Who are we?
OPSTA is the rail user group for West Lancashire's railways using the traditional boundaries described by Preston, Wigan and Liverpool.

We are a non political group that campaigns for the retention, improvement and development of the railway links between Liverpool and Preston via Ormskirk, and from Southport and Kirkby to Manchester via Wigan. 

If you find that we share common aims please join us or follow us here and on twitter @opsta15. Don't hesitate from contacting us with a query, suggestion or feedback.





Fare Collection -
Rail users can assist by emailing their observations and experiences to opstafare@gmail.com.

Train Timetables  - see www.northernrailway.co.uk/travel/timetables  

 


 

  • ...continued

    Midge Hall would serve the rapidly growing population west of Leyland and nearby dormitory villages.  In recent weeks OPSTA has been working with South Ribble MP, Katherine Fletcher on a new proposition for advancing the proposal.


No trains between Southport & Wigan 18th-22nd March

There will be another 5 day line blockade between Southport and Wigan Monday 18th to Friday 22nd March. We tried to get some train service as far as Parbold but it seems the track works will come too close to Parbold for Network Rail to permit it. Hence it will be replacement bus all the way. Be aware too that most weekends engineering work will affect services east of Wigan. Trains may run but times and routes can be changed.

As before there will be an hourly rail replacement bus service (see www.northernrailway.co.uk/timetables) and this time at our request there is wider ticket acceptance for travel between Burscough and Manchester via Preston if using Northern services, you will have permitted travel if you have tickets from Southport stations in addition to Burscough, Hoscar and Parbold.

Passenger feedback from the last blockade in February has been shared with Northern as part of our continuous push to get better and reliable service, more on this in forthcoming updates.


March Update

OPSTA held an open meeting with Northern managers at Burscough in January and heard their plans and actions to improve the reliability of services. A number of matters were raised.

We have continued to monitor services for punctuality and reliability, reasons for cancellation and performance and availability of the Class 769s, and review this with the operator.

Northern has shown a marked improvement over the terrible performance in the closing weeks of last year but cancellations are still unacceptably high, e.g. on Ormskirk-Preston cancellations in February were at 5%, 3% due to train crew not being available.

We received a good amount of passenger feedback on their travel experiences during the blockade of the Southport Wigan line in February which indicated that; commuters will readily use the car as an alternative or work from home when they can; despite considerable effort by Northern the rail replacement buses often didn’t run as planned (schedule, route and missed station calls all reported) and the slow, hourly service was a last resort. Where travel was optional it was very often avoided.

A number of passenger counts were conducted in February on the Ormskirk Preston line which continued to demonstrate greater loadings on all services than seen in the same pre covid period of 2019. More are planned later in March when we will be seeking greater engagement with passengers (informal surveys) in order to gain more data on travel patterns and need.

Merseyrail has also been a cause of concern, reliability issues with the new Class 777 trains especially the battery enabled units running to Headbolt Lane. The lack of information over the nature of the problems and remedial work required is concerning. Nevertheless it is good to see more of the new trains deployed on the Southport line.

We still await clear announcement of the City Region’s preferred options for Merseyrail extensions although the Metro Mayor’s recent announcement of three new stations and their locations offers some insight.

In terms of the development opportunities in our territory there has been a lot of behind the scenes lobbying. Just prior to the latest government announcement on Network North and ‘re-allocated’ (sic) HS2 funds OPSTA attended a meeting with the Southport MP and Secretary of State for Transport that appeared to re-invigorate Lancashire County Council’s desire for improved service along the
Ormskirk line and the Burscough Curves. We are striving to build on this and secure some active follow up and commitment.