Extra carriages are on track . . .

EXTRA train carriages are on their way to ease the daily overcrowding nightmare of Oldham’s commuters.

A high-level delegation was at Westminster today to protest that the Government is failing to keep its promise to relieve the rush-hour sardine specials because it will not buy enough rolling stock.

Even trains freed up by the closure of the Oldham loop line have been shipped out to other parts of the country.

But we can reveal that the delegation — including Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority chairman Councillor Keith Whitmore — was being told that relief is at hand.

Transport Secretary Lord Adonis told the Chronicle: “There will be additional rolling stock for the North. I can’t say precisely the numbers of carriages and precisely the timescale. That is being negotiated at the moment.”

The North-West is promised refurbished electric trains for newly-electrified lines between Manchester and Liverpool, Bolton, Preston, Blackpool and Wigan.

Lord Adonis added: “There will be additional diesel carriages but in the medium term a number of these lines will benefit from new or refurbished electric trains with higher capacity than existing trains.”

Asked about fears that the electric trains will not be ready in time for the opening of the electrified lines, he said: “Once the infrastructure is there, the pressure to get electric trains from the outset will be huge.

“It would be absurd to have an electrified railway with no trains to run on it.”

He also offered hope that money will be available for work on the Manchester Hub after Network Rail announced a £500 million scheme to ease rail congestion across the North of England by freeing up lines around Manchester.

Mills Hill rail users would benefit from two extra trains an hour from Rochdale to Manchester as well as direct services to Manchester Airport and Liverpool via a new line at Ordsall, Salford, to directly link Piccadilly and Victoria.

And Greenfield passengers would see direct and faster trains to Bolton, Chester, Leeds, Manchester, Southport and Wigan.

Lord Adonis added that run-down Manchester Victoria Station would become “phenomenal” after some of the Government’s £50 million stations fund kick-starts massive investment there.

“We are expecting substantial third-party contributions and other sources of public funding to make these big renovation projects possible,” he said.