PEOPLE in Warrington will be missed-out by Transpennine Express services between Manchester and Liverpool as quicker services will use a different route.
From May 20th, services by the operator will no longer serve Warrington as they are re-routed through the quieter village of Newton-le-Willows in Merseyside.
Currently, Transpennine Express operates an hourly service in both directions between Manchester and Liverpool via Warrington Central.
The journey takes around 50 minutes to get from Manchester Piccadilly to Liverpool Lime Street but the new service will omit Warrington and instead run through Manchester Victoria.
It is expected that the omission of Warrington Central will reduce journeys by 17 minutes however, the decision has left commuters bewildered.
Have you protested against this @FaisalRashid6? I am very disappointed by this. Warrington Central is a busy station and deserves direct connections to cities like Leeds.
— Luke (@LukeUK5) April 26, 2018
@TPEassist I am Complaining, because you are removing your Trains from Warrington on the Manchester to Liverpool line. This MUST not happen, and MUST be overturned with immediate effect.
— James Holgate (@JamesHolgate10) April 9, 2018
The service comes from Scarborough linking Yorkshire to the region but the changes will affect people visiting the town.
Andy King, 30, from Leeds said: “I have taken the Leeds to Warrington route for about 12 years, along with others – it is a quickish journey.”
Mr King said his journey times between the two points will be increased and keeping ticket fares at the same price would be unfair to commuters.
“There will now be a change at Manchester which will add around 30 minutes to the journey and the price isn’t changing,” he added.
Instead, passenger’s on the route will rely on a commuter service between Liverpool, Warrington and Manchester. A replacement service only to Manchester Airport will be run by Northern.
Another passenger, Luke Burns, 32, from Leeds said: “I commute between Leeds and Warrington every weekend or two to visit family and cutting the route will make that much harder and longer.”
Mr Burns who travels the route up to eight times a month acknowledged operator’s wanted to reduce journey times but didn’t believe a change of route was necessary.
“Is this really being done just so the government can say that have invested and shortened journey times? Because all they have done really is change the route – no investment needed,” he added.
Transpennine Express are making the changes in line with the Great North Rail Project which, includes the introduction of the Ordsall Chord rail link.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oTyMh-17YsI
The project has been hailed by government as the largest re-jig of rail timetabling in the north.
Leo Goodwin, managing director at Transpennine Express said: “This is one of the biggest timetable changes the North has seen and will deliver real benefits for those travelling for work or leisure.”
“Customers in this part of the world are already benefitting from a £32m overhaul of our train fleet to like-new standard with the on-board experience having been totally transformed.”
Meanwhile, an argument between whether Wigan or Warrington should get one of the regions’ HS2 station’s continues.
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