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Topic: Proposed Closure Of Ardwick Station (Read 13699 times)
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Steve35
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To quote from uk.railway newsgroup: "Ardwick is in the middle of urban decay and rundown industrial estates."
You pass through it on the Manchester Piccadilly-Leeds Transpennine trains and it does look like it's in the middle of nowhere. It's only half a mile (if that) from Piccadilly so if you were going into the city you'd either walk or get the bus. Pretty pointless getting the train as you'd only be on it for about 1 minute. I suspect there may once have been passengers going to work in the adjacent industrial units but for whatever reason (recession?) this traffic died off. The station is a small island platform between the two tracks with a basic bus shelter and seat. It's too close to the city centre to turn into a Park and Ride so it isn't immediately obvious what it's purpose is these days.
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Lee
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Cheers for that , Steve.
I know from my own research (not promising , which is why I started this topic with the question I did) that Ardwick is going to be a tough one.
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AidanORourke
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Hi, I am 'Eye On Manchester' alias Aidan O'Rourke, photographer and writer specialising in the recent development of Manchester.
I feel very strongly about the way the railways around Manchester have been allowed to degrade. Quite a few lines and stations were closed in the post war years, some of which would now be viable again, if only they hadn't been abandoned.
The same could be true of Ardwick Station. Yes, it's a tiny halt less than a mile from Piccadilly, and yes, the area around it has seen a steady decline over the years.
But that area is currently undergoing redevelopment. New houses are being built not too far away. A new refurbished office development just a few steps away from the station will be opened shortly.
I don't necessarily accept that a station that's a short distance from main station is necessarily unviable. It's all about critical mass. In Japan they have a dense and well used railway system, so a smaller station is still viable in that context.
In the British context, where railways have been undervalued, underfunded and are consequently under used, a small station will 'drop off' the scale of what's considered viable.
But what if, in a few years time, this area is able to support a station again? What kind of message does it send out about the railways when a station is closed? How much would actually be saved by closing the station? It's unmanned and surely it requires just some maintenance. I'm not going to start telling railway managers how to do their job, I'm just posing questions.
Closing stations may not be the best strategy in the long term, and I think it sends out a negative message, so I would urge those responsible to think again.
Personally I think all the disused railway lines around Manchester should be re-opened, and new ones built, but that's another story!
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Graham Ellis
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Personally I think all the disused railway lines around Manchester should be re-opened, and new ones built, but that's another story!
Hi, Aidan ... great to see you here and posting. You're pushing on an open door in this particular forum when you talk about re-opening railways, but it seems that at present we're having to fight even to retain what we have, doesn't it? "Fools rush in" they say, and I don't know Ardwick. Do I'm not going to pass any judgement save to say that we should learn form a long history of closing, then regretting the closure, of transport. And sometimes re-opening it at great expense. I think you have some canals that this happened to within a mile of Ardwick, don't you? Dr Beeching saw no point in retaining a station at Melksham and closed in in 1966. It was re-opened in 1985, and use grew dramatically right up to last December, when the service was replaced with a non-viable one - no trains at all at the peak time s that people need them, and usage has dropped again. And yet, Melksham is planned to grow dramatically in the next 20 years. Would I say "never" to a closure again of the current Melksham Station? Surprisingly, I wouldn't if it were to be replaced by a better alternative ... and that would be a new platform just a couple of hundred yards up the track with an entrance from a shopping / restaruarant and housing area and not in the back of an industial estate. But until such time as the redevelopment comes, let be and hang on to that resource - Ardwick, Melksham and others. |
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Tracker
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I use the station - what would you like to know? |
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Nick Field
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I use the station - what would you like to know? Hi Tracker welcome to the forum. any information you could provide would be useful: Passenger numbers History - was the service better in the past Potential for the future if the right service were to be provided etc, how would the station fit into the overall network Any new development around the station etc etc |
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Tracker
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Hi Nick,
Here goes:
Passenger numbers are higher than some numbers I have seen (3 or 5 people), but not by much due to the very low number of trains stopping at the station. Up to six people use the 0737 from Hadfield, and two or three use the 0820 from Marple and the 0844 from New Mills. Maybe two or three people use the 1706 to Marple and the 1808 to Rose Hill, but evening use is more sporadic than the 'core' morning use .
In terms of recent history (rather than going back 100 years), passenger numbers were much higher when the adjacent Great Universal Stores headquarters building was fully occupied (employing upto 3,000 staff on site). GUS home shopping division was sold to Littlewoods a few years back and numbers on site fell dramatically. Fortunately, the complex is in new hands and numbers are rising again, following completion of refurbishment works, as new companies move in.
The potential future is very bright. The station is in the New East Manchester regeneration area and there are clear signs of investment locally (apart from the office headquarters building mentioned above), such as the new PC World at Pin Mill Brow and the extension to Nicholls College on Hyde road.
It is already apparent that the lack of service is holding back station usage.
Hope this helps.
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« Last Edit: March 09, 2007, 02:23:41 PM by Tracker »
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AidanORourke
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Yes, there are two things to note. When people say 'There are only 5 passengers a day so the station should be closed', actually the low number of passengers is because trains are not stopping there. Also the approaches to the statiion are not exactly salubrious.
The other thing is that there is a lot of development going on all around the station. All it needs is a 'joined up' approach, and the station could be much better used.
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Tracker
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If the station closure process is implemented then I think a very effective case can be put forward (in terms of relieving road congestion).
My understanding is that the closure proposal was a recommendation in a draft report. When will the final version of the report be issued? i.e. when will we know if the 'consultation' has been effective?
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« Last Edit: March 12, 2007, 12:02:46 PM by Tracker »
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Lee
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According to Network Rail , "Consultation responses are being considered and a final strategy will be published in early spring 2007."
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Lee
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"Publishing its North West Route Utilisation Strategy yesterday (1 May) Network Rail said it would not pursue, for the time being, the closure of Ardwick, Denton and Reddish South stations which was included in the draft RUS (Transport Briefing 13/11/06). However, the infraco says it will reconsider closure if the stations require significant amounts of money spending on them in the future." (link below.) http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2007/05/network_rail_drops_plan_to_clo.html#more |
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Tracker
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« Last Edit: May 03, 2007, 12:24:43 PM by Tracker »
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