Diggle Station
With the proposed electrification of the railway line between Manchester and Leeds the re-opening of Diggle Station could become a reality.
Chancellor George Osborne was expected to announce on December 3rd 2011 that the electrification of the Leeds to Manchester line will go ahead as one of 40 key infrastructure projects in a £25 billion investment programme to get Britain’s economy back up and running.
The Greenfield and Saddleworth Rail Action Group (G.R.A.G.) had previously stated that without the electrification of the line or the re-opening of two single line Standedge tunnels the re-opening of Diggle Station would not happen. Whereas following this announcement there is now a real possibility that this could become a reality by 2019.
The Department for Transport (DfT) are proposing four express and two semi-fast trains every hour which would mean a faster service between Leeds and Manchester. Achieving this could result in a ‘skip-stopping’ service which see some trains not stopping at every station on the line. G.R.A.G. question the need for a fast service as this will not account for capacity problems. They say that a slower service with longer trains would be more robust.
Diggle News has consulted several local residents and in every case they supported the re-opening of Diggle Station and agreed with G.R.A.G that their preference would be a slower service with longer trains stopping at every station on the line.
