Alliance of the Roses to help ease misery on the trains

Reporter: Alan Salter
Date online: 15 June 2010

Transport chiefs have formed a Roses alliance to try to persuade the Government to help end the misery of Oldham’s overcrowded trains.

After two years of talking with civil servants in the Department for Transport, all Greater Manchester has to show is five Pacers which used to run on the Oldham Loop line.

But now Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority is joining forces with colleagues in West Yorkshire, which shares the overcrowded trains to campaign for more train carriages in the north of England.

The lack of progress in relieving overcrowding on trains creates common ground across the Pennines, officials say..

Councillor Keith Whitmore, Chairman of GMITA, said: “The Government has recently announced that it will review its plans to increase rail passenger capacity across the country.

“The recent National Audit Office report observes that the DfT’s latest plans have already taken into account the drop in demand due to the recession.

“This has led to the capacity being planned for the Leeds and Manchester areas being trimmed back by over a third. The NAO also notes the steps that the DfT has taken over the past two years to improve the value for money of the individual packages. It is now time to press on with implementation.

“GMITA and WYITA, with other northern ITAs, will take this opportunity to campaign together for the extra train carriages that we desperately need.

“This is not just a local issue, but a regional one, and it makes sense for us to work with our counterparts in West Yorkshire and across the north.

“By March this year, the Labour Government had committed to providing 526 extra carriages nationwide — but only 26 of these were of benefit to the north. This means that the north’s particular needs must be emphasised.”

Councillor Ryk Downes, chairman of WYITA, said: “We need to demonstrate that the economic benefits of providing more carriages apply right across the region.”