Department for Transport

Manchester Airport rail upgrade brings business benefits
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date 8 Jan 2009 12:46
source Department for Transport
type Press release

note DEPARTMENT FOR TRANSPORT News Release (002) issued by COI News Distribution Service. 8 January 2009

Passengers and businesses will reap the rewards of a new multi-million pound upgrade to Manchester Airport railway station, officially opened today by Transport Secretary Geoff Hoon.

The £15million project to build a new platform, completed as part of the wider modernisation of the West Coast Main Line, improves reliability for air passengers and airport workers and enables an increase in the number of services running into Manchester Piccadilly.

Geoff Hoon said:

"Manchester is a major international gateway and this improvement to transport links will strengthen the local economy and bring significant benefits to passengers - that's why the Government has backed the £8.9billion upgrade to the West Coast Main Line.

"This new platform enables train services to run more reliably and provides extra capacity at the station, which will encourage more people to use public transport to access Manchester Airport. It also helps deliver a 50% increase in the number of services between Manchester and London."

The Transport Secretary visited the station today and marked the platform's official opening by unveiling a plaque.

The project, which was delivered 11 days early, began accepting train services in December 2008 after taking just over a year to complete.

Notes to Editors

1. The West Coast Main Line upgrade, which is being delivered for £8.9billion, has already delivered faster journey times and more frequent train services between London and Manchester.

2. The Manchester Airport platform upgrade was initiated by the Department for Transport and jointly funded by Network Rail, Greater Manchester Passenger Transport Executive and The Northern Way.

3. Manchester Airport plc. has leased the land needed for the extra platform to Network Rail. Train services at the station are provided by Northern and First TransPennine Express.

4. The Northern Way is a collaboration between the three Northern Regional Development Agencies: Yorkshire Forward, Northwest Regional Development Agency and One NorthEast.

5. The West Coast Main Line upgrade has been largely completed and a significant number of service improvements were made in December 2008. A further step-up in services will take place in late January 2009.

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Department for Transport Website: http://www.dft.gov.uk

Railhub Archive ::: 2009-01-08 DfT-001