Although the cl 802 Hiutachi bi-modes also run EDB to MIA
Walk up, any operator, off peak day return fares should normally always be available from a whole host of North West England stations to/from Preston, and then from Preston up to Glasgow (or to Edinburgh).
Yes, because 397 reliability hasn't been as good as envisaged, because there is capacity in the 802 fleet, and to spread train crew knowledge. I don't think it points to more slack in the 397 fleet to run more trains to Liverpool.
Pre-COVID reductions, Winter 2019 timetable
Appears so, my apologies.
I must have confused it with Liverpool to Glasgow as you say. Perhaps a future timetable will provide the fixed interval departurrs my brain thought there was!
Almost certainly these figures are highly skewed by overseas visitors visiting family and this group is probably far more likely to be picked up from the airport by car than travel around the country by train. These figures also ignore UK tourists.
1tp4h would be a massive improvement upon the 1tp8h currently seen.
The Glasgow/Liverpool is going back to 3 trains each way, which are spaced at approximately 4 hour intervals. This is from June.
I wonder whether that's partly because of Manchester Airports status as a major airport with many long haul flights as much as it is due to pure tourist pull, though the figures still speak for themselves.
But the point remains the same. Liverpool is fundamentally a terminus city with a smaller catchment, Manchester is much more of a hub location with trains coming in from all parts of the country with a much larger catchment population.
How much demand for that actually is there? It only works if the traffic flows exist for it and I strongly suspect that WCML paths don't allow for that.
The same problem as running trains from York to Edinburgh 3 to 5 minutes apart, but worse because Lancaster, the Lakes and Carlisle don't justify it in the same way that Darlington, Durham and Newcastle add to the demand on the other side.
If you actually read the source report, these figures are NOT for tourists but for visitors from overseas, many of whom are not tourists in the usual sense of the word.
Experience says that there's often more demand than anticipated when a decent improvement to the service is made. It does have to be reliable, of course. TPE have such an excellent reputation...
How realistic would it be to just ensure that all Oxenholme trains go at least as far as Preston (and all Barrow trains, if there are any which still terminate at Lancaster), which at least cuts it down to one change?
Presumably you've never been to Liverpool at the weekend?
