Pacers may be hated - but we need them

THEY are uncomfortable, noisy, and unloved — but transport bosses are fighting to keep five “pacer” trains for Oldham rail passengers.

The 20-year-old trains, which are so hated that they have been the subject of questions in the House of Lords, will no longer be needed on the Oldham loop when it closes for conversion to Metrolink in October.

But councillors fear the Department of Transport will send them to another part of the country while Greater Manchester commuters continue to be squeezed into overcrowded trains. Officials from the Passenger Transport Authority are hoping to strike a deal.

They want to use them on the Calder Valley line between Manchester and Leeds which meets the Oldham loop at Rochdale. Its trains are among the most overcrowded.

Councillor Keith Whitmore, chairman of the PTA’s policy committee, said: “There is no guarantee that we are going to keep this rolling stock. It is outrageous.”

Saddleworth councillor Richard Knowles said: “The Oldham loop is subsidised by £8m a year so they are effectively withdrawing £8m a year from Greater Manchester.”

Oldham councillor John Dillon added: “During the Metrolink conversion, there will be extra pressure on the Calder Valley line.”

The PTA also wants to improve rush-hour travel for Oldhamers who use the Leeds to Manchester Piccadilly line through Greenfield and Mossley, which is also overcrowded.

Officials say that increasing the number of trains is being held up not only because of a rolling stock shortage but also because of capacity problems of the track around Diggle and Marsden.

Councillor Knowles, who uses the service daily, said: “There is not one train which isn’t crushed toward Manchester in the morning and out again in the evening.”

Officials are to ask Northern Rail to put extra rush-hour trains on the line and to ask Network Rail to improve the line.