medium-distance services to Victoria and leave Manchester Airport with a stopping service to Manchester Victoria would undo decades of effort to close the Piccadilly-Victoria divide in Manchester, by doing serious damage to connectivity at Piccadilly (such as between London services and the TransPennine network).
It would also sever Manchester Airport’s present rail links to major stations across the North, including Preston, Blackpool, Leeds and Newcastle, many of which either lack airports entirely or, in the case of Leeds and Bradford, have airports which are less accessible by rail and which have fewer destinations.
By his own admission, the airport is currently dissatisfied with its rail service (thanks currently to dismal performance). Even if the service becomes more reliable, the trade-offs here are connectivity with the rest of the North, journey times (which would be extended by stopping at every stat…
