Comments on round the merseyrail we go: Closing Time

They have put up a new plastered wall in Central o...

2011-10-20T07:00:19.101+01:00

They have put up a new plastered wall in Central on the right just as you enter the station. Rumour has it that it is going to be used to display pictures of how wonderful it will be when it is finished.

Thank you for pointing that out gottago. NOW NEVE...

2011-10-13T22:26:23.389+01:00

Thank you for pointing that out gottago. NOW NEVER DARKEN THIS BLOG AGAIN.

Some good ideas there Gareth. Of course once the new trains are brought in, the concept of a "terminus" may be moot; if the rumoured dual voltage trains come in then Northern Line trains could theoretically go all the way to Manchester Victoria. I'd personally like to see it go at least to Hough Green, to get to the edge of the Merseytravel boundary.

I'm totally with you on a Chinatown station. Again, frustratingly, there's a big bit of undeveloped land right behind the Blackie which would be perfect. As anyone who's eaten in the Italian Club at the top of Bold Street will attest, the line is very close to the surface here, so it wouldn't have to be a very deep excavation to build a new station, and then you could construct flats over the top. It'd help to open up the Baltic Triangle area and round by the CUC, handy for Chinatown and Renshaw Street, it'd be convenient for the Anglican Cathedral and LIPA, and it's not burdened with the psychological barrier of being on the "wrong" side of Parliament Street like St James is. Plus, and this is real pie in the sky time, that bit of land is right over the top of the Wapping Tunnel... you know, if someone ever decides to use it.

Parisian-style gates would seem to be a good idea, but again we have software issues, and I'm not sure if Health & Safety in the UK would be keen on their half-height...

Hate to be picky but wouldn't it have been bet...

2011-10-13T15:40:53.202+01:00

Hate to be picky but wouldn't it have been better if you'd have put a little stub for James Street after the Wirral Line splits (ie just before Moorfields and just after Central) rather than using a *?! :D

I hope they expand the box before Central Village ...

2011-10-13T01:52:32.834+01:00

I hope they expand the box before Central Village as well. As far as I know, nothing has been said to confirm or deny that this is happening.

The Platform Edge Gates are a surprise. I say 'gates' because they Echo article suggests that they'll be the half-height Parisian-style ones. I'm a fan and Platform Edge Doors have been mentioned as a possibilty in various documents for all Mereyrail underground stations in the past. However, I would have assumed we would not see such things until the trains were replaced. Installing PEDs or PEGs or whatever will surely dictate that whatever new trains we get, the new ones will have to have exact same door spacing as the old ones. Either that or replace the PEDs/PEGs with again newer ones.

Sorry for the long ramble. You did kind of ask about ideas and it appears I have tons of them, when it comes to the Northern Line.

I've got to say, I do not want to be a Norther...

2011-10-13T01:51:57.156+01:00

I've got to say, I do not want to be a Northern Line user whilst Central is closed. Moorfields already has some capacity problems in peak, although nowhere near Central and I think Moorfields will be a terrible place during the rush hour. Central's stressful enough as it is. Moorfield's rush hour traffic with Central's on top? - the stuff nightmares are made of, I fear.

Central is over-relied upon. I think a lot of it is legacy of the last few decades when our downtown was seen as essentially just Church Street to too many people. Add to this that more trains terminate here than run through. As a user of the Northern Line south of Central, I feel its frequency is really not good enough. A minimum of 6tph in the day is needed, I reckon and the proposed 8tph would be absolutely dandy. I think a lot more people would choose Merseyrail over the 82 bus if this came about. The turnaround facility at South Parkway makes a lot of sense. Personally, I'd have Southport trains terminate at Central, Ormskirk trains terminate at South Parkway and Kirkby trains terminate at Hunts Cross. It's not bad news for Hunts Cross because Hunts Cross won't be losing anything. Its 4tph Northern Line service plus an additional 1tph 'City Line' service makes it positively spoilt compared to neighbouring Halewood's 1tph, a Pacer and all. To be honest, Hunts Cross makes no real sense as a terminus, especially considering that it takes up capacity with its inefficient cross over. I'd rather either peg the Northern Line back to South Parkway, or extent the Northern Line to Warrington Central, moving the fast services to Chat Moss, ending the curve onto the WCML spur and having a new stopper service to Runcorn, serving West Allerton & Mossley Hill with a couple of new stations in Wavertree & the Penny Lane area.

Another thing that could've helped here would've been another station to the south of Central, perhaps under Great George Street. This would've taken at least a little off Central's load but also could have helped a few commuters out during Central's closure, as it would've been more handy to many than Moorfields and eased some of the awful crowding that will take place there next year. A turnback facility here could've replaced Central's too, providing terminating Northern Line service passengers with more downtown station options and with a chance to use this station to change for Hunts Cross and not Central.

Another idea is the 'mop-up' idea. That is, make the trains more frequent to 'mop-up' the passengers. Ideally, certainly when the new stock comes in, I'd like a uniform number of cars. At least then you can mark with certainty where the trains will stop and people won't feel like a wally when a 3-car train turns up and stops at the other end of the platform. Instead of 4x6-cars an hour, I'd go for 6x4, so the service is increased but the capacity remains. In off-peak, it could be 4x4tph instead of 4x3tph. The service frequency would be increased, so there's less people waiting on the plaforms. Of course, more drivers & guards (if the latter are still around) would need to be employed, but it may well be worth the investment.