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Monday, 08 March 2010Extra train carriages for peak time services
Greater Manchester's transport leaders have today welcomed Transport Minister Sadiq Khan's announcement of funding for extra train carriages.
The funding will allow carriages from the former Oldham Loop line to be used on peak time services, boosting capacity on some of the region's busiest commuter routes.
The Department for Transport announcement builds on Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority's own initiative last October to make good use of some of these carriages.
Councillor Keith Whitmore, Chair of GMITA, said: "This is welcome news for commuters, and a promising first step towards easing the overcrowding on peak time trains. It will mean that passengers on 15 services every day will be able to travel on longer trains from July this year - that's capacity for an extra 959 passengers during the morning peak and a similar increase in the evenings.
"We will need to see much more of this kind of investment if we are to meet current and future demand for rail travel in the region. Rail travel has increased by almost 70 per cent over the past decade, and we will need more carriages in the very near future to accommodate that growth.
"We would urge the DfT to progress the completion of contracts for more railway rolling stock. Without more carriages, we predict that that rail services in and around Greater Manchester will become more and more crowded, forcing people onto the roads.
"We will continue to work closely on this issue with the DfT."
The Oldham Loop has now been closed so that it can be converted into a new Metrolink line. The DfT funding announced today will lengthen trains on peak time services to and from New Mills, Huddersfield, Southport, Clitheroe, Todmorden, Wigan, Marple and Blackburn, as well as an evening peak time service between Leeds and Huddersfield.
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