Railway On Agenda At MP’s Surgery
A train on the line near Diggle.
The state of the Manchester to Huddersfield railway line will be one of the topics discussed this Saturday, as our new MP holds her first Saddleworth constituency surgery.
Debbie Abrahams will be meeting members of the public at Uppermill Civic Hall between 10am and 11am.
Cllr Royce Franklin, who chairs the Saddleworth and Lees sub-committee on transport matters, will join other local campaigners in talking to Ms Abrahams about the line, which faces problems including overcrowding and a lack of carriages.
A recent Saddleworth News poll suggested that readers of this site would like Ms Abrahams to make pushing for improvements to the line her top priority. The issue got 33% of the vote (read more here).
Overcrowding has long been a problem on the Huddersfield line. In the autumn, the government did announce new investment in 2,100 additional carriages across the country, but it’s not clear yet whether we’ll be getting any.
Saddleworth News asked Ms Abrahams about this issue during the recent by-election campaign, and she said then that she would do what she could.
She said: “People are having to stand during their commute across the Pennines. First of all it’s not particularly safe, and also in terms of the congestion issues, I know that so many people, because of this, have decided they’re going to use their cars. There’s a build-up of traffic on the local road network, so this is important.”
Looking further into the future, the prospect of a new station at Diggle and the reopening of the disused Standedge Tunnels, to increase capacity on the line, remain on the table as part of the so-called ‘Northern Hub’ proposals. Ministers are due to decide in 2012 which aspects of the plans, if any, they will support, with work potentially beginning in 2014.
If you want to contact Ms Abrahams about seeing her at this or any future surgeries, you can ring her Oldham office on 0161 624 4248.
You can read and listen to a Saddleworth News interview with Transport Minister Norman Baker, during which he sounds positive about the Northern Hub plans, here.
Author: Jude Gidney - Editor
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