A former rail boss has spoken out against scrapping plans to build two new platforms at Manchester Piccadilly. The plans for platforms 15 and 16 date back more than a decade and have been waiting to be signed off since 2015.
But last month, as the government announced £72m of investment in Greater Manchester's stations, rail bosses pulled the plans, which had been estimated to cost up to £800m. Network Rail boss Tim Shoveller revealed that other plans will be prioritised – including replacing the four platforms at Oxford Road station with three longer ones.
Meeting rail minister Huw Merriman at Manchester Victoria two weeks ago, local leaders demanded an urgent long-term plan to unclog the North of England's railways. It comes more than a decade after platforms 15 and 16 were first put forward as a solution to congestion on the Castlefield corridor.
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But Jim Bamford, who was the Head of Investment Planning at Transport for the North (TfN) before retiring in 2021, says building two new platforms at Piccadilly would allow more trains to travel on the route through Manchester city centre which rail services across the region rely on to run smoothly. He has spoken out ahead of a meeting of metro mayors, council leaders and industry bosses at TfN's Rail North Committee in Leeds this morning (June 7).
At the meeting, the committee will be asked to endorse a new approach to rail infrastructure improvements which would 'avoid specifying outputs', such as calling for the new platforms at Piccadilly to be built, and instead focus on 'outcomes'. A TfN report proposes that the committee issues new 'statutory advice' to the transport secretary which supersedes what was said before.
This means that the body, which was set up by the government to make the case for strategic transport improvement across the North of England, would no longer be specifically recommending new platforms at Piccadilly are built. Instead, it would recommend that the Castlefield corridor should carry no less than 16 trains per hour each way without saying how this would be achieved.
Mr Bamford, who in 2020 wrote the report recommending the Piccadilly plans are signed off, supports the call to increase capacity. But, referring to a 2019 Network Rail report which is not in the public domain, he said that building platforms 15 and 16 at Piccadilly are by far the best way of achieving this.
He said: "The report is quite right to restate that the government should deliver improvements with increased capacity in the Castlefield Corridor with no less than 16 trains per hour able to operate reliably. As a 2019 Network Rail report states, that requires construction of two new platforms - 15 and 16 at Piccadilly - as 'no other option comes close to delivering 16 trains per hour'.
"Andy Burnham is spot on in continuing to pursue that."
Last month, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham welcomed the £72m investment by the government which will pay for a third platform at Salford Crescent and new 'turnback tracks' near Salford Central and Manchester Victoria. The cash will also allow for improvements to be made to existing platforms at Victoria.
However, responding to the withdrawal of the plans for two new platform at Piccadilly, Mr Burnham called for a 'coherent' plan for the railways in the North. The Labour mayor is expected to attend TfN's Rail North Committee meeting.
The Greater Manchester mayor and TfN have been contacted for comment.
Network Rail has not ruled out revisiting the Piccadilly plans, but described this proposal as 'hugely expensive' and 'incredibly disruptive' They argue that longer platforms at Oxford Road station would improve rail reliability quicker.
The government has rejected claims that its rail plans for the North are 'cut price'. The rail minister said the £96bn Integrated Rail Plan for the North and Midlands is 'the largest intervention that's ever been made' in the railways.
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