As Christmas approaches more and more people will be heading out to celebrate the festive season with friends and family.  Now December is upon us, Christmas parties will start in earnest and British Transport Police in the North West is calling on all revellers using the railway to be sensible and stay safe.

Superintendent Pete Mason said: “Everyone wants to enjoy Christmas and the festivities that go with it – this often includes going out to parties and drinking alcohol. 

“We certainly don’t want to tell people not to enjoy themselves, but we are asking everyone to think carefully about their nights out and to drink and behave responsibly.

“When you have had too much alcohol your judgement can be impaired and you may take risks that, when sober, you would never consider.

“Similarly, alcohol lowers inhibitions and behaviour which you would normally see as inappropriate may, in a drunken state, seem acceptable. This is not the case and those sharing the train carriage with you will certainly not be impressed.”

But it is not just the behaviour of those who have had a drink that raises concerns.  Supt Mason added: “Excessive alcohol can make people extremely vulnerable – judgement and co-ordination is impaired and any prospective thief looking for an easy target may well seek out those who have had too much to drink.

“British Transport Police across the North West will be running operations throughout December to make rail staff and passengers as safe as possible this Christmas, but we need the public to help limit opportunities for criminals.

“My advice is quite simple. Keep your wits about you when out at Christmas. By all means have a drink and enjoy yourself, but do so responsibly and always be aware of your surroundings and your belongings.
“If you have had a drink, consider how your behaviour impacts on other people and try to ensure that your enjoyable night out is not ruining that of others.”

British Transport Police in the North West has launched its 12 Days of Christmas initative to keep people as safe as possible on the rail network this festive season.  Each week day between now and 23 December BTP will provide advice and reassurance to rail staff and passengers and will outline the work being done to tackle criminality on the rail network in the region.  Special Christmas operations are in place in the following areas:

Manchester
Liverpool
Crewe
Wigan
Preston
Lancaster
Carlisle

http://www.mcrua.org.uk/chairmansblog/2011/11/04/northern-hub-in-doubt-due-to-overspends-in-s-e-england/ 

…. and look at the 3rd paragraph of page 3 in Teresa’s speech.

Peter Walker from the County Durham group, Coastliners, has written to Railfuture to say that he had come across this argument before, so he’s conducted his own research.  He says “As you see, it hardly bears out what she said or indeed what anyone else has tried to claim about North/South fare variations.  As in all these matters, it depends where people look.”

Here are just a few of Peter’s fare comparisons based on the cost of a standard off-peak single ticket (arranged in ascending order of distance): -

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Billingham – Hartlepool 7.25 miles £2.80

London Bridge – Streatham Common 8 miles £2.00

Manchester Piccadilly – Cheadle Hulme 8.25 miles £3.20

Leeds – Bradford 9 miles £3.10

London Kings Cross – New Barnet 9.25 miles £2.60

Manchester Victoria – Mossley (Lancs) 10.25 miles £3.20

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There’s interesting!

So next time we hear someone in prominence coming up with this, perhaps we should ask them for evidence to justify all their new 350s, 377s and 379s whilst we carry on with (even more) 142s.

Here’s details of their latest event next Wednesday from Duncan Law, Network Rail’s Northern Hub Scheme Sponsor. All are welcome.

Roy says “The next event is a presentation on the Northern Hub, by Duncan Law, Scheme Sponsor, Network Rail. The Government recently announced funding for the long-awaited Ordsall Chord, first proposed way back in 1980. In addition, equally long-awaited aspirations for extensions to electrification are at last proceeding, with work underway on the Manchester – Liverpool via Chat Moss line, to be followed by the Bolton – Preston – Blackpool Corridor and only announced this week, the much needed Trans-Pennine route via Huddersfield.

“Within the above context, what will the Northern Hub mean for the railways of this Region?

“To find out attend this important event. The date is 7 December. Details are attached – but note that this is a joint event with the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport, and a different venue and that there will be no refreshments in advance.”

For those interested in the detail from those “who really know”, sounds like a “Must”!

Click here for the survey.

It seems apart from the Ordsall Curve, that the rest of the Northern Hub may be cut back or postponed due to overspends elsewhere (South East England – where else!!) It’s apparently “an expensive package”, though it’s less than half the amount being spent on London’s Kings Cross railway and underground stations alone.

Here’s the text that was released of her speech.

And here’s a press release sent out by Metro (West Yorkshire Passenger Transport Authority) on 26 October.

We know that public transport has to be sorted out in the London area. But doing it in such a way that investment in the rest of England is relatively minimal is hardly the way to make the regional ecomomies of England stronger to better contribute to the overall economy of the UK.

Remember ….

London to Reading is average speed 108 mph,
London to Cambridge is average speed 99 mph, and
Liverpool to Manchester (between 2 of England’s largest cities) has a paltry average of 34 mph, the same speed The Rocket ran on The Liverpool & Manchester Railway in 1830, that’s 181 years ago!

Time to start writing to MPs and Councillors if you support The Northern Hub!

The cascade has started.

Here’s 1986 built ex-London Midland class 150 150111 on the 0645 Buxton-Blackpool North at Stockport on Thursday 18 October.

And here, again at Stockport are two shots from 1 November.

150111 again on the 0645 from Buxton.

And here later that day is 150114 coupled to a Northern-liveried class 150/1 on our 1503 Chester-Manchester Piccadilly leaving Stockport.

I’ve not heard whether the 4 class 156s have yet been sent East Midlands, so I’m not aware whether these count as extra capacity.

You may not be a regular reader of the British Transport Police web site, so here is a link to some useful tips that they have to show you some common methods of losing your valuables.

A few seconds watching these videos might save you a lot of heartache.

In their press release is confirmation that Northern is getting back the 7 remaining class 142 Pacers that First Great Western have (two returned 2 weeks ago), though it doesn’t mention the 4 class 156 SuperSprinters that Northern is having to send East Midlands, nor the 3 5-car class 180 Adelante trains that Northern is to return to East Coast.

This leaves 8 vehicles unallocated, suspected to be the 2 prototype 3-car Sprinters still running, now numbered 150001 and 150002, together with the two non-toilet vehicles 57209 and 57212 whose “partners” were both written off through accident damage many years ago.

Let’s hope these extra vehicles go some way to alleviating the very severe overcrowding and massive disincentive to rail travel in North and West Manchester and in the Leeds area.

It shows the Northern and TPE franchises extended to April 2014 with a view to considering prior to then whether to combine them or to split the services in some other way. Given the upcoming electrification programme, this is not surprising.

Could we see the Airport to Scotland services handed over to Scotrail, sponsored by the Scottish Executive and Manchester Airport and run with brand-new class 380s? It would be a great way to promote both Manchester Airport and also Scotland as a destination, as well as promoting Manchester Airport for use by the Scots rather than them having to slog down to congested Heathrow for long-haul flights they can’t get out of Scotland.

I had my first ride on the 380s in June. They are superb units – I was surprised how much better they were than the 350s. Delightful. We’d probably need 380/2s, configured with appropriate seats for longer distance services, and with the ability to add weekend strengthening from the internal Scottish 380 fleet.

What happens to the current TPE Airport to Blackpool, Barrow and Windermere services once the Deansgate to WCML gap is electrified remains to be seen.