Rail passengers travelling in and out of Manchester Victoria are being reminded some services will change, starting from this Easter, as work continues on the Ordsall Chord.

A flagship scheme in the Great North Rail Project, part of Britain’s Railway Upgrade Plan, Ordsall Chord is a new section of track linking Manchester’s three main railway stations – Piccadilly, Oxford Road and Victoria.

The chord will also create new direct links to Manchester Airport from cities such as Bradford and will reduce congestion at Manchester Piccadilly meaning more trains will be free to stop there.

To finish the scheme Network Rail needs to replace sections of Chapel Street bridge in Salford, to strengthen New Bailey Street bridge and to remodel tracks through Salford Central. It also needs to fit new signalling and overhead line equipment.

Road closures are now in place while a crane is used to work on the Chapel Street bridge. This means Chapel Street will be closed between New Bailey Street and Bury Street until 28 April.

Yorkshire Street, Johnson Street, Browncross Street and Quay Street is also closed and diversions are in place.

Mike Heywood, project director for Network Rail, said: “As we get closer to carrying out this major piece of work, we’d ask people to bear with the short-term pain of service changes knowing that from December, this scheme will be finished and bring major benefits to train customers across the north.”

To carry out this work safely, some train services in and out of Manchester Victoria will be affected across the following dates:

Early Thursday 13 April across Easter until the last service on bank holiday Monday 1 May
Every Sunday from May 7 until 2 July
Early Sunday 28 May until the last service on bank holiday 29 May
Early Saturday 8 and 15 July until the last service on Sunday 9 and 16 July
Sunday 20 and 27 August
Saturday 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30 September and Sunday 3, 10, 17, 24 September and 1 October
Passengers are advised to plan their journeys and check before they travel on www.nationalrail.co.uk.

Shuttle buses will operate from Salford stations to Manchester Victoria on certain days.

Liam Sumpter, regional director at Northern, said: “The engineering work, whilst disruptive to services, is an absolutely vital part of the modernisation of the railway in the north of England.

“We are moving ever closer to the completion of the Ordsall Chord work, which means we are also closer to enhancements to our services.”

Kathryn O’Brien, Customer Experience Director for TransPennine Express said: “The important work taking place in Manchester and outside York over the upcoming Bank holidays will create improvements for rail customers across the North.

“There will be changes to our services between Manchester Victoria and Liverpool Lime Street while in the North East, customers travelling between York and Manchester and to and from Hull should also check before they travel.”

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here