FEATURE
Although it is only 300 metres of railway, the Ordsall Chord presented many other challenges, including extensive track alterations to accommodate its new alignment, other bridges on its elevated route, tie-ins to other viaducts and complex signalling arrangements, as described by Paul Darlington in issue 148 (February 2017). Furthermore, the chord was built through a sensitive historic part of Manchester, which presented significant challenges and resulted in an objector delaying the project by nine months.
The Castlefield conundrum In Victorian times, Manchester’s railways were split between its Lancashire & Yorkshire lines north of the city, which went to Victoria station, and those of various other railway companies to the south. These included main lines to the south and east which terminated at Manchester’s London Road (now Piccadilly) and one that connected these lines to the original Liverpool to Manchester Railway at Ordsall Lane in Salford on a 1½ mile viaduct through Castlefield, just south of the city centre. As a result, passengers with a northsouth journey across Manchester faced a one-mile trip between the city’s two main stations. This situation continued until the Windsor link was opened in 1988, which enabled trains from the North West to reach Piccadilly via the Castlefield
Removing conflicts at Piccadilly Before May 2018 VICTORIA
PICCADILLY
After May 2018 VICTORIA
PICCADILLY
lines. Traffic over this corridor was further increased with the opening of the line to Manchester Airport in 1993. In the same year a multimodal rail freight terminal was opened at Trafford Park from where container trains are routed through the Castlefield corridor. The corridor has three stations, from west to east are Deansgate, Oxford Road and Piccadilly. It is double tracked except at Oxford Road, which has a bay platform and four through platforms.
Hourly Liverpool to Scarborough service crosses Piccadilly throat 30 minute Manchester Airport to Leeds service crosses Piccadilly throat whilst reversing at Station Hourly Liverpool to Scarborough service diverted via Victoria 30 minute Manchester Airport to Leeds services goes through Piccadilly & Victoria via Ordsall Chord Following privatisation, traffic has increased significantly. Four train operators (TransPennine Express, Northern Rail, Arriva Trains Wales and East Midlands Trains) run services through the corridor. The introduction of the new timetable in May routes three trains an hour each way over the Ordsall Chord and so requires more trains to be routed through the already busy Castlefield corridor, increasing the number of train paths from 12 to 15 per hour.
Ordsall Chord’s network arch bridge.
Rail Engineer | Issue 159 | January 2018
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