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- 09/11/2009: Cheeky villains
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- 18/10/2009: Oldham loop
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- 08/10/2009: The Times
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- 07/10/2009: Theresa Villiers
Oldham loop
The rescue plan for the stranded passengers of the Oldham Loop fiasco will swing into action tomorrow but there are fears that it will not be enough to avoid leaving commuters behind on platforms for yet another week of misery.
For local transport bosses, who stepped in last week with a reluctant offer to pay for extra carriages are providing them for just one morning rush hour train and two in the evening.
A meeting of Greater Manchester Integrated Transport Authority voted on Friday to finance extra carriages after the Department for Transport demanded cash to use any of the five Pacer trains by the two year closure of the Oldham Loop line for conversion to Metrolink.
Extra carriages to strengthen overcrowded services on the Calder Valley line through Rochdale and Mills Hill will be funded for by council tax payers until the end of next June while officials and councillors try to persuade the government to fund them from the £8m a year it is saving in grants from the Oldham loop closure.
But the only morning strengthened train from today is the 07.44 from Todmorden which reaches Rochdale at 08.00 and Mills Hill eight minutes later, arriving at Victoria at 08.22. Homeward-bound commuters will get extra carriages on Leeds trains which leave Victoria at 17.00 and 17.18.
In addition, there will be extra carriages on the 06.57 from Mosley to Victoria and on the 17.27 from Victoria to Huddersfield.
Transport Secretary Lord Adonis was among MPs and officials at a reception House of Commons last week which heard GMITA chairman Councillor Keith Whitmore announce the decision to help out.
The authority is to collect more data to support its case for more carriages permanently. Northern Rail says it cannot buy extra trains itself because its franchise is to end in 2013.
Veteran rail campaigner Richard Greenwood said: “Despite the announcements over the past few days, the actual improvements to the Rochdale line at the moment look rather thin.”