Manchester's timetable tensions come under close scrutiny

摘要

MANCHESTER is Britain's third busiest airport. Ranked by 2019's figures, its 29.4 million passengers follow Heathrow's 80.9 million and Gatwick's 46.6 million. It boasts direct rail links across northern England, Scotland and North Wales, served from a station that British Rail opened in 1993. Network Rail added a third platform in 2008 and a fourth in 2015, as demand continued to grow - there were 5.7 million users in 2019-20. After the third platform opened, NR floated the idea of tunnelling westwards under the airport, to convert the terminus station into a through station with services running to and from the Northwich line. Now the airport is set to receive a through station, although this will be part of High Speed 2's line from Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly. That's more than a decade away, and in the meantime the airport faces losing some of its direct trains under timetable changes designed to improve reliability through Manchester's Castlefield Corridor (RAIL 906).