MP hits out at hell on trains for commuters

A GREATER Manchester MP has called for “massive change” to resolve a “catalogue of under investment” which he says is resulting in serious overcrowding on commuter trains.

Bolton North East MP David Crausby was speaking in the wake of the decision by Network Rail to delay the electrification of the Manchester to Preston via Bolton line a year until December 2017.

Labour MP Crausby is a longstanding campaigner for improved rail services between Manchester and Bolton and cites the issue as one which generates the most amount of letters and feedback on social media from his constituents.

Frequent cancellations when train drivers are unavailable and trains a peak times with only two carriages with hundreds of passengers trying squeeze aboard are commonplace on services across Greater Manchester.

Commuters travelling via Bolton had to cope with 12 months of reduced services until December while the Farnworth tunnel was modified to accommodate cables for electrification.

The full timetable has resumed, but Crausby said overcrowding on services was still a serious problem.

“This seems to be going on forever,” he told TheBusinesDesk. “I’ve been arguing about this for 20 years, since before I became an MP. It’s a lifetime campaign.

“It’s a poor service and promise after promise has been broken. It needs massive change in order to improve it.

“People want to come back on the trains, but it needs a huge increase in trains and electrification.

“Part of the problem is that Manchester has become the centre where there are lots of jobs. If we could spread the Northern Powerhouse across the North into the city’s satellite it would be better.

“It’s been a catalogue of under investment.”

Crausby said there had been a series of mistakes and that electrification should have come much sooner.

“We were promised extra trains, but the complexity of privatisation has not helped,” he went on. “It’s a mad situation, where no-one is producing diesel trains, which are still needed, anymore.

“One of the sad things about it is that people quite often put up with it. But if you are a disabled person with a job in Manchester, you can’t do it.

“It’s a much bigger problem than people think. It will always be difficult, but it’s our job as politicians to deliver.”

Northern Rail, which operates the service between Manchester and Bolton, was unavailable for comment