It has been a long time coming but Victoria Station is open again and has a new roof.
Now of course it didn’t really close but for sometime trams never stopped there and much of the main station resembled a building site.
But as Andy Robertson’s pictures show its back in business and it is that roof which is looking impressive.
For as long as I can remember Victoria always seemed a second relation to Piccadilly despite that fine entrance.
And it all seems down to the Northern Hub which will offer new opportunities for train travellers.*
There is even a video which reveals just how our mainline stations will be transformed.**
It was first announced in 2009, and is a series of upgrades which would cut journey times between cities in Northern England by alleviating the rail bottleneck through Manchester.
“Central to the project will be resolving the rail bottleneck through Manchester city centre to allow more routes, more capacity and quicker journey times across the Northern cities.
Two new through platforms at Piccadilly will allow 14 trains per hour (up from 10 currently) through Manchester city centre allowing more routes and trains.
Manchester Victoria station will be modernised as the east-west rail interchange in Northern England.
Trains from the north east to Manchester Airport will use a new section of railway, the £85 million Ordsall Chord, between Manchester Victoria and Manchester Oxford Road to reach Manchester Piccadilly and continue to the Airport without reversing at Piccadilly and without conflicting movements at the station throat."**
So there you have it, and if you haven’t been down yet Andy’s pictures should just be the incentive.
Of course work is still going on down there but I know where I will be going tomorrow.
Pictures; Victoria Station, February 2015 from the collection of Andy Robertson
*The Northern Hub, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Hub
**Watch: How Piccadilly and Oxford Road stations could look after £1bn redevelopment, Charlotte Cox, MEN, October 8 2014
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/watch-how-piccadilly-oxford-road-7898576
But as Andy Robertson’s pictures show its back in business and it is that roof which is looking impressive.
For as long as I can remember Victoria always seemed a second relation to Piccadilly despite that fine entrance.
And it all seems down to the Northern Hub which will offer new opportunities for train travellers.*
There is even a video which reveals just how our mainline stations will be transformed.**
“Central to the project will be resolving the rail bottleneck through Manchester city centre to allow more routes, more capacity and quicker journey times across the Northern cities.
Two new through platforms at Piccadilly will allow 14 trains per hour (up from 10 currently) through Manchester city centre allowing more routes and trains.
Manchester Victoria station will be modernised as the east-west rail interchange in Northern England.
So there you have it, and if you haven’t been down yet Andy’s pictures should just be the incentive.
Of course work is still going on down there but I know where I will be going tomorrow.
Pictures; Victoria Station, February 2015 from the collection of Andy Robertson
*The Northern Hub, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Hub
**Watch: How Piccadilly and Oxford Road stations could look after £1bn redevelopment, Charlotte Cox, MEN, October 8 2014
http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/watch-how-piccadilly-oxford-road-7898576
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