A small light at the end of the tunnel for the regions rail travellers

The long suffering Manchester rail traveller was given a little bit of good news this morning when the regions major carrier Northern Rail announced that it will ve providing an additional 50 carriages from its December timetable change on the busiest routes across the North of England.

The extra capacity,says the Company, will help to alleviate crowding in the five main urban centres Northern serves (Leeds, Liverpool, Newcastle, Manchester and Sheffield) and the additional trains have been planned to serve the most crowded train services as a first priority.

On some services Northern will be doubling the capacity, providing four carriages where previously there have been two. To accommodate longer trains some stations, including Mossley in Greater Manchester, have had platform extensions.

Those services affected in Manchester are as follows

Marple – Manchester: over 1200 extra seats increasing the number of seats on eleven peak time services which call at Marple, Romiley, Bredbury, Brinnington and Reddish North; most of these trains run to Strines and New Mills Central. Six trains in the morning peak and five leaving Manchester in the afternoon and early evening will have extra seats.

Rose Hill – Manchester; over 440 extra seats increasing the number of seats on four peak time services which call at Rose Hill, Romiley, Woodley, Hyde Central, Hyde North, Guide Bridge and Fairfield. Three trains in the morning peak and one leaving Manchester in the afternoon will have extra seats.

Wigan – Manchester: over 600 extra seats increasing the number of seats on ten peak time services, which include two Southport services and two Kirkby services. Manchester commuters will benefit from extra seats on five trains in the morning peak and five in the afternoon and early evening.

Clitheroe – Manchester: over 350 extra seat Some peak time trains between Clitheroe and Manchester have already had some additional carriages provided since summer 2010.

Leeds – Manchester: 1100 extra seats increasing the number of seats on ten peak time services, most of which run on the route via Brighouse and Dewsbury and a couple which run via Bradford. Leeds and Manchester commuters will benefit from extra seats on six trains in the morning peak and four in the afternoon and early evening.

Liverpool – Manchester: 300 extra seats We're increasing the number of seats on eight peak time services, most of which run on the route via Warrington Central. Liverpool and Manchester commuters will benefit from extra seats on four trains in the morning peak and four in the afternoon and early evening.

Huddersfield – Stalybridge – Manchester: over 500 extra seats Four of the busiest services on this route have seen an increase of more than a hundred additional seats, with some of the changes introduced in summer 2010. A couple of other trains will see more modest increases. Three morning services and three afternoon peak trains will see increases that total over 500 additional seats.