Passengers and commuters travelling by rail to Manchester via Huddersfield will face major upheaval from mid May.
TransPennine Express (TPE) has unveiled what officials have described as “a massive transformation of timetable change” that will see fast trains going into Manchester Victoria while slower trains use Manchester Piccadilly.
They say the significant re-jig from May 20 will bring benefits in terms of connectivity and weekend services as TPE moves towards a seven-day railway operation.
But as well as coping with a new timetable and new routes - Victoria and Piccadilly are at opposite ends of Manchester city centre - passengers will also face an increase in ticket prices.
Anytime Return tickets are going up by 40p and the standard class Off Peak Day Return ticket is being axed. Ticket prices for journeys to/from Huddersfield within West Yorkshire (including Leeds and Dewsbury) will not change.
The overhaul involves increasing the number of express trains on the Leeds-Huddersfield-Manchester Victoria route from three to four per hour. Two slower trains will call at smaller stations en-route to Manchester Piccadilly.
The Leeds-Manchester Piccadilly slow train will call at all stations between Leeds and Huddersfield apart from Cottingley. It will then call at Marsden, Greenfield and Stalybridge.
The Hull-Leeds slow service will call at stations into Leeds and then at Batley, Dewsbury, Huddersfield, Slaithwaite, Mossley, Stalybridge and Manchester Piccadilly. TPE have advised that there will be a marginal increase of two to four minutes in the journey time for passengers going on to Manchester from Leeds but that it is not considered to be a downgrade in the service.
TPE strategy director Louise Ebbs said it was crucial for rail users to understand the size and scope of the changes being introduced.
“We’re trying to get customers’ understanding that this is a really big change,” she said. “There is a lot of additional service there but also they need to rethink which is the best service for them in terms of accessing Manchester.
“If they’re travelling from Huddersfield and Leeds then Victoria is going to be the fastest and most frequent option for services. If they’re travelling to the intermediate stations they they’re going to go on the new stopping services that TransPennine is providing. They will continue to go to Piccadilly.”
She added: “For lots of people Victoria is a very convenient location. They just need to re-think their journeys into that hub. But there are still options to go into Piccadilly by staying on those services and using the new infrastructure, which is the short railway line called Ordsall Chord.”
The £85m Ordsall Chord, which links Manchester’s Victoria, Oxford Road and Piccadilly stations, opened late last year.
TPE said passengers travelling into Manchester Victoria from Leeds will arrive in about 46 minutes - shaving nine minutes off the current 55-minute journey time if they go into Manchester Piccadilly. TPE’s service planning director Jerry Farquharson said that for those travelling on to Manchester Piccadilly the journey time “is virtually the same.”
TPE has spent £30m refurbishing its Class 185 trains, which includes introducing free wifi. The majority will be in service by May 20. New fleets of five-car carriages will start to be introduced from the autumn.
From Easter TPE will have “customer ambassadors” at Huddersfield, Leeds and both Manchester stations to answer passengers’ questions. They will give out information on the changes and offer best advice on which trains to use for the best journey.
“We are saying to people ‘check before you travel’,” said Louise Ebbs. “The train line, the time changes, is there anything significant on this route?”
